66. Definitions. 1. A "public corporation" includes a municipal corporation, a district corporation, or a public benefit corporation.
2. A "municipal corporation" includes a county, city, town, village and school district.
3. A "district corporation" includes any territorial division of the state, other than a municipal corporation, heretofore or hereafter established by law which possesses the power to contract indebtedness and levy taxes or benefit assessments upon real estate or to require the levy of such taxes or assessments, whether or not such territorial division is expressly declared to be a body corporate and politic by the statute creating or authorizing the creation of such territorial division.
4. A "public benefit corporation" is a corporation organized to construct or operate a public improvement wholly or partly within the state, the profits from which inure to the benefit of this or other states, or to the people thereof.
4-a. A "benefit corporation" means a business corporation incorporated under article seventeen of the business corporation law and whose status as a benefit corporation has not been terminated as provided in article seventeen of the business corporation law.
5. A "religious corporation" is either (a) a Religious Corporations Law corporation as defined in section two of such law or (b) a corporation formed under any other general law or by a special act of this state which is organized and operated principally for religious purposes.
6. An "education corporation" is a corporation as defined in subdivision one of section two hundred sixteen-a of the education law.
7. A "not-for-profit corporation", if a domestic corporation, is a corporation as defined in subparagraph five of paragraph (a) of section one hundred two of the not-for-profit corporation law. A "not-for-profit corporation", if formed under laws other than the statutes of this state, is a foreign not-for-profit corporation as defined in subparagraph seven of paragraph (a) of such section.
8. A "business corporation", if a domestic corporation, is a corporation as defined in subparagraph four of paragraph (a) of section one hundred two of the business corporation law. A "business corporation", if formed under laws other than the statutes of this state, is a foreign business corporation as defined in subparagraph seven of paragraph (a) of such section.
9. A "moneyed corporation" is a corporation to which the banking law or the insurance law is made applicable by the provisions of such laws.
10. A "railroad corporation" is a corporation to which the railroad law is made applicable by a provision of such law.
11. A "transportation corporation" is a corporation to which the transportation corporations law is made applicable by a provision of such law.
12. A "cooperative corporation" is a corporation to which the cooperative corporations law is made applicable by a provision of such law.
13. The term "corporation formed other than for profit" includes every corporation other than a corporation formed for profit or a public corporation.
14. A "domestic corporation" is a corporation incorporated by or under the laws of the state or colony of New York. Every corporation which is not a domestic corporation is a foreign corporation, except as provided by the civil practice law and rules with respect to the construction of such law and rules.
15. The term "director", when used in relation to corporations, means any member of the governing board of such corporation, whether designated as director, trustee, manager, governor, or by any other title, designated to manage the affairs of a corporation.
16. The term "certificate of incorporation" includes (a) the original certificate of incorporation or any other instrument filed or issued under any statute to form a domestic or foreign corporation, as amended, supplemented or restated by certificates of amendment, merger or consolidation or other certificates or instruments filed or issued under any statute; or (b) a special act or charter creating a domestic or foreign corporation, as amended, supplemented or restated.
17. The term "member of a corporation" means one having membership rights in a corporation in accordance with the provisions of its certificate of incorporation or by-laws.
18. The term "office of a corporation" means the office the location of which is stated in the certificate of incorporation of a domestic corporation, or in the application for authority of a foreign corporation or an amendment thereof. Such office need not be a place where business or activities are conducted by such corporation.
19. The term "business of a corporation" when used with reference to a corporation formed for profit means the operations for the conduct of which the corporation is formed and may constitute "doing of business" or "transaction of business" as those terms are used in the statutes of this state.
20. The term "conducting of activities" when used with reference to a corporation formed not for profit means the operations for the conduct of which the corporation is formed and may constitute "doing of business" or "transaction of business" as those terms are used in the statues of this state.
21. The term "corporate law" when used in any law means the general statutes relating to corporations included in the consolidated laws of which this chapter is a part.
Last modified: February 3, 2019