england-and-wales legal-terms corporate-law common-law
What&#39;s the difference between a body corporate and a corporation sole?
<p>One of those instances where unfortunately there's not much to expand in this question apart from what's in the title.</p>

<h2>A <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_person" rel="nofollow noreferrer">body corporate</a> is another name for a company</h2>
<p>Companies incorporated under the Companies Act or a foreign company.</p>
<p>This definition is particular to the UK - in other jurisdictions it is more widely defined to be synonymous with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_person" rel="nofollow noreferrer">legal person</a> and in others it can be even narrower than in the UK</p>
<h2>A <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporation_sole" rel="nofollow noreferrer">corporation sole</a> is a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_person" rel="nofollow noreferrer">legal person</a> that is embodied in a particular individual</h2>
<p>They are most commonly found in ecclesiastical and government officers to enable continuity and a smooth transition of assets, liabilities, and power when the holders of the office change.</p>
<p>So, for example, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chancellor_of_the_Exchequer" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Chancellor of the Exchequer</a> is a corporation sole. When you want to sue the treasury, you file suit against the Chancellor. At present, the current Chancellor is Jeremy Hunt (although, UK politics being what they are this may have changed by the time I post this). Jeremy is the Chancellor but only for so long as he holds the position, the Chancellor as corporation sole continues to exist no matter who has the role or even if it is temporarily empty.</p>
