Every legal form in Canada, each with its abbreviation, the kind of entity it is, liability and typical use where they are well established, and the values the Prometiam company object returns.
This guide lists the 5 legal forms the Prometiam dictionary knows for Canada: what each is called, how it is abbreviated, what kind of entity it is and how it appears in the company object. Use it to read the legal_form of a company registered in Canada, or to decode a form you meet in a contract or on an invoice. It is a general reference, not legal advice.
Coverage and limits for Canada: company records only (no officers, no registry-compliance signal, no activity code, no share capital, no VAT number, no insolvency or liquidation status, no insolvency notices); federal corporations only (Canada Business Corporations Act, Canada Cooperatives Act and the repealed Canada Corporations Act Part I and Cooperative Associations Act), provincial and territorial corporations, not-for-profit corporations and boards of trade are never served. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada (Corporations Canada, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada). Adapted by Prometiam.
| Form | Abbreviation | Kind | What to know |
|---|---|---|---|
| Corporation (Canada Business Corporations Act) | Corp., Inc. | Public limited company (joint-stock company) | A corporation governed by the federal Canada Business Corporations Act. Only federal corporations are served: provincial and territorial corporations are other registers. The dictionary files this form under other, because the register does not split private from public. |
| Cooperative under the Canada Cooperatives Act | CCA | Cooperative | A cooperative governed by the Canada Cooperatives Act. |
| Private company under the Canada Corporations Act Part I (repealed) | - | Private limited company | A private company under the repealed Canada Corporations Act Part I; the register still holds these older corporations. |
| Public company under the Canada Corporations Act Part I (repealed) | - | Public limited company (joint-stock company) | A public company under the repealed Canada Corporations Act Part I; the register still holds these older corporations. |
| Association under the Canada Cooperative Associations Act (repealed) | - | Cooperative | An association under the repealed Canada Cooperative Associations Act. |
Every company object carries four legal-form fields: legal_form (the standard abbreviation, null when the form is not mapped), legal_form_family (the cross-country family, so a private limited company compares across countries), local_legal_form (the register’s own value or code as stored) and local_legal_form_name (the register’s name for it, where it publishes one). Each form below shows the values the API returns for it.
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer rk_live_..." \ "https://api.prometiam.com/functions/v1/risk-api/companies/search?country=CA&name=<company name>" # each result carries, for example: # "legal_form": "Corp." # "legal_form_family": "public_limited_company"
Private limited company: a company with its own legal personality whose owners are, as a rule, not personally liable for its debts and whose shares are not offered to the public.
A private company under the repealed Canada Corporations Act Part I; the register still holds these older corporations.
legal_form Private company under the Canada Corporations Act Part I (repealed), legal_form_family private_limited_company, local_legal_form CCA1PPublic limited company (joint-stock company): a company with its own legal personality and share capital whose owners are, as a rule, not personally liable; the family of forms that can usually raise money from the public.
A corporation governed by the federal Canada Business Corporations Act. Only federal corporations are served: provincial and territorial corporations are other registers. The dictionary files this form under other, because the register does not split private from public.
Corp., Inc., Ltd.legal_form Corp., legal_form_family public_limited_company, local_legal_form CBCAA public company under the repealed Canada Corporations Act Part I; the register still holds these older corporations.
legal_form Public company under the Canada Corporations Act Part I (repealed), legal_form_family public_limited_company, local_legal_form CCA1UCooperative: an organisation owned and run by its members.
A cooperative governed by the Canada Cooperatives Act.
CCAlegal_form CCA, legal_form_family cooperative, local_legal_form CCAAn association under the repealed Canada Cooperative Associations Act.
legal_form Association under the Canada Cooperative Associations Act (repealed), legal_form_family cooperative, local_legal_form CCAASee the Canada company data API guide for the register behind these records and the free Corporation number lookup to try an identifier. For the register states that go with these forms, read company status in Canada. All countries: company legal forms.
Search by name or identifier and read legal_form, legal_form_family and local_legal_form on every result, or filter a bulk list by family.
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