A company has a life of its own which is independent from that of its partners: it will go on living even after its partners die or it can be dissolved and wound up even if its partners are alive.
All companies have a legal status and as such they have assets that are distinct from those of the partners that constitute the company. They have a name, a registered office and, hence are legal entities that are quite distinct from the individuals making up the company.
They are non-personified collective subjects.
In some types of companies (partnerships) the assets of the company are not fully separate from the assets of the individual partners who, to different degrees, are liable for the debts of the company.
Other types of company (companies with share capital and cooperatives) instead, are recognized by the legal system as having a legal personality and their assets are perfectly distinct from those of its shareholders and hence, the latter are never liable for the debts of the company except for some cases envisaged by the law.
In short, the recognition of a legal personality sets the assets of the company apart from the assets of its partners and the partners’ assets are autonomous with respect to the assets of the company.
The legal status is not attributed automatically to a company: the Memorandum of Association must be registered with the Register of Companies.