Focusing upon the laws and judicial opinions that have shaped practices in New York and in other states, A Corporate Form of Freedom provides an historical account to explain how and why getting a nonprofit corporate charter came to be a matter of right instead of a privilege--and why the nonprofit corporate form today is treated as generously as it is by the law. The growth of the nonprofit sector during the past four decades has enhanced the quality of American political and social discourse while it has also refashioned the American economy. However, the growth of the nonprofit sector has created problems as well. A Corporate Form of Freedom provides an historical account to explain such positive and negative developments, and to explain how and why getting a nonprofit corporate charter came to be a matter of right instead of a privilege. Norman I. Silber traces the demise of judicial and administrative supervision by states, and the transfer of supervisory roles to federal tax authorities, to trends in law, politics, and community values--and to a newer generation of lawyers who were deeply affected by important legal and social trends.