Legal Personality

A Legal Personality is an autonomous entity that can act in a legal capacity.

• Context:
  • It can (often) be referenced in a Body of Law.
  • It can range from being a Natural Person to being a Juridical Person.
  • It can range from being an Individual Legal Personality to being an Organizational Legal Personality (such as a Governmental Entity).
  • It can own Property.
  • …
• Example(s):
  • a Legal Person.
  • a Legal Corporation.
  • ...
• Counter-Example(s):
  • a Dependent Agent.
• See: Legal, Person, Organization, Legal Agreement, Institution, Law of Obligations, Natural Person, Personhood Measure.

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References

2024

• Perplexity
  • Legal personhood is a fundamental concept in law that designates entities that have legal rights and obligations. This concept is not limited to natural persons, i.e., human beings, but extends to various entities, allowing them to participate in the legal system in ways similar to individuals. Legal personhood is crucial for understanding how the law interacts with individuals, corporations, and other entities, influencing everything from contractual agreements to liability and rights protection.
  • Types of Legal Persons: Legal persons can be broadly categorized into two groups: natural persons and juridical (or artificial) persons.
    1. *Natural Persons: This category includes human beings. By virtue of being human, individuals automatically acquire certain rights and responsibilities under the law. These rights can include the right to own property, enter into contracts, and seek legal redress in courts.
    2. Juridical Persons: Juridical persons are non-human entities that the law recognizes as having rights and obligations. This category primarily includes corporations, but it can also encompass other entities like governments, non-profit organizations, and in some jurisdictions, natural features or sacred entities. Juridical personhood allows these entities to, for example, own property, sue and be sued, and enter into contracts.
  • Historical Development: The concept of legal personhood has evolved significantly over time. Historically, the notion was primarily concerned with natural persons. However, as societies and economies grew more complex, the need to grant certain legal capacities to collective entities became apparent. This led to the development of juridical personhood, particularly for corporations, which facilitated economic growth by enabling collective investment and limiting individual liability.
  • Legal Personhood and Corporations: Corporations are the most common type of juridical persons. The legal system treats corporations as separate entities from their shareholders, directors, and employees. This separation is crucial for various aspects of business operations, including liability, taxation, and governance. Corporate personhood has been a contentious issue, especially in contexts like political campaign financing, where the extent of rights that corporations should enjoy compared to natural persons is debated.
  • Controversies and Expansions: Legal personhood remains a dynamic and sometimes controversial area of law. Debates often center on the extent of rights and protections that should be afforded to juridical persons, especially corporations. Additionally, there are ongoing discussions about extending legal personhood to animals and artificial intelligence (AI). These debates reflect changing societal values and technological advancements, challenging traditional legal frameworks to adapt and accommodate new types of entities.
  • Conclusion: Legal personhood is a foundational concept in law that recognizes entities as bearers of rights and obligations. While natural persons automatically acquire legal personhood, juridical persons are granted such status by the law to facilitate their participation in legal, economic, and social activities. As society evolves, the concept of legal personhood continues to expand and adapt, reflecting broader changes in values, technology, and the economy.
  • Citations:

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10376032/
[2] https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s43545-023-00667-x
[3] https://www.cambridge.org/core/elements/legal-personhood/EB28AB0B045936DBDAA1DF2D20E923A0
[4] https://academic.oup.com/book/35026/chapter/298856312
[5] https://www.forbes.com/sites/lanceeliot/2022/11/21/legal-personhood-for-ai-is-taking-a-sneaky-path-that-makes-ai-law-and-ai-ethics-very-nervous-indeed/?sh=58d95c60f48a
[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_personhood
[7] https://digitalcommons.law.umaryland.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1373&context=jbtl
[8] https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2023/12/04/taking-personhood-seriously-in-corporate-law/
[9] https://scholarship.law.ufl.edu/flr/vol69/iss2/3/
[10] https://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/are-corporations-people
[11] https://academic.oup.com/book/33735/chapter/288378772
[12] https://www.americanbar.org/groups/crsj/publications/human_rights_magazine_home/we-the-people/we-the-people-corporations/
[13] https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frobt.2021.789327/full
[14] https://www.npr.org/2014/07/28/335288388/when-did-companies-become-people-excavating-the-legal-evolution
[15] https://famous-trials.com/animalrights/2600-the-case-for-animal-personhood
[16] https://congressionalsportsmen.org/policy/animal-personhood/
[17] https://www.animallaw.info/article/sacrificing-sacrifice-animals-legal-personhood-animals-status-animals-property-and-presumed
[18] https://aldf.org/issue/animals-legal-status/
[19] https://medicine.missouri.edu/centers-institutes-labs/health-ethics/faq/personhood

2015

• (Wikipedia, 2015) ⇒ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/legal_personality Retrieved:2015-2-21.
  • To have legal personality means to be capable of having legal rights and obligations within a certain legal system, such as to enter into contracts, sue, and be sued. Legal personality is a prerequisite to legal capacity, the ability of any legal person to amend (enter into, transfer, etc.) rights and obligations. In international law, consequently, legal personality is a prerequisite for an international organization to be able to sign international treaties in its own name. Legal persons (lat. persona iuris) are of two kinds: natural persons (also called physical persons) – people – and juridical persons (also called juridic, juristic, artificial, or fictitious persons, lat. persona ficta) – groups of people, such as corporations, which are treated by law as if they were persons. While people acquire legal personhood when they are born, juridical persons do so when they are incorporated in accordance with law.

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