Legal person facts for kids
A legal person is a term used in law to describe anything that can act like a human in legal matters. This means they can sign contracts, own property, or even sue and be sued in court.
The interesting part is that not all legal persons are actually people! For example, a company or a corporation can do many things a person can do legally, but they are not human beings.
There are two main types of legal persons:
- A natural person is a human being. We become legal persons simply by being born.
- A juridical person (also called an artificial person or fictitious person) is a non-human entity. This includes things like companies, certain government groups, or even some rivers! These entities get their legal status through a special legal process.
Having legal personality is important because it gives an entity the ability to have legal capacity. This means they can enter into agreements, transfer rights, and take on responsibilities. For example, an international organization needs legal personality to sign international treaties in its own name.
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What is a Juridical Person?
A juridical person is a non-living entity that the law treats as if it were a person. It has a legal name and can have rights, protections, special benefits, responsibilities, and liabilities (things it's responsible for) just like a natural person.
This idea is a basic part of how laws work, especially for corporations. It allows a group of people to act as one single entity for legal purposes. This means the entity can be seen separately from the individual people who are part of it. For example, a company can sue and be sued, sign contracts, owe debt, and own property. They might also have to pay taxes.
A big benefit of a juridical person is that it can protect its members from personal responsibility. This means if the company gets into debt, the individual owners might not have to pay it themselves.
Sometimes, in common law jurisdictions, there's a difference between a "corporation aggregate" (like a company with many members) and a "corporation sole". A corporation sole is a public office that has its own legal personality, separate from the person holding the office. An example is the office of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
However, the idea of a juridical person isn't always absolute. Sometimes, courts can "pierce the corporate veil." This means they look past the company itself to the individuals involved in its actions. This can happen if the company was used to do something wrong, and then the individuals might be held responsible.
The concept of a juridical person is now a key part of law in many countries around the world.
Examples of Juridical Persons
Here are some examples of entities that can be considered juridical persons:
- Cooperatives (co-ops): These are businesses owned and run by a group of people for their shared benefit.
- Corporations: These are created by law or special permission. A corporation sole is a corporation with just one member (like a religious leader in their official role). A corporation aggregate has more than one member.
- Municipal corporations (cities and towns): These are created by specific laws.
- Partnerships: These are groups of two or more people who run a business together to make a profit. Many places now treat partnerships as having their own legal personality.
- Companies: This term often refers to a business that does industrial work, but companies can also be trade unions or trusts. Limited liability companies combine features of corporations and partnerships.
- Sovereign states: Countries themselves are legal persons.
- Intergovernmental organizations: Groups like the United Nations and the Council of Europe have legal personality in the international legal system.
- The European Union (EU): Since 2009, the EU has had legal personality, which allows it to sign international agreements.
- Temples: In some legal systems, temples can have their own legal personality.
- Rivers: In some countries, like New Zealand and India, certain rivers have been granted legal personality. This means they are treated as living entities with rights, often to help protect them from pollution. For example, the Whanganui River in New Zealand and the Ganges River in India have been given this status.
Not all organizations are legal persons. For instance, a company's board of directors or a government agency usually can't act legally on their own, separate from the main organization they are part of.
A Look at History
The idea of organizations having legal personhood is very old, going back to Ancient Rome. Different groups in Roman law had this benefit.
The concept of a persona ficta (fictitious person) was further developed by Pope Innocent IV. In church law, this idea allowed monasteries to exist legally apart from the monks themselves. This helped solve problems, especially since monks took vows of personal poverty but the monastery still needed property and buildings. It also meant that, as a fictional person, a monastery couldn't be found guilty of certain wrongs because it didn't have a soul. This protected the organization itself, while individuals within it could still be held responsible.
In the common law system, only a person could have legal rights. To allow corporations to work, they were given five key legal rights:
- The right to a shared treasury (including owning property).
- The right to a corporate seal (to make and sign contracts).
- The right to sue and be sued.
- The right to hire employees.
- The right to make their own rules (self-governance).
Since the 1800s, legal personhood has also been used to treat corporations as citizens or residents of a state for certain legal reasons. This helps decide where a company can be sued.
Legal Cases in the United States
Here are some examples of how the idea of legal persons has been used in U.S. courts:
- In U.S. v. The Cooper Corp. (1941), the court decided that the U.S. government, as a legal person, could sue under a law that only allowed "persons" to sue. This meant the government could take action against companies that were illegally raising prices.
- In Cook County v. U.S. ex rel Chandler (2003), a county was accused of breaking a law that said "any person" could not falsely get research money from the government. The court ruled that the county could be sued as a legal person.
- In Rowland v. California Men's Colony, Unit II Men's Advisory Council (1993), the court did not give certain rights to legal persons. A group of prisoners wanted to sue without paying fees, but the court said this right was only for natural persons (human beings), not for organizations.
The U.S. Supreme Court has also said that certain constitutional rights protect legal persons, like corporations. For example, because of the First Amendment, the government cannot restrict a corporation's free speech. Also, a state government cannot take a corporation's property without proper legal steps and fair payment.
A well-known case is Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, where the Supreme Court said that certain limits on how much corporations could spend on election campaigns were against the Constitution.
Rights and Responsibilities in India
Indian law recognizes two types of "legal persons": human beings and certain non-human entities. These non-human entities are given the same legal status as humans. They have rights and duties, can sue and be sued, and can own and transfer property. Since these non-human entities cannot speak for themselves, they are represented by "guardians" or "representatives" in legal matters.
Examples of non-human entities given "legal person" status in India include:
- Companies and trusts.
- Religious deities and temples.
- Hospitals, universities, banks, and municipalities.
- Rivers and even all animals and birds.
Companies and Trusts
In cases involving companies, the company itself is responsible for its debts, not the individual shareholders. The company, as a "legal person," is liable to repay debts or be sued if it doesn't.
Animal Kingdom
In India, animals have the status of "legal persons." Humans have a legal duty to act like parents ("loco parentis") towards animal welfare, similar to how parents care for children. A court ruled in 2014 that animals also have the fundamental right to freedom under the Indian Constitution, including the right to life and dignity. Another court in Uttarakhand state said animals have the same rights as humans.
Religious Deities
In India, a deity (a god or goddess) is also considered a "legal person." The deity can be involved in legal cases through "trustees" or a "managing board" of the temple. For example, in the Ayodhya case, the Supreme Court of India ruled that the deity Rama in a specific temple was a "legal entity" and could be represented by a lawyer appointed by trustees.
Shebaitship
Under Indian law, "shebaitship" refers to property owned by a deity or idol as a "legal person." The humans appointed to act for the deity are called "shebait." A shebait acts as a guardian to protect the deity's rights and fulfill its legal duties. Property given to a deity belongs to the deity, not to the shebait.
Natural Entities Like Rivers
Both India and New Zealand recognized the legal rights of rivers in 2017. In India, the Uttarakhand High Court declared the Ganges and Yamuna rivers, and all water bodies, as "living entities" or "legal persons." The court appointed three humans as trustees to protect the rivers' rights against pollution.
Rights in New Zealand
In New Zealand, the Bill of Rights Act of 1990 states that its provisions apply to all legal persons, as well as to all natural persons, as much as possible.
Popular Culture
In the 1889 opera The Gondoliers by Gilbert and Sullivan, one of the characters, Giuseppe Palmieri, asks to be recognized individually so he can get his own food portions. However, the court turns him down, saying that their joint rule "is a legal person, and legal persons are solemn things." This shows how the idea of a "legal person" can be seen as a serious and separate entity.
See also
- Corporate personhood
- Environmental personhood
- Natural person
- Personhood
- Separate legal entity
Images for kids
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A robot representing an artificial person.
