A legal or legal person (Latin: persona ficta; also a legal person) has a legal name and has certain legal rights, protections, privileges, responsibilities and obligations, similar to those of a natural person. The concept of legal person is a fundamental legal fiction. It is relevant to the philosophy of law as it is essential for laws affecting a company (corporate law). Lavery marks the first time in Anglo-American history that a court denies a person a legal claim because he or she is unable to carry legal obligations. Nevertheless, many people who are not able to bear legal obligations are undoubtedly legal persons. In fact, last year, in a concurring opinion of the New York Supreme Court, Justice Eugene Fahey criticized Lavery for this reason: The other case where a legal entity becomes an important issue is when the entity in question is not a human being, but a corporation, partnership or corporation. Since laws generally only provide for the conduct and rights of individuals, it became important to know the extent to which non-individual entities had legal rights and obligations as these types of organizations became more common and powerful. For example, since laws generally only set rules about how one person sues another person, a company may be impervious to prosecution unless some form of personality is granted. The term legal person (“pessoa jurídica” in Portuguese) is used in case law to designate a legal person with rights and obligations, which also has legal personality.
Its regulations are largely based on the Brazilian Civil Code, where it is clearly recognized and defined, among other things. Section 28 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 states: ” the provisions of this Bill of Rights apply, to the extent possible, for the benefit of all legal persons and all natural persons. Article 19(3) of the Basic Law provides: “Fundamental rights shall also apply to national legal persons, insofar as the nature of those rights so permits. ». [21] But in 2017, the NhRP discovered that the quoted sentence from the case law – as it appears in the treaty – contains a crucial difference from the version that ended up in Lavery. The jurisprudence actually says: “As far as legal theory is concerned, a person is any being who considers that the law is capable of having rights or duties.” “Rights or obligations” – and not, as in Black`s Law Dictionary, “rights and obligations”. Since legal personality is a prerequisite for legal capacity (the capacity of any legal person to modify (conclude, transfer, etc.) its rights and obligations), it is a prerequisite for an international organization to be able to sign international treaties in its own name. Registered trade unions are legal persons. They may, by uniform representation proportional to their members, conclude collective agreements binding on all persons belonging to the categories specified in the agreement. Generally, a legal person can sue and be sued, own property and enter into contracts. Legal personality means that the right, duties and capacity to be a party to legal proceedings are guaranteed by the law or statutes of that country. If this is not guaranteed by law, it is not considered a legal entity. A corporation confers rights and obligations under the law on a person or organization. Since legal systems are designed for human use, legal personality is usually automatically attributed to human beings.
In the modern world, the concept is often part of discussions about the legal rights or responsibilities of entities such as companies that cannot be defined by a single person. The concept was and still is an important part of the human rights debate. The term “legal person” can be ambiguous as it is often used as a synonym for terms that refer only to non-human legal persons, especially as opposed to “natural person”. [10] [11] In lawsuits involving religious entities, the deity (the deity or God is a supernatural being considered divine or holy) is also a “legal person” that may participate in litigation through “trustees” or “responsible temple leaders.” The Supreme Court of India (SC) ruled in 2010, ruling on Ram Janmabhoomi`s Ayodhya case, that the Rama deity in the respective temple was a “legal person” entitled to be represented by its own lawyer appointed by the directors acting on behalf of the deity. Similarly, the Supreme Court ruled in 2018 that the Ayyappan deity was a “legal person” with a “right to privacy” in the court case concerning the entry of women into Lord Ayyapan`s Sabarimala shrine. [22] Now, after more than two years of waiting and nearly five years since the Lavery decision, the NHRP is pleased to announce that the 11th edition of Black`s Law Dictionary has finally been published – with the decades-old error officially corrected. Black`s Law Dictionary quotes case law and reads correctly: “As far as legal theory is concerned, a person is any being who considers that the law is capable of having rights or duties.” This false quote is not a trivial error, but a fundamental error underlying the court`s decision. In the next sentence of Jurisprudence, the treaty clearly states that “every being thus capable [of rights or duties] is a person, whether human or not,” which is exactly the opposite of what Lavery said about the legal person. This is also exactly what the NhRP has maintained from the beginning. Legal entities are businesses such as corporations, corporations (in some jurisdictions), and many government agencies. They are legally treated as if they were people. [4] [6] [7] As discussed in this post, nearly five years after Lavery, a crucial flaw at the heart of the judicial opinion discovered by the NhRP legal team in 2017 has finally been corrected.
Future courts should find it utterly untenable to follow in their footsteps. In Act II, scene 1 of Gilbert and Sullivan`s 1889 opera The Gondoliers, Giuseppe Palmieri (who, with his brother Marco, is king of Barataria) asks that he and his brother be recognized separately so that they can each receive individual portions of food, because they have “two independent appetites”. However, it is rejected by the court (composed of other gondoliers) because the common rule”. is a legal person, and legal persons are solemn things. Non-legal entities can also apply for an account, as long as the account name contains an official name. Account names that contain the name of a non-legal entity must begin with the name of the legal entity, followed by the non-legal entity, for example: A` opens a business, but A`do does not register his business under the law. This company has no legal personality. Legal personality allows one or more natural persons (universitas personarum) to act as an entity (legal person) for legal purposes.
In many jurisdictions, artificial personality allows this company to be considered legally distinct from its individual members (for example, in a public company, its shareholders). They can sue and be sued, enter into contracts, incur debts and own property. Companies with legal personality may also be subject to certain legal obligations, such as the payment of taxes. A company with legal personality may protect its members from personal liability. Lavery`s falsity has only become clearer over time and therefore even more legally indefensible. In the future, Black`s Law Dictionary will no longer be the obstacle it was in the fight to guarantee the fundamental rights of nonhuman animals. Instead, we expect it to become a powerful asset in future court cases that cannot be ignored. In our view, it is this failure to assume legal responsibilities and societal duties that makes it inappropriate to give chimpanzees the legal rights – such as the fundamental right to liberty protected by the habeas corpus arrest warrant – that have been granted to humans.