Legal Person Origin and Meaning Types Of Person

1. SCHOOL OF LAW
NAME: YASHIKA SANTOSH PATNI
SUBJECT: JURISPRUDENCE
TOPIC: LEGAL PERSON

2. MEANING
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 Personality is a very vague and wide term and it has a
variety of meanings.
 It is derived from the Greek word persona.
 Persona meant the (Greek) actor's mask through which
his voice must be sounded.
 Later on, it came to be used for those who could play
part in the legal drama, those who could bear rights and
duties.

3. CONTD.
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 But it did not remain so, and came to be used in other
senses also.
 Personality in the philosophic sense means the rational
substratum of a human being.
 In law it means a right and duty bearing unit.
 Personality should be distinguished from humanity.
 Humanity means only the natural human beings but
personality has a technical meaning and it includes
inanimate objects also.

4. DEFINITIONS
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The term Person is derived from the Latin word
'Persona' it means those who are recognised by law as
being capable of having legal rights and duties.
Definition :
1) Salmond - " A person is any being whom the law
regards as capable of rights and bound by legal duties.
2) Savigny defines the term person as the subject or
bearer of a right.

5. DEFINITIONS
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3) According to Gray A person is an entity
to which rights and duties may be attributed.
4) According to Austin the term 'person'
includes physical or natural person
including every being which can be deemed
human.
5)According to Section 11 of the Indian
Penal code the word person includes any
company or association, or body of Persons,
whether Incorporated or not.

6. TYPES OF PERSON:
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Persons can be defined into two categories
1. Natural Persons (human being), and
2. Legal or Artificial or Juristic Person.
There are some natural persons who do not
enjoy the status of legal persons or person
and vice-versa.

7. CONTD.
◈ NATURAL PERSON
 A natural person is a human being possessing
natural personality.
 According to Holland, a natural person is a human
being as is regarded by the law as capable of rights
and duties.
 Requisite of normal human being is that he must be
born alive moreover , he must possess essentially
human characteristics.
 Generally a person/human being who has a
capacity to sue and be sued is person.
]
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8. CONTD.
◈ LEGAL PERSON
 A legal person has a real existence but it's
personality is fictitious.
 A fictitious thing is that which does not exist in
fact but which is deemed to exist in the eye of
law.
Example : Company or corporation, idol etc.
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9. CONTD.
Groups or series of men, usually called corporations:
 The first class of legal persons consists of corporations,
namely those which are constitutes by the personification of
groups
 (e.g., corporation aggregate) or
 series of individuals (e.g., corporation sole).
In State Trading Corporation of India v. Commercial Tax
Officer, the Court observed that corporation are undoubtedly legal
persons but is not a citizen within the meaning of Article 19 of the
Constitution and cannot ask for the enforcement of fundamental
rights granted to citizens under the said article.
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10. CONTD
.
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Institutions like hospitals, libraries etc.:
The second class is that in which corporations or object
selected for personification not a group of series of persons
but an institution is.
The law may, if it pleases, regard a church, a hospital or a
university or a library as a person.
That is to say it may attribute personality not to any group of
persons connected with the institution, but to the institution
itself.

11. Institutions like hospitals, libraries etc.:
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In the tradition and
practice of English Law,
legal personality is not
limited by any logical
necessity or indeed by any
obvious requirement of
expediency to the
incorporated bodies of
individual persons.
In India, institutions like
university, temple, public
authorities, etc. are
considered as legal
persons.
Under Indian law, trade
unions and friendly
societies are legal entities.
They own properties and
suits can be brought in
their names though not
regarded as corporations.

12. Legal status of Dead Person:
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Dead persons have no legal personality and hence, cannot sue and be
sued. Dead men are no longer persons in the eye of law. Legal personality
of a person dies with his person. They do not remain the owners of their
property until their successors enter upon their inheritance.
When a person dies leaving Will, his property is distributed according to
the Will. Law recognizes and takes account after the death of the person of
his desires and interest when alive.
There are three things in respect of which the anxieties of living men
extend even after their death. Those are his body, his reputation and his
property.

13. EXPLAINED
1) His Body: A living person is interested in the treatment to be given to his
own body. A person is interested in a decent funeral and good burial.
Criminal law secures a decent burial for all dead persons and the violation of
a grave is a criminal offence.
2) His reputation: Everyone is interested in maintaining reputation even after
death. The reputation of a dead person receives some degree of protection
from the criminal law.
3) His Property/ Estate: A man is dead but his hand may continue to regulate
and determine the enjoyment of the property he owned while he was alive.
He can dispose of his property by WILL. when a person dies intestate ( dies
living will) the property is distributed according to the WILL.
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14. Legal Status of Unborn Person:
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 Generally an unborn person has no legal standing in the eyes of
law.
 However it has to be distinguished from the one who is living but
not yet born, i.e., a child in womb of its mother-in utero and an
unborn child in the sense of future generations.
 A child in the uterus is regarded as a person in law in accordance
with the maxim “Nascitures Pro Ham Nato Habetur i.e. One who
is to be born is deemed to have been born”.

15. CONTD.
 Contingent rights: The rights of an unborn person,
whether personal or proprietary, are all contingent
on his birth as a living human being.
 Damages: Damages can be claimed for injury to the
feutus of a woman if the woman was known to be
pregnant. Posthumous child can claim compensation
for the death of his father in fatal accident.
 In Hindu law unborn son acquires an interest in the
joint family property from the time of its conception.
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16. THEORIES OF JURISTIC
PERSONALITY

17. THEORIES:
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Fiction Theory
Concession Theory
Group Personality Theory or Realist
Sociological Theory
The Bracket Theory or the
Symbolist Theory
Purpose Theory or the theory of
Zweck Vermogen
Hohfeld’s Theory
Kelsen’s Theory of Legal
Personality

18. CASE LAWS
◈ Mohd. Salim v. State of Uttarakhand &
Others
◈ Facts: The petitioner, a resident, challenges the
failure of the Governments of Uttar Pradesh and
Uttarakhand in constituting the Ganga
Management Board as stated in the Section 80 of
the Uttar Pradesh Re-organisation Act, 2000. The
Court specifies that Ganga and Yamuna have a
particular significance for Hindus.
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19. CONTD.
◈ JUDGEMENT: A further judgement directed “The Director
NAMAMI Gange, the Chief Secretary of the State of Uttarakhand
and the Advocate General of the State of Uttarakhand are hereby
declared persons in loco parentis("in the place of a parent" ) as the
human face to protect, conserve and preserve Rivers Ganga and
Yamuna and their tributaries.
◈ These Officers are bound to uphold the status of Rivers Gangas and
Yamuna and also to promote the health and well-being of these
rivers.
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20. CONTD.
 It may be a religious institution or any such useful unit which may
impel the courts to recognize it. This recognition is for sub serving
the needs and faith of the society.
 A juristic person, like any other natural person is in law also
conferred with right and obligations and is dealt with in accordance
with law.
 In other words, the entity acts like a natural person but only through
a designated person, whose acts are processed within the ambit of
law (Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandak Committee v. Som
Nath Das, (2000) 4 SCC 146)
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21. CASE LAW
In Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee v. Somnath Das, (2000) 4 SC 146)
 the Supreme Court stating the historical background and sanctity of Guru
Sahib held it to be a juristic person. It was stated:
The last living Guru, Guru Gobind Singh, expressed in no uncertain terms
that henceforth there would not be any living Guru.
 The Guru Granth Sahib would be the vibrating Guru. He declared that
henceforth it would be your Guru from which you will get all your guidance
and answer.
 It is with this faith that it is worshipped like a living Guru.
 It is with this faith and conviction, when it is installed in any gurudwara it
becomes a sacred place of worship.
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22.  Sacredness of the gurudwara is only because of placement
of Guru Granth Sahib in it.
 This reverential recognition of Guru Granth Sahib also
opens the hearts of its followers to pour their money and
wealth for it.
 It is not that it needs it, but when it is installed, it grows for
its followers, who through their obeisance to it, sanctity
themselves and also for running the (anger which is an
inherent part of a Gurudwara.
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23. CONTD.
In Saloman v. Saloman and Co., a trader sold a solvent business to a limited company which
consisted of the vendor, his wife and children only. In payment of the purchase money, the
company issued debentures to the vendor. Later on, the company went into liquidation. The
question for decision was whether this debenture holder was entitled to be paid in preference to
the unsecured creditors. -
The question was answered in the affirmative. It is clear from this case that a man may become
his own preferred creditor by taking debentures from a company of he holds practically all the
shares.
This is due to the fact that the company has a legal personality different from that of the
shareholders. This case also shows that one can seek shelter behind this legal person without
one’s real connection with the corporation being unmasked.
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24. CONCLUSION:
† The foregoing analysis makes it abundantly clear that
incorporation had great importance because it attributes legal
personality to non living entities such as companies, institutions
etc. which help in determining their rights and duties.
† Clothed with legal personality, these non living personalities can
own, use and dispose of property in their own names.
† Unincorporated institutions are denied this advantage because
their existence is not different from the members.
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