This document discusses concepts of personality including natural and legal persons. Natural persons are living humans classified as semi juris (infants, mentally retarded) or sui juris (full persons). Legal persons include corporations, which are groups of people treated as a single entity under law. Corporations have members, agents, and beneficiaries and can be held liable for wrongful acts. The state is also a legal person that can enter agreements. Other topics covered include the legal status of deceased/unborn persons and theories of legal personality like the purpose and enterprise entity theories.

1. CONCEPT
OF
PERSONALITY

2. According to Salmond,
❖A person is any being whom the law regards
as capable of rights and duties; whether
human being or not.
❖A being incapable of such capacity is not a
person; whether human being or not.

3. NATURAL PERSONS
❖Natural persons are living persons in
general sense. They are classified as:-
❖semi juris – Half persons (Infants &
mentally retarded persons)
❖sui juris – Full person

4. LEGAL PERSONS
CORPORATION
❖ Corporation- a group or series of men, which by a legal conception is
regarded and treated as a person.
❖ The 3 main characteristics of a corporation are a distinctive name, a
common seal and a perpetual existence.
❖ Classification of Corporations:
❖ Corporation Aggregate- An incorporated group of existing persons.
Eg: Registered companies, Co-operative societies, Municipal councils etc.
❖ Corporation Sole – An incorporated series of successive persons.
Eg: the King, Post Master General or any other legal office.

5. PERSONS IN A CORPORATION
❖ Three classes of natural persons
❖ Members - The persons who form the corpus of the
corporation, i.e., the individual who form the group or the
series of persons in corporation.
❖ Agents - The persons through whom the corporation
functions, also known as representatives.
❖ Beneficiaries - the persons who for whose benefit the
corporation exists and acts.
❖ Three classes may overlap with each other.

6. ACTS AND LIABILITIES OF A CORPORATION AGGREGATE
❖ A corporation cannot act except through its agents and
representatives.
❖ A corporation can only do such acts as are necessary or
incidental to the fulfilment of the purpose for which it has been
incorporated.
❖ A corporation can be held liable for the wrongful acts of its
members in course of its business.
❖ A corporation can be held liable even for offences which require
particular mens rea such as fraud, malice etc. and may be held
liable and punished.

7. STATE AS LEGAL PERSON
❖ State is endowed with powers, rights, immunities,
privileges and duties.
❖ State can sue and be sued.
❖ State may enter into negotiations, agreements and treaties
with other states.
❖ International law recognises state as a legal person.

8. LEGAL STATUS OF DECEASED
❖ Legal personality of a human being commences on birth and
comes to an end with death.
❖ Three aspects after death are recognised by law:-
❖ Physical body
❖ Reputation
❖ Estate
LEGAL STATUS OF UNBORN PERSONS
❖ A person may own property even before being born.
❖ A child in a mother’s womb is considered as a person for the
sake of:-
❖ Acquisition of property by the child itself.
❖ When becoming part of transaction including rule against perpetuity.

9. LEGAL STATUS OF ANIMALS
❖ Animals cannot own property.
❖ Animal Welfare Board of India v. Nagaraja
(2014) 7 SCC 547
❖ Applicability of Article 21.
❖ Narayan Dutt Bhatt v. Union of India
2018 SCC Online Utt 645
❖ Extension of personhood to animals.
❖ Karnail Singh v. State of Haryana
2019 SCC Online P&H 705
❖ Recognition of all animals in the animal kingdom as
legal entities.

10. THEORIES OF LEGAL PERSONALITY
PURPOSE THEORY
❖ Based on assumption that person is applicable only to human beings, and they alone can be subject of jural
relations.
THEORY OF ENTERPRISE ENTITY
❖ The corporate entity is based on the reality of the underlying enterprise.
❖ In case the corporate entity is approved by law, the assets, activities and responsibilities are part of the enterprise.
❖ In case law does not formally approve the existence of the entity, the existence, extent of responsibility are
determined by the underlying enterprise.
SYMBOLIST OR BRACKET THEORY
❖ Persons only include the members of a corporation and the beneficiaries.
❖ Legal personality is a symbol to help the group in achieving a certain purpose.
❖ It amounts to putting a bracket around the members in order to treat them as a unit.
HOHFELD’S THEORY
❖ Distinction is drawn between human beings and juristic persons and further holds juristic persons as creations of
arbitrary rules of procedure.
❖ Juristic persons or corporate persons are mere procedural form for convenience of deciding cases in courts.