We can have different combinations of the three relevant dimensions of the legal entity – benefits, responsibilities and ability to act legally. Each of these dimensions can also be achieved to varying degrees. I have already mentioned how the capacity to act can be dependent or independent. Similarly, one can be held liable in some respects and not in others, and one enjoys some of the advantages of passive legal personality without others. The historical cases of slaves and experiments on animals were examples of a purely incriminating legal person in which only criminal liability was extended to these beings. Young children, on the other hand, possess some of the benefits of being a passive legal entity, but are generally not held legally liable and cannot manage legal platforms through legal acts. The administration and subsequent responsibility must be taken over by someone else. Here are some typical regulations: 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. While natural persons acquire legal personality « naturally », simply by birth (or before that in some jurisdictions), legal persons must have legal personality conferred on them by an « unnatural » legal procedure, and for this reason they are sometimes called « artificial » persons. In the most common case (business creation), legal personality is usually acquired by registration with a government agency established for this purpose. In other cases, this can be done through primary law: an example is the Charity Commission in the United Kingdom. [8] The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 16 calls for providing legal personality for all, including birth registration by 2030 as part of the 2030 Agenda. [9] Independent legal entity: You are sui juris and have the final say in the management of your legal platform (sane adults). Generally, a legal person can sue and be sued, own property and enter into contracts. In Italy, trade unions have legal personality, as stipulated in Article 39(4) of the Constitution: we can, of course, ask ourselves why we cannot treat rivers and other natural objects as legal actors.

Richard Tur envisions a scenario in which it is determined that the rise of a river to a certain level represents the acceptance of an offer by the local community, who would then be forced to make a payment of x goats to the river. Thus, the river would have done an act – in fact, an act in law. The main question of whether to treat a company as an active legal entity boils down to whether we can adopt a deliberate attitude towards the company. I have already presented Daniel Dennett`s account of intentional attitude in chapter 2.57. According to Dennett, intentional attitude is one of three strategies that can be used to predict the behavior of an entity.58 Padovani A, Stein PG, Pennington K, Errera A (2005) A treatise of legal philosophy and general jurisprudence, Volume 7: the legal philosophy of the jurists of Rome up to the seventeenth century. Springer, Dordrecht A distinction must be made here between doctrinal questions and philosophical analysis. Stone`s writings are embedded in the U.S. legal system, where a plaintiff in a typical case has standing to sue only if he or she has suffered direct harm or harm, or if he or she is likely to suffer harm as a result of the defendant`s past, present, or future conduct.

If such a doctrine of legal status exists, and if the only legally recognized damage is damage to legal persons, the obligation not to cause environmental damage is real (and therefore enforceable) only if the environmental damage affects the clearly identifiable interests of a legal person. Stone therefore faces a very practical reason to personify the environment: Naffine N (2009) Law`s meaning of life: philosophy, religion, Darwin and the legal person. Hart Publishing, Oxford, United Kingdom I would now like to address two points relating to the value dependence of the claims that have just been made. First, the attribution of passive incidents of legal personality to sentient beings does not mean that all sentient beings must be legal persons or that they must be treated equally. It may be that the interests of some conscious beings are much more important than those of others, or that the morally required legal treatment of some sentient beings but not others is fraught with deontic compulsions, and so on. I simply explain what is necessary and sufficient to tie a legal platform to a person or creature.39 This book consistently offers a general theory of legal personality that can show why the concept of personality is relevant to understanding issues ranging from the legal status of slaves to societies and nonhuman animals. This holistic approach raises a number of minor questions about the values and justifications of different areas of law, which I will not address. 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. In legal proceedings involving animals, animals have the status of « legal persons » and humans have a legal obligation to act as « loco parentis » for the welfare of animals, as a parent does to minor children. A court ruled in 2014 in the case « Animal Welfare Board of India vs Nagaraja » that animals are also entitled to the fundamental right to liberty enshrined in Article 21 of the Indian Constitution[23], i.e. the right to life, personal liberty and the right to die with dignity (passive euthanasia).

In another case, a court in the state of Uttarakhand ordered animals to have the same rights as humans. In another cow smuggling case, the High Court of Punjab and Haryana ordered that « the entire animal kingdom, including species of birds and aquatic animals » should have a « separate legal personality with the corresponding rights, duties and responsibilities of a living person » and that humans be « loco parentis », while setting standards for animal welfare, Veterinary treatment, feeding and shelter, for example, animal cars can have no more than four people. and transported animals must not be loaded beyond the established limits, and these limits must be halved if the animals are to carry the load on a slope. [22] I could sue the manager of a fast food restaurant if I slipped and fell in his restaurant, but the fast food business as a separate « person » did not contribute to my accident.