A juridical person is a non-human
legal person
In law, a legal person is any person or 'thing' (less ambiguously, any legal entity) that can do the things a human person is usually able to do in law – such as enter into contracts, sue and be sued, own property, and so on. The reason for ...
that is not a
single natural person but an organization recognized by
law
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...
as a fictitious person such as a corporation, government agency, NGO or International (inter-governmental) Organization (such as United Nations). Other terms include artificial person, corporate person, judicial person, juridical entity, juridic person, or juristic person. A juridical person maintains certain duties and rights as enumerated under relevant laws. The rights and responsibilities of a juridical person are distinct from those of the natural persons constituting it.
Since ancient times, associations have been known as the original form of the juridical person. This is documented for the 1st century A.D. for Jewish trading companies. In Roman law, too, the institution already had significance, although it was not called as such. Conceptually, it included institutions such as the state, communities, corporations (''universitates'') and their associations of persons and assets, as well as
associations. At least three persons were required in Rome to found an association.
By country
Brazil
The term juridical person ("pessoa jurídica" in
Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
) is used in
legal science
Legal science is one of the main components in civil law tradition (after Roman law, canon law, commercial law, and the legacy of the revolutionary period).
Legal science is primarily the creation of German legal scholars of the middle and late ...
for designating an entity with rights and liabilities which also has legal personality. Its regulations are largely based on Brazil's Civil Code, where it is distinctly recognized and defined, among other normative documents.
Brazilian law
The law of Brazil is based on statutes and, partly and more recently, a mechanism called ''súmulas vinculantes''. It derives mainly from the civil law systems of European countries, particularly Portugal, the Napoleonic Code and the Germanic la ...
recognizes any association or abstract entity as a juridical person, but a registry is required through a Constitutional Document, with specifications depending on the category of Juridical Person and local law of state and city.
China
For a typical example of the concept of legal person in a civil law jurisdiction, under the
General Principles of Civil Law of the People's Republic of China, Chapter III, Article 36., "A legal person shall be an organization that has capacity for civil rights and capacity for civil conduct and independently enjoys civil rights and assumes civil obligations in accordance with the law." Note however that the term
civil right
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life o ...
means something altogether different in civil law jurisdictions than in common law jurisdictions.
Germany
Article 19(3) of the
German Constitution
The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Grundgesetz für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland) is the constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany.
The West German Constitution was approved in Bonn on 8 May 1949 and came in ...
sets forth: "Fundamental rights shall also apply to domestic artificial persons insofar as the nature of such rights shall permit."
Italy
In Italy
trade unions
A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and Employee ben ...
have juridical personality, as stated in Article 39, Paragraph 4 of the
Constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When ...
:
See also
*
Algorithmic entities Algorithmic entities refer to autonomous algorithms that operate without human control or interference. Recently, attention is being given to the idea of algorithmic entities being granted (partial or full) legal personhood. Professor Shawn Bayern a ...
*
Corporate personality
Corporate personality is a concept in Christian theology that was articulated by H. Wheeler Robinson. As originally formulated, it dealt with areas of the Old Testament where the relationships between individuals and the groups that they were part ...
*
Corporate personhood
Corporate personhood or juridical personality is the legal notion that a juridical person such as a corporation, separately from its associated human beings (like owners, managers, or employees), has at least some of the legal rights and respons ...
*
Legal person
In law, a legal person is any person or 'thing' (less ambiguously, any legal entity) that can do the things a human person is usually able to do in law – such as enter into contracts, sue and be sued, own property, and so on. The reason for ...
*
Person
A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of property, ...
*
Person (Catholic canon law) § Juridic persons
References
Civil law legal terminology
Legal entities
Corporate law
Corporate personhood
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