PERSON

TABLE OF CONTENTS
➢ Person: Meaning and Definition
➢ Kinds of Person; Natural and Legal
➢ Similarities and Differences
➢ Double capacity and Double Personality
➢ Legal Status; unborn child, dead person and animals
➢ Theories of corporate personality
 Person: Meaning

Derived from latin word ''Persona'' which means the actors's mask
[Historically]

In modern times, used in the sense of a being ( natural or legal)

capable of sustaining rights and duties

Possessing both rights and duties both is the necessary condition to

be a person in the eye of law
 Definitions
➢Savigny- ''Person is the subject or bearer of rights.''
➢Holland- ''Persons are the subject of rights as well as of duties.''
➢Gray- '' A person is an entity to which rights and duties may be
attributed.''
➢Salmond- ''A person is any being to whom the law regards as
capable of rights and duties. Any being that is so capable is a
person, whether human being or not and anything that is not so
capable is not a person even if it is a human being.''
 Kinds

Natural Legal
Person Person
 Natural Person
➢ Simply refers to a normal human being having sufficient status to
possess rights and duties.
➢Human being who is not so capable, is not regarded as a person by
law. Eg; SLAVES.
➢Holland says , '' A natural person is such a human being as is
regarded by the law as capable of rights and duties''.
➢Part 2, chapter 1 of the Country Civil Code, 2074
➢Exception: Slaves, Lunatics, Infants and Sages
 Characteristics

Born alive
Status
Power of thought and choice
Lives for a limited period
 LEGAL PERSON ( Juristic/ Artificial/
Fictitious)
➢ An artificial or imaginary being to whom personality is attributed by
law by the way of legal fiction.
➢Those entities upon whom law has conferred a legal status and who are
in the eye of law capable of having rights and duties as natural person.
➢Part 2, chapter 2 of Country Civil Code, 2074
➢Salmond - '' A legal person is any subject matter other than a human
being to which the law attributes personality''
➢Nepalese law defines legal person as a company, association or body of
individuals whether incorporated or not.
 Two essentials

The Corpus The Animus

(Body) (Intention)
 Characteristics/ Features
➢A distinctive name
➢A common seal
➢A perpetual succession
➢Own property in its own name
➢May sue and may be sued
➢Limited liability
 Kinds
➢ Corporation
Corporate sole
Corporate aggregate
➢Institution
➢ Fund/Trust
 Similarities
➢Both are defined with their inherent rights and duties
➢Both are equal under the eye of law
➢Both have their own separate name and identity
➢Both deserve certain legal rights
➢Both sue case in court of law for their legal rights
➢Both have responsibilities towards the society
 DIFFERENCES
NATURAL PERSON
➢Has biological status and
existence
➢Can create legal person
➢Marriage, divorce and
reproduction is possible
➢Uses thumb and signature for its
identification
LEGAL PERSON
➢Has fictitious and corporate
status only
➢ Can never create natural person
➢No possibilities of such process
➢Uses common seal for its
identification
➢Life of natural person is
determined by natural person only
➢Found in each and every society
➢Self-represented
➢Wider prospective or rights and
duties
➢what is not restricted by law can
be done by natural person
➢Unlimited liability
➢Has opinions, feelings
➢Birth and death is in accordance
with law and legal procedure only
➢Not necessarily found everywhere
➢Always represented by
representatives i.e. natural person
only
➢Formalistic and limited approach
of rights and duties
➢What is permitted by law can be
done by legal person
➢ Limited liability
➢Has goals and objectives