LEGAL STATUS OF UNBORN

CHILD AND ANIMAL

By : Aakriti Chaulagain
Roll NO 4
What is Legal Status?
 Legal status is the status or position held by an entity as
determined by the law. It includes or entails a set of privileges ,
obligations , powers or restrictions that a person or thing has as
encompassed in or declared by legislation.
 Legal status refers to the legal identity by which a person ,
entity , association , with sufficient capacity for taking on
obligations and carrying out activities that incur full legal
responsibility , regarding themselves and third parties.
 Legal status is “ a feature of individuals and their relationships
to the law.
Legal Status of an Unborn child
 As per legal fiction, a child in its mother’s womb is considered as
already born. When he is born alive, he will attain legal status. In
usual terms, the law only gives attention to living natural
persons but in the case of an infant ventre sa mere (a child in its
mother’s womb), the law makes an exception.
 The child in its mother’s womb is capable of acquiring certain
rights and inheriting property, but it all depends on whether the
child is born alive or not.
 An unborn child is considered a person during partition.
Damages can also be claimed by such an unborn child for the
injury sustained while in its mother’s womb.
 Under Hindu Law, an unborn child is deemed to be a
living person for certain purposes. The rights of an
unborn child that is in the womb of its mother are dealt
with by Section 20 of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956.
 As per Mitakshara Law, in a Hindu Undivided Family, an
unborn child will have an interest in coparcenery
property. (joint inheritance or ownership of property).
 Under Mohammedan Law a gift in the name of a person
who does not exist is void.
 Paton observes that the child in womb is not a legal
personality and can have no rights.
 There is nothing in the law to prevent a person from owning
property before he is born. His/her ownership is necessarily
contingent , indeed, for he/she may never be born at all but it is
none the less a real and present ownership.
 Willful or negligent injury inflicted on a child in the womb , by
reason of which it dies after having been alive, amounts to murder
or manslaughter. Which states that he has the right to be born
alive.
 A child in its mother’s womb is for many purposes regarded by a
legal fiction as already born.
Legal Status of Animals
 Animals are not capable of having the rights and duties. Hence, they are not legal
persons. But in the Olden times, they were regarded as legal person and they are
bound by legal duties.
 For example, in Germany a cock was prosecuted on the ground of nuisance for
continuous chirping. Cock was out in the prison bar and was given the services of
the lawyer. But the law could not prove the innocence of the cock and the cock was
ordered to be killed.
 Similarly during the regime of Jahangir. A bell was hung outside the palace to be
pulled by anyone seeking justice. One day by chance a Donkey got stuck against
the bell. Donkey was taken before the king. It was thought that Donkey had come
to complain against his master for carrying heavy load. It’s master was summoned
and was given the warning not to carry heavy load in future on the Donkey.
 Similarly, in Jewish code, an Ox injured the men or women with horn and if that
men or women died then Ox was to be stoned and it’s flesh was not to be eaten.
 There are many examples during that period where cocks, donkeys, dogs even
trunk of tree which has fallen on human being and killed him were tried for
homicide or murder.
 In terms of animal rights, there have been several cases that
have helped shape the legal landscape. One such case is the
Animal Welfare Act, which was passed in 1966 (US) and sets
standards for the treatment of animals used in research,
exhibition, and transportation. Another important case is
Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals v. New England Aquarium, which established that
animals can be considered victims of abuse and neglect under
state law.
Legal Status of Lower Animal
 In the present day context, the animals are deemed incapable of possessing legal
rights and duties. They are merely things, often the objects of legal rights and duties
but they are never subjects of them.
 But in the modern time, animals are not legal persons. Law is made for the human
being. No animal can be the owner of the property. No trust can be created for the
benefits of animals. Animals are a kind of the property. For the wrongs done by the
animals, his master can be held liable.
 If a men’s cattle or sheep, stray into neighbour’s land or garden. No suit on the
ground of trespass is file but for the damage done, owner is liable.
 For example: A beast has no legal personality. Anything done to the animals may be
wrong to its owner or to the society but it is no wrong to the beast. But the animals
have two rights to be protected;
• Cruelty to animals is made a criminal offence.
• A trust for benefit for a particular class of animals as opposed to one for individual
animal is valid and enforceable as a public and charitable one.
THANK YOU