In
jurisprudence, a natural person (also physical person in some
Commonwealth countries
The Commonwealth of Nations is a voluntary association of 56 sovereign states. Most of them were British colonies or dependencies of those colonies.
No one government in the Commonwealth exercises power over the others, as is the case in a p ...
, or natural entity) is a person (in legal meaning, i.e., one who has its own
legal personality
Legal capacity is a quality denoting either the legal aptitude of a person to have rights and liabilities (in this sense also called transaction capacity), or altogether the personhood itself in regard to an entity other than a natural person ...
) that is an
individual human being, distinguished from the broader category of a
legal person, which may be a private (i.e.,
business entity
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 ...
or
non-governmental organization
A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from g ...
) or public (i.e.,
government) organization. Historically, a human being was not necessarily considered a natural person in some jurisdictions where slavery existed (subject of a property right) rather than a person.
Definitions
According to
Maria Helena Diniz, an individual or natural person "is the human being considered as a subject of rights and obligations". Every human being is endowed with legal personality and, therefore, is a subject of law.
According to Sílvio de Salvo Venosa, "legal personality is a projection of the intimate, psychic personality of each person; it is a social projection of the psychic personality, with legal consequences". However, and in addition, the law also gives personality to other entities, formed by groups of people or assets: these are called
legal person.
Legal consequences
In many cases, fundamental
human rights are implicitly granted only to natural persons. For example, the
Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which states a person cannot be denied the right to vote based on their sex, or
Section 15 of the ''Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms'', which guarantees equality rights, apply to natural persons only. Another example of the distinction between natural and legal persons is that a natural person can hold public office, but a corporation cannot.
A corporation or non-governmental organization can, however, file a
lawsuit or own property as a legal person.
Crime
Usually a natural person perpetrates a
crime, but
legal persons may also commit crimes. In the U.S.,
animals that are not persons under U.S. law cannot commit crimes.
[''People v. Frazier'']
173 Cal. App. 4th 613
(2009). In this case, the California Court of Appeal explained: "Despite the physical ability to commit vicious and violent acts, dogs do not possess the legal ability to commit crimes."
By country
Germany
In Germany,
legal entities
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 ...
() such as natural persons () have the capacity to be bearers of rights and obligations; they possess
legal capacity
Legal capacity is a quality denoting either the legal aptitude of a person to have rights and liabilities (in this sense also called transaction capacity), or altogether the personhood itself in regard to an entity other than a natural person ( ...
. The point in time at which this legal capacity begins and ends is disputed in and .
According to section 1 of the
German Civil Code (BGB), a person acquires legal capacity on completion of their birth.
However, in certain conditions, fetuses also have certain legal rights, for example, that of becoming an
heir.
The question of whether a fetus may have legal capacity as well has been left open by the
Federal Court of Justice, although there are indications of a positive response.
The German Civil Code grants the fetus, which does not have full legal capacity, essential rights, which are subject to the condition of subsequent live birth.
The question of whether the fetus can have rights before birth and possibly from the beginning of pregnancy, in particular a right to life, is highly controversial.
See also
*
Legal person
*
Personality rights
*
Juridical person
A juridical person is a non-human legal person that is not a single natural person but an organization recognized by law as a fictitious person such as a corporation, government agency, NGO or International (inter-governmental) Organization (suc ...
*
Person (Catholic canon law)
*
Great ape personhood
Great ape personhood is a movement to extend personhood and some legal protections to the non-human members of the great ape family: chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans.
Advocates include primatologists Jane Goodall and Dawn Prince-Hughes, e ...
References
Civil law legal terminology
Legal entities
Personhood
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