Legal personality: natural and legal persons, the unborn, the dead, animals, idols and corporations
LUG-102 Jurisprudence — Legal Method, Indian Legal System and Basic Theory of Law, Unit IV: Legal personality. · LLB · 60 min
Who is a person in the eye of law? This lecture takes the word back to persona, states Salmond's and Gray's definitions, and then walks through the hard cases the examiners love: the unborn child (ss. 13 and 20 of the Transfer of Property Act, s. 20 of the Hindu Succession Act, ss. 88-92 BNS), the dead (s. 356 BNS Explanation 1, wills, the dignity of the body), animals (A. Nagaraja, Article 51A(g)), idols and deities (Pramatha Nath Mullick, Yogendra Nath Naskar), the Guru Granth Sahib (SGPC v. Som Nath Dass) and rivers (Mohd. Salim). It then explains corporations sole and aggregate, Salomon v. Salomon and lifting the veil, the theories of corporate personality and the idea of double capacity. Asked in six of the eight question papers.
Objectives
- Define a legal person in Salmond's and Gray's words and distinguish natural from legal (juristic, artificial) persons.
- State, with the statutory provisions, the legal position of the unborn, the dead and animals.
- Explain how and why Indian courts have given personality to idols, the Guru Granth Sahib and (briefly) rivers.
- Distinguish a corporation sole from a corporation aggregate and explain Salomon v. Salomon and the lifting of the corporate veil.
- Compare the fiction, concession, realist, bracket, purpose and Kelsenian theories of corporate personality.
Slides
- Persona: who is a person in the eye of law?
- The unborn child
- The dead
- Animals
- Idols, the Guru Granth Sahib and rivers
- Corporations: sole and aggregate; the State; unincorporated bodies
- Salomon v. Salomon and lifting the corporate veil
- Theories of corporate personality
- Double capacity, double personality and the uses of the concept
Loading the lecture…