Nature of personality

December 23, 201956 Views

the main aspect of law is to regulate the relationship between the individuals in the society, the concept of rights and duties are thus obligated on the man kind. Hence, the law is concerned with the human acts and acts which affect the interest of others are stated as wrongful acts and which does not affect are lawful acts. Rights and duties are part and parcel of individuals becasue there cannot be rights and duties without a person.

Legal Personality

the word person is derived from the latin word persona means mask worn by an actor, In general sense a person can be defined as subject matter of right and duties and in the light of law groups of people, property and others where rights and duties are obligated are said to be artificial persons. Hence it can be stated that persons are for 2 types in the eyes of law namely – i) natural and ii) artificial, natural persons are namely human beings and artificial constitutes bodies which have rights and duties other than human beings like companies or corporation.

The word ‘person’ defined in IPC in sec.11, which includes besides natural human being, any company or association or body of corporate, whether incorporated or not.

Gray defines person as “entity to which rights and duties may be attributed”, which means any thing which is capable of holding rights and duties irrespective of human beings or not can be defined as person.

salmond defines person as “any being to whom the law regards as capable of rights or duties”.

Legal status of Animals

Law never considered animals as persons the reason is that they don’t possess the legal rights, As defined by salmond “any being to whom the law regards as capable of rights or duties”, so the animals are not regarded as legal persons.

But as per modern law, the acts done by pets holds their owners liable for such acts not merely through the principal of vicarious liability, but rising out of implied negligence not keeping their pets in control. likewise, the wrong done to animals by a man kind is an punishable offence that fact is that they are part of ecosystem, in this regard the law extends protection to animals in 2 ways – i) cruelty to animals is an offence and ii) a public or charitable trust for the benefits of animals is valid and enforceable. In ‘re dean, cooper dean vs. stevens‘, a testator vested his property for the maintenance of his horses and hounds and it was held that trust can be legally enforceable for the this purpose and if the trustees does not spend money as stated by the testator there can’t be breach of trust as animals does not possess a legal personality. In india, police dogs are used to detect the criminals however such detection can’t be taken into consideration unless corroborated with evidence, the reason the police dogs can’t be subjected to cross examination like humans.

Legal status of dead persons

salmond expressed his view, the legal personality of human may commence with birth and creases with his death. It means that the legal rights and duties begins with the birth of an individual and ceases to have effect on his death and hence it can clearly noted that the dead persons are not considered as legal persons in the eyes of law.

however there are 3 things of dead person were considered in the law, namely – i) his body or body parts, ii) reputation and iii) property.

i) Body or Body Parts : Donation of body or any part of body in today’s time in considered valid in the eyes of law for the progress of medical science and in the interest of humanity but earlier it was not legally valid.

ii) Reputation : the reputation of dead person are protected by law under sec.499 of IPC, but only when it hurts the feelings of relatives or his family members who are living.

iii) Property : the property of the deceased shall be divided to the legal heirs through indian succession act and the property of the deceased shall be valid and legally enforceable through his testament.

Legal status of unborn persons

To some extend, law considers legal status of unborn persons. A gift may be made to child in mother’s womb is valid. A child in mother’s womb is considered as already born and treated as person fictionally.

under IPC, sec 315 to 316 deals with offences relating to unborn child, sec. 315 deals with act done with intent to prevent a child being born alive, or to cause it to die after its birth and sec.316 deals with act under such circumstances, that if he thereby caused death he would be guilty of culpable homicide, and does by such act cause the death of a quick unborn child.

under TPA, sec.13 enumerates that transfer to unborn child stands void, but the transfer of property or interest created for the benefit of unborn child (child in womb) stands valid. Transfer of property or interest so created for such in-existence of person shall be executed through the mechanism of trust i.e.., prior interest and absolute interest, then the person shall possess such benefits once comes into existence.

paton opined that child in mother’s womb does not have a legal status, this view by paton was not taken into consideration by most of the legal systems in the world, the fact is many legal systems has developed many provisions for protection and to safeguard the contingent rights of unborn child.