LEGAL PERSONALITY
1. Meaning and Definition of Legal Personality
1. Salmond
A person is any being whom the law regards as capable of rights and duties.
If the law confers rights or duties legal person (may be human or non-human).
If the law does not treat it as capable not a person, even if it is a human being (e.g., unborn child before birth).
Gray
A person is an entity to which rights and duties may be attributed.
Paton
Legal personality is a medium through which units are created so that rights can be vested in them.
2. Categories of Legal Status
Law extends personality to the following:
- Unborn Person / Child in the Womb
- Dead Man
- Animals
- Idol (Hindu deity)
- Mosque (disputed)
- Guru Granth Sahib
3. Legal Status of an Unborn Person
General Rule
A child in the womb (nasciturus) is not a natural legal person until birth.
However, law uses fiction to treat unborn children as already born for certain benefits.
Important Provisions
- Section 13 – Transfer of Property Act, 1882
- Section 20 – Hindu Succession Act, 1956
- Section 299, Explanation 3 – IPC (culpable homicide)
- Montreal Tramways Co. v. Leveille (1933) – Canadian Court held that injury caused to an unborn child is actionable after birth.
Key Principle
Unborn child can hold property and claim damages, if subsequently born alive.
Personhood is fictionally recognized for his benefit only.
4. Legal Status of a Dead Man
General Rule
A dead man is not a legal person : rights and duties extinguish upon death.
Salmond
Law protects the following beyond death:
- Dead body
- Reputation
- Estate
Case: Ashray Adhikar Abhiyan v. Union of India (2002)
- Even a homeless person found dead on road has a right to decent burial/cremation according to his religion.
Key Points
- Defamation of a dead person is punishable if it harms feelings of relatives.
- Property rights (estate administration) continue.
LEGAL PERSONALITY MCQ QUESTION
1. According to Salmond, a person is any being who is capable of:
(a) Only rights
(b) Only duties
(c) Rights or duties
(d) Neither rights nor duties
Answer: (c)
2. Who defined a person as “an entity to which rights and duties may be attributed”?
(a) Paton
(b) Salmond
(c) Gray
(d) Holland
Answer: (c)
3. According to Paton, legal personality acts as a:
(a) Fiction
(b) Medium
(c) Source of rights
(d) Custom
Answer: (b)
4. Who held that the unborn child is a legal person in Montreal Tramways Co. v. Leveille?
(a) U.S. Court
(b) Canadian Court
(c) Indian Supreme Court
(d) Privy Council
Answer: (b)
5. Section 20 of Hindu Succession Act deals with:
(a) Rights of minors
(b) Rights of unborn person
(c) Rights of dead person
(d) Rights of animals
Answer: (b)
6. As per Salmond, personality ceases with:
(a) Natural death
(b) Legal death
(c) Birth
(d) None
Answer: (a)
7. Dead persons are given legal protection in respect of:
(a) Body
(b) Reputation
(c) Estates
(d) All the above
Answer: (d)
8. Ashray Adhikar Abhiyan vs. UOI (2002) deals with:
(a) Rights of animals
(b) Rights of idol
(c) Right to decent burial of homeless person
(d) Rights of unborn child
Answer: (c)
9. According to Salmond, animals are:
(a) Legal persons
(b) Subjects of law
(c) Mere objects of rights
(d) Living legal entities
Answer: (c)
10. An idol is considered a juristic person because:
(a) It can speak
(b) It can sue by itself
(c) Rights are vested in it
(d) It owns land
Answer: (c)