Person its kinds and legal status
of Dead person, Animals & Unborn Child
1.
Introduction:
The word “Person”
is derived from the Latin word “Persona”
. to begin with, it simply meant a mask, than it was used to denote the part
played by a man in life and then in the sense of a man who played the part. But
now under a legal theory, a person is any being who is capable of sustaining
rights and duties. Any being that is so capable is a person whether he is a
human being or not.
2.
Definition Of Person:
Salmond:“A person is any being whom the law regards as
capable of rights or duties. Any being that is so capable is a person, whether
a human being or not and no being capable is a person, even though he is a
man.”
Gray:“Person is an entity to which
rights and duties may be attributed.”
3.
Kinds of Person:
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(i)Natural Persons ( Human Persons):-
All human beings are
natural persons but in ancient society the slaves were not recognized as
natural persons. Natural Persons are all human beings who are capable of rights
and duties in law.
(ii)Legal Persons:-
Legal person are
artificial or imaginary beings to whom law attributes personality by way of
fiction, i.e. law gives them rights and duties like of natural persons,
e.g. President of Pakistan and the
Governors of the states are legal persons. Legal person is further divide into
three kinds.
1) Corporate Personality:-
Main form of legal
personality is the corporate personality. It is of two kinds :-
(a)Corporate sole: means a single body representing any state or any other object.
It is called series of the successive persons. President of Pakistan is the
corporate sole. They represent only one man in successive period. The post of
corporate sole remains always alive while the human beings.
(b)Corporate Aggregate: - When law confers single personality to a group of person then it
is called corporate aggregate e.g. companies are registered according to law of
societies or according to law of land. These companies or corporations
etc. are legal persons.
2) Fund or Estate:-
In this case the
corpus is fund or estate devoted to special uses e.g. a charitable fund or a
trust estate.
3) Institution:-
In this class the
object selected for personification is not a group or series of persons but an
institution e.g. a university or library
4.
Legal Status of Dead Person:
The personality of
human being commences its existence on birth and ceases to exist at death. Dead
men are no longer persons in the eye of law. They have no rights because they
have no interests. All that the law does is, it to some degree recognizes and
takes into account after a man, s death his desires and interests when alive.
There are three things in respect of which the anxieties of living men extend
even after their death. Those are his body his reputation and his estate.
(i)
Body: A living men is interested in
the treatment to be given to his own dead-body. A corpse is the property of one.
It cannot be disposed of by will or any other instrument criminal law secures a
decent burial for all dead men and the violation of a grave is a criminal
offence.
(ii)
Reputation: The reputation of a person
receives some protection form criminal law. A libel upon a dead is punished as
a misdemeanor when its publication is an attack on the interests of living
person. As a matter of fact this right is in reality not that of the dead
person but of his living descendents.
(iii) Property:
A dead man continues to determine the enjoyment of the property, which he
owned, while he was alive. The law of succession permits the desires of the
dead person to regulate the actions of the living persons. In addition to this,
whatever he has left behind to distributed as gifts will be respect by law and
enforced according to his wishes laid down is a proper document i.e., will deed.
5.
Legal Status of Unborn Person:
Before
discussing the status of unborn person, we must distinguish a child who is living
in womb of its mother and an unborn child in the sense of future generations
i.e., who is not conceived in the womb of its mother. The law given a statue of
person to a child who is not yet been born but conceived in its mother’s womb. According to coke: “The law in many
cases hath consideration of him in respect of the apparent expectation of his
birth..
Rights
of Unborn Person:
The rights of unborn person
whether proprietary or personal are all contingent on his birth as a living
human being. Following are the rights of a unborn person.
(i)
Rights to
Compensation: An
unborn child is entitled to compensation for the death of his father, willful
or negligent injury inflicted on a child in the womb.
(ii)
Rights to be born: An unborn person has a right to
be born and abortion and child destruction are declared as crimes to protect
his right of him. A pregnant woman
condemned to death is respired as of right until she has been delivered of her
child.
(iii) Right to Inherit: In unborn child may inherit, but if he dies in the
womb or is still-born, his inheritance fails to take effect and on one claim
thought him.
(iv) Beneficiary of trust: An unborn child may be made
beneficiary of the trust and such trust cannot be varied without obtaining the
consent of the Court on their behalf.
(v)
Right to own: There is nothing in law to
prevent a man form owing property before he is born. His ownership is
contingent on his born alive and once born alive, his contingent ownership will
become vested.
(vi) Right to gift: A direct gift may be made to the child in womb.
6. Legal Status of Animals:
Beasts were
regarded as persons in the old days. There are examples in Greek law where they
tried and punished for offences to human beings. In modern law animals are not
regarded as person, they are things. The only natural person is human beings
and beasts are not person either natural or legal. They are merely things.
Reasons
for Incapability:
Following are the reasons for
incapability of animals as person.
(i)
Not subjects of
rights: They are
often the object of legal rights and duties but never the subject of them.
(ii)
Acts: Their acts are neither lawful nor
unlawful.
(iii) Subject-matter: They are not recognized by law as the appropriate
subject-matter either of permission or prohibition.
(iv) Incapability: A beast in incapable of legal rights as of legal
duties.
(v)
Recognition: His interests are not recognized
by law.
(vi) Moral rights: They possess moral rights but those are not
recognized by any legal system.
(vii)
Cannot be the
owner: No animal
can be owner of any property even through the medium of a human trustee.
Exceptions:
There
are two cases in which beasts may be thought to possess legal rights.
(i)Cruelty
to animals is a criminal offence.
(ii)A trustee for the benefit of
particular class of animals is made like broken down horses.
1.
Conclusion:
To
conclude, it can be said, that according to the legal theory, only that being
is designated as person who is capable of holding rights and duties,
irrespective of the fact whether he is human being or not, existed or not.
i.e., corporations, idols, dead and unborn child are the best examples of his
concept of personality.
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