Legal personality implies the recognition of an entity as a subject of full legal responsibility.
Legal personality or legal personality is the recognition of a human being , an organization , a company or another type of entity to assume an activity or an obligation that produces full responsibility from a legal perspective, both towards oneself and towards others. .
Throughout History there have been many theories and scholars who have addressed the term that we are now analyzing. Thus, for example, among them the Kelsen theory stands out, carried out by the Austrian jurist who gives it its name and which proposes a differentiation between moral and physical persons, or the organicist theory. The latter stands out because it establishes that legal entities are living realities.
What is legal personality
The regulation of legal personality depends on each nation. At a general level, it can be said that legal personality does not always have to coincide with the natural person : it is a broader notion that includes those actions carried out by entities that have full legal validity.
The legal entity , therefore, is a subject of rights and obligations that can be created by one or more natural persons. A legal entity, in this way, can act as a subject of law and carry out judicial actions.
The legal entity may not coincide with the natural person.
The act of constitution
Legal personality arises from a legal act (known as an act of constitution) that includes recognition by an administrative body or authority. Typically, said constitutive act includes the registration of the legal status in a public registry.
When talking about any legal entity, it is also established that it must have a series of bodies that are responsible for directing it, developing its actions and thus achieving the objectives and results that have been established. Specifically, among the most common bodies that exist are the Board of Directors, which is responsible for managing and also representing the company, or the Board of Partners.
And all this without forgetting that any legal entity must have a statute that will be the document that will establish its own operating rules.
Social organizations and legal status
In addition to all of the above, we must emphasize that it is advisable that social organizations establish themselves as legal entities. And in this way legal acts can be undertaken in their representation and name.
However, not only for this reason but also for the fact that they will be able to request a series of exemptions on taxes such as profits, which are gross income and also VAT (Value Added Tax).
The criminal punishment
The criminal liability associated with a crime did not usually fall on a legal entity, but rather applied to the natural persons behind it. In that case, the legal entity was only responsible for damages, since it had civil and not criminal liability.
Currently there are laws that contemplate criminal punishment for legal entities. Although obviously not all types of penalties can be imposed, some criminal sanctions are appropriate, such as disqualifications for economic crimes. In any case, criminal liability depends on the legal system of each territory.