Summary Key concepts for Law of Persons

LAW OF PERSONS

BASIC CONCEPTS:

 Law of Persons

 Part of objective law (aka national law / substantive law)
 These judicial norms allocate judicial capacities including:
1. Legal capacity
2. Capacity to act
3. Capacity to litigate
to all legal subjects in a particular society at a particular time
 The existence and extent of these capacities is of particular interest to
each individual because it determines his/her status in legal
intercourse
 Objective law vs. Subjective law
- Objective law: described as a norm complex / system of judicial
rules
- Subjective law: concerns the regulation of the relations between
individuals. In other words, it becomes imperative to regulate and
demarcate the relations between legal subjects when the subjective
rights concern certain objects because each claim that a legal
subject has to a particular legal object requires other individuals to
acknowledge the existence of that claim
- There are 4 x main categories of objects:

OBJECT SUBJECTIVE RIGHT PRACTICAL
EXAMPLE
Corporeal thing Real right Property right
Performance Personal right Right to claim
payment
Immaterial Object Immaterial property Copyright
right
Personality Property Personality right Right to a good
reputation

- Each subjective right allocates certain entitlements to the bearer
(legal subject)

 Legal subjects:
 Are defined as bearers of judicial capacities, subjective rights
(including the appropriate entitlements) and legal duties
 There are two categories of legal subjects acknowledged in private law:
1. Natural persons
- In South African Private Law, every person is a legal subject

2. Juristic persons