Law of Persons
PVL1501
University of South Africa
1st Year Law Module
,Study Unit 2: Intro to Law of Persons
Textbook: Introduction
Law of Persons
• It describes which beings are legal subjects
• It describes when legal personality starts and ends
• It describes what legal status involves
• It describes the effects of various factors (being born a “bastard”, the age of minority, mental capacity)
Law and Rights
• The law is a system of norms used to regulate the behaviour of community members
• The former makes us objectively concerned with the law e.g. filling out contracts, not harming others,
refusing to drive unless you have a license
• The law can also make up a network of legal relationships among legal subjects
• This is subjective law e.g. owing a vehicle gives you rights to that vehicle and how you decide to use it
• Rights that concern a dual relationship:
o The legal relationship between the bearer of the right and other legal subjects
o This is a subjective relationship
o This relationship consists of a right and a corresponding obligation
o The bearer of the right is entitled to the right against the other legal subject
▪ The legal relationship between the bearer of the right and the object
▪ This is the subject-object relationship and only applies to the object e.g. a vehicle
In South African Law there are only natural persons (people) and juristic person (artificial ones, like organisations).
Both persons have legal personality and therefore have the capacity to act and enter legal relationships
South African Law recognizes the following as legal persons:
• Associations incorporated to enabled legislation e.g., banks and co-operatives
• Associations created to be recognized as legal person in separate legislation e.g., educational institutions and
public corporations e.g., the SABC
• Associations that comply with eh common law requirements for legal personality, a universitates. IN order for
an organisation to be considered a universitates the following requirements must be met:
o The existence of the organisation should continuous regardless of who the members are
o The organisation must have rights, duties and capacities on it’s own accord
o The object of the organisation must be the acquisition of gain
• Churches
• Political parties
• Trade unions
1
,The following are not considered juristic persons:
Trusts
Partnerships
The Law of Persons and the Constitution and Constitutionalism
Th Constitution of South Africa is the most supreme law of the land
If a law is found to be in direct violation of the Constitution then it stays valid until it is set aside or
declared unconstitutional by a court
Many legal writers are trying to get some aspects of the Constitution changed to make the laws more equal
The provisions set out in the Bill of Rights and section 1 of the Constitution form the basis for the
Constitution’s standing in equality and advancement of human rights
Constitutional writings like the right to dignity or equality give standing for certain cases. Examples of
instances where the Constitution has changed the laws include:
o Using the Children’s Act to revise the legal position of fathers
o Using the Children’s’ Act to supplement the rights that children are awarded
o Extending the duty of support to grandparents (Petersen v Maintenance Officer)
o It extends the protection afford to minors because of the lowering of the age of majority (Malcom
v Premier Western Cape Government)
o Minors cannot get abortions without consent from their guardians (Christian Lawyers Association
of South Africa v The Minister of Health (reproductive Health Alliance) )
2
, Study Unit 4: The beginning of legal personality
Textbook: Chapter 2
The beginning and ending of legal personality
A natural person’s legal personality begins at birth when the following is met:
• The birth is completed, and the child has been separated from the mother
• The child must stay alive for some time after the birth
Some authors says that the child must be able to exist without the mother, so if the child is born, but will most likely
die shortly after they do not attain legal personality.
Registration of Births
• In terms of the Births and Deaths Registration Act 51 of 1992 the Director General of Home Affairs must
be notified of every birth of a human child
• The parent must notify Home Affairs within 30 days of the child’s birth
• The next of kin of the child should do this should the parent die
• The notice must include the following:
o Proof of birth given by the medical personnel
o An affidavit by a South African citizen who witnessed it
o Certified copies of the identity documents of the parents
• If Home Affairs is notified of the birth a year after the birth the following is required:
o Proof of birth by the medical practitioner who assisted with the birth
o Foot/finger/palm print of the child (they must be younger than 7)
o Fingerprint of the parent if the child is older than 7 years old
o Photos of the child
o Certified copies of the ID document of the parent/guardian/next of kin
o An explanation for why the notice is late
• If the child registers themselves then the following is needed:
o A form that consists of their life details
o Details of the birth and any religious ceremonies
o Their schooling and or employment records
• If the child was abandoned, then notice is given after an enquiry concerning the Children’s Act 38 of 2005
by the involved social worker
• The following will also occur if the child is an unregistered orphan
• A child born to parents who are either in a civil marriage, a civil union or a customary marriage can offer
both or one of the surnames of the parents, but this is not the case in a religious marriage
• Section 40 of the Children’s Act gives notice to children born of lesbian life partnerships and allows them
to take the surname of either the birth mother, her life partner or allows the child to have a double barrelled
surname
3
PVL1501
University of South Africa
1st Year Law Module
,Study Unit 2: Intro to Law of Persons
Textbook: Introduction
Law of Persons
• It describes which beings are legal subjects
• It describes when legal personality starts and ends
• It describes what legal status involves
• It describes the effects of various factors (being born a “bastard”, the age of minority, mental capacity)
Law and Rights
• The law is a system of norms used to regulate the behaviour of community members
• The former makes us objectively concerned with the law e.g. filling out contracts, not harming others,
refusing to drive unless you have a license
• The law can also make up a network of legal relationships among legal subjects
• This is subjective law e.g. owing a vehicle gives you rights to that vehicle and how you decide to use it
• Rights that concern a dual relationship:
o The legal relationship between the bearer of the right and other legal subjects
o This is a subjective relationship
o This relationship consists of a right and a corresponding obligation
o The bearer of the right is entitled to the right against the other legal subject
▪ The legal relationship between the bearer of the right and the object
▪ This is the subject-object relationship and only applies to the object e.g. a vehicle
In South African Law there are only natural persons (people) and juristic person (artificial ones, like organisations).
Both persons have legal personality and therefore have the capacity to act and enter legal relationships
South African Law recognizes the following as legal persons:
• Associations incorporated to enabled legislation e.g., banks and co-operatives
• Associations created to be recognized as legal person in separate legislation e.g., educational institutions and
public corporations e.g., the SABC
• Associations that comply with eh common law requirements for legal personality, a universitates. IN order for
an organisation to be considered a universitates the following requirements must be met:
o The existence of the organisation should continuous regardless of who the members are
o The organisation must have rights, duties and capacities on it’s own accord
o The object of the organisation must be the acquisition of gain
• Churches
• Political parties
• Trade unions
1
,The following are not considered juristic persons:
Trusts
Partnerships
The Law of Persons and the Constitution and Constitutionalism
Th Constitution of South Africa is the most supreme law of the land
If a law is found to be in direct violation of the Constitution then it stays valid until it is set aside or
declared unconstitutional by a court
Many legal writers are trying to get some aspects of the Constitution changed to make the laws more equal
The provisions set out in the Bill of Rights and section 1 of the Constitution form the basis for the
Constitution’s standing in equality and advancement of human rights
Constitutional writings like the right to dignity or equality give standing for certain cases. Examples of
instances where the Constitution has changed the laws include:
o Using the Children’s Act to revise the legal position of fathers
o Using the Children’s’ Act to supplement the rights that children are awarded
o Extending the duty of support to grandparents (Petersen v Maintenance Officer)
o It extends the protection afford to minors because of the lowering of the age of majority (Malcom
v Premier Western Cape Government)
o Minors cannot get abortions without consent from their guardians (Christian Lawyers Association
of South Africa v The Minister of Health (reproductive Health Alliance) )
2
, Study Unit 4: The beginning of legal personality
Textbook: Chapter 2
The beginning and ending of legal personality
A natural person’s legal personality begins at birth when the following is met:
• The birth is completed, and the child has been separated from the mother
• The child must stay alive for some time after the birth
Some authors says that the child must be able to exist without the mother, so if the child is born, but will most likely
die shortly after they do not attain legal personality.
Registration of Births
• In terms of the Births and Deaths Registration Act 51 of 1992 the Director General of Home Affairs must
be notified of every birth of a human child
• The parent must notify Home Affairs within 30 days of the child’s birth
• The next of kin of the child should do this should the parent die
• The notice must include the following:
o Proof of birth given by the medical personnel
o An affidavit by a South African citizen who witnessed it
o Certified copies of the identity documents of the parents
• If Home Affairs is notified of the birth a year after the birth the following is required:
o Proof of birth by the medical practitioner who assisted with the birth
o Foot/finger/palm print of the child (they must be younger than 7)
o Fingerprint of the parent if the child is older than 7 years old
o Photos of the child
o Certified copies of the ID document of the parent/guardian/next of kin
o An explanation for why the notice is late
• If the child registers themselves then the following is needed:
o A form that consists of their life details
o Details of the birth and any religious ceremonies
o Their schooling and or employment records
• If the child was abandoned, then notice is given after an enquiry concerning the Children’s Act 38 of 2005
by the involved social worker
• The following will also occur if the child is an unregistered orphan
• A child born to parents who are either in a civil marriage, a civil union or a customary marriage can offer
both or one of the surnames of the parents, but this is not the case in a religious marriage
• Section 40 of the Children’s Act gives notice to children born of lesbian life partnerships and allows them
to take the surname of either the birth mother, her life partner or allows the child to have a double barrelled
surname
3
