Kinds of legal persons

There are three kinds of legal persons .

1. A corporation is an artificial or fictitious person constituted by the personification of a group or a series of individuals. The individuals making the corpus of the corporation are called its members. A corporation is either a corporation aggregate or a corporation sole. Three definitions are necessary for the existence of a corporation. There must be a group or body of human beings linked for certain purposes. There must be organs through which the body or the group acts. A will is attributed to a corporation by a legal fiction. The corporation is distinguished from the individuals from the individuals who constitute the corporation. A corporation has a personality of its own which is different from the personalities of the individuals. A corporation can sue and be sued. Even if a members of the corporation dies , the corporation continues. A corporation is accepted by law as permanent and continuous legal entity. It is not affected by the deaths of its members. A corporation can enter into contracts with its members as it has a personality distinct from that of the members. A corporation can have property , rights and duties. Unlike natural persons , a corporation can act only through its agents. It does not die in the way natural person die. Law provides special procedure for the winding up of a corporation.
   
   
2. In some cases, the corpus or the object personified is not a group or succession of individuals but an institution itself. Examples of institution are a college, church , library, mosque , hospital , an idol etc.
   
   
3. In some cases, the corpus and the object personified is some fund or state reserved for a particular purpose . Examples of this kind of legal persons are property of a dead man , the estate of an insolvent, a fund for charity, an estate under a trust , etc. According to Roman law, the estate of a dead person was regarded has having a legal personality by the notion of hereditas jecents till it was vested in the legal heirs . Likewise the Stiftung, an uncorporated fund for the charitable functions, was vested with rights and duties and was itself personified.