The Concept of Legal Personality

Abstract

International lawyers are occasionally confronted with discussions revolving around the notion of legal personality. The International Law Commission aims to develop rules on the responsibility of international organizations under international law, and its rapporteur suggests that personality functions are a precondition. The ambivalence of the concept of personality manifests itself. The chapter shows that a plea for personality, and the consequent acceptance thereof, has more to do with political recognition of relations between actors and those relations' relevancies, than with anything else. It discusses the ambivalences inherent in the idea of legal personality, and the idea of personality as a threshold for action within a legal system. Personality, as noted, is often held to be a threshold for the performance of legal acts. It is potentially accurate to state that the law on personality has been dominated by corporate law concerns.