Podmiotowość prawna : ujęcie teoretyczne

Abstract

Personhood is a tool used by law to attribute rights and duties to specified holders. Despite its conventional nature, the decisions of whom and why the law ascribes the status of a person (rights‑holder) are determined by certain philosophical assumptions on which a given legal system is founded. They are rarely explicated in the law, remaining rather a part of legal culture. In my opinion, the reconstruction of such philosophical assumptions of the contemporary law concerning the attribution of personhood reveals that they are essentially humanistic. Therefore, there is a principal difference between natural (physical) and legal (corporate) personhood. Ultimately only the interests (good) of human beings are considered relevant for the law and decisive for the recognition of all kinds of rights‑holders. This philosophy of personhood is more and more difficult to reconcile with numerous challenges brought by the contemporary progress of science and technology. It becomes necessary to reconsider not only the approach to personhood on the level of particular legal rules but also revisit its deeper philosophical underpinnings.