The nature of legal entities 2200-1I057-OG

In recent decades, a number of new types of entities have been earning a status of a legal person (or a similar one), including animals (e.g. in Haryana, India), elements of the natural environment, such as rivers or mountains (famous examples are the Whanganui River and Mount Taranaki in New Zealand), as well as increasingly complex corporate agents. There is also an ongoing debate (e.g. in the EuropeanUnion) concerning a legal status of so-called ‘electronic persons’ (AI and robots). It is often rather difficult to accommodate these legal provisions within the picture behind the Orthodox View of legal personhood, which prevails in Western legal systems. According to this picture, legal personhood amounts to either a holding of rights and a bearing of duties or the ‘legal capacity’ to hold rights and bear duties (see Kurki, 2019). During this seminar we will try to critically evaluate the Orthodox View of legal personhood.

Method:
We will discuss some contemporary texts regarding:
(a) ontology of legal entities;
(b) agency of legal entities;
(c) identity of legal entities.

Some of the seminars will host guest speakers and might take place on-line (via google classroom).

Grading:
Based on an essay/ presentation/ active participation in the course.
Maximum 2 seminars can be missed