Legal status or legal personality is a concept of the field of law and is an essential element within the set of legal norms that regulate the organization of a society and a state.
An individual or a group has legal status for the simple fact of existing. This implies that legal status is basically an abstract concept that expresses the recognition of the human being as a free individual and not subject to any form of slavery. Consequently, all persons who are not slaves have legal personality.
The concept of legal personality serves to explain legal acts, since a legal act is always carried out by a legal person.
Attributes of legal status
The legal personality expresses the right to union or association of individuals. For this right to be possible, a series of requirements or conditions must be met. In this sense, in the field of law, the attributes of legal status are discussed. The attributes of legal personality are applicable to natural persons or to moral or legal persons. Thus, the attributes of the natural person are legal capacity, name, domicile, nationality, assets and marital status.
The moral or legal person has the following attributes: capacity, name or company name, domicile, nationality and assets
In this way, the exclusive attribute of the natural person is the marital status and all the others are shared with the moral or legal person.
Apart from the specific attributes of one type or another, what is important are the obligations and rights that are obtained from the recognition of a specific legal personality.
The legal personality of the state
The state as a form of social, legal and political organization has its own legal status. The main characteristic of the state is the limitation of the power it has over citizens and, at the same time, its responsibility towards the community.
The legal personality of the state is understood to be the set of rights and obligations that govern the actions carried out by a certain state. It must be taken into account that the state interacts with individuals and entities that also have their own legal personality.
The state is a legal person under public law and its regulation is determined by a constitutional text and a series of secondary laws. The state has a recognized legal personality because it can oblige citizens to comply with the laws and, at the same, because the state itself is obliged to comply with those laws.
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