Legal person

What is a legal person?

A legal person, also known as a legal person, is the concept with which a company is called organization, company, institution or similar entity, made up of one or more individuals, which has the purpose of develop commercial activities or mercantile.

This can be of several types, since each type has its own characteristics, rights and obligations. Among them are commercial companies, state entities, organizations that carry out controlled and / or regulated economic activities or those that undertake non-profit actions, such as NGOs (non-governmental organizations).

A legal person allows these entities to have certain obligations and rights of natural persons, in terms of commercial, commercial, legal and / or economic actions.

Characteristics of the legal entity

Legal persons have a series of specific characteristics that define them. Among them we can highlight the following:

• Have date of birth, in this case the date of its constitution as a company, organization or institution.
• They drive a tax residence, which is legally registered.
• They have a certain heritage, determined according to the results of its earnings or the contributions of its shareholders.
• Have nationality Y registered office.
• Count on obligations Y Rights.

Differences with a natural person

Despite having similar characteristics and common features, legal persons differ from natural persons in the following aspects:

• The legal entity is a different entity to the members that make it up, unlike natural persons, who do not dissociate themselves from themselves at the time of carrying out commercial or mercantile activities.
• The legal person has own nameTherefore, it acts under that name without the need to identify any of its members, unlike the natural person who must use their name and identify themselves as such.
• The legal entity acts through its legal representative to contract the various obligations in its name and to carry out the actions of its shareholders. On the other hand, natural persons act independently, except for some exceptions in which they must authorize a third party to represent them or act on their behalf.
• The assets of the legal person are their own and, in most types of institutions, they are not combined with the individual assets of their directors, so that to comply with and honor the obligations contracted, the assets of the legal person are used exclusive and not the individual patrimony of the members. Instead, a natural person must respond with their own assets made up of all their assets, both personal and business.

Examples of legal entity

There are many legal entities around the world, including:

• International companies such as Volkswagen, Nike, Apple, Facebook, etc.
• Financial entities such as MasterCard, Visa, BBVA.
• Foundations and non-governmental institutions, such as Mercy Corps, Wikimedia Foundation, Greenpeace, Red Cross.
• Public and administrative entities of the countries, such as ministries, secretariats, agencies, etc.