Legal capacity determines whether a person can hold rights and liabilities and make legally effective decisions. This lesson introduces capacity, explains why legal systems regulate it, and focuses on the special rules that protect minors.
Legal capacity can refer to a person's legal aptitude to have rights and liabilities, sometimes called transaction capacity. The term can also refer to the legal personhood of an entity that is not a natural person. A natural person is a human being; a corporation, for example, may have legal personality under the law that creates it.
All flashcards
Medical decisional capacity
The ability to make a particular health-care decision, assessed in relation to that decision.
Two-stage test under the UK Mental Capacity Act 2005
It asks whether the person cannot make the decision and whether that inability is caused by impairment or disturbance of mind or brain.
Disaffirmance
A minor's rejection of a contract that the law permits them to avoid; timing and other requirements vary by jurisdiction.
Necessaries
Goods or services needed by a minor and appropriate to their circumstances, potentially creating liability for a fair price.
Ultra vires
Beyond the legal power or capacity granted to an entity.
Quiz questions
When a legal system applies a person's personal law to assess capacity, what is the central idea?Answer: Capacity may follow the person rather than change solely because they cross a border.
In many jurisdictions, what does it mean for a minor's contract to be voidable at the minor's option?Answer: The minor may be able to disaffirm it, although the agreement is not automatically void.
Under the UK Mental Capacity Act 2005, what must be established in addition to inability to make a particular decision?Answer: The inability must result from an impairment of, or disturbance in, the functioning of the mind or brain.
What does ultra vires mean when applied to a corporation's act?Answer: The act is beyond the corporation's legal power or capacity.
Why may an insolvent business entity have its powers restricted during administration or receivership?Answer: To limit unreasonable increases in liabilities that could harm existing creditors.
Based on the Wikipedia article Capacity (law), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Adapted into a summary, flashcards and quizzes.