Faced with legal issues, unfortunately, not every citizen can correctly respond to them and take the right actions. As a rule, this is due to a lack of necessary knowledge in this area. Therefore, it is sometimes important to pay some attention to finding answers to your legal questions on your own. You should not wait for the case when an urgent need arises. After all, often decisions have to be made immediately, and if there is no necessary knowledge, then it is practically impossible to do it in the right way.
In this article we will consider what legal capacity is. Why is it important to understand this issue? When does a citizen's legal capacity arise? Could it be limited? How is legal capacity related to legal capacity? What is important for citizens and legal entities to know about this? You will receive detailed answers to these questions by reading this article.
Legal capacity of a citizen
This phenomenon occurs directly at the birth of a person, and can be stopped, as a rule, at the time of his death. Thus, the subjects of legal capacity are all people. No citizen has the right to refuse it.
What is legal capacity? It represents the basis for the acquisition of subjective rights and obligations. This means that a certain person has the opportunity to have any civil rights, but in itself it does not guarantee their existence.
The limitation of legal capacity is discussed in Art. 22 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. Interestingly, its volume is the same absolutely for all citizens. So, from birth, everyone can receive the same rights as any other person. Among the basic rights that a person grants general and special legal capacity, the following are distinguished:
- become heirs to any property or bequeath it;
- independently choose a place to live;
- own property;
- on their own initiative to create legal entities;
- enjoy copyright;
- make transactions that are within the law;
- engage in legitimate professional activities;
- become an entrepreneur;
- have other rights.
This must be considered when considering this topic.
Legal capacity
Legal capacity is also necessary for a person in order to become a full participant in legal relations between citizens. Its presence and completeness depend more on the age of the person, as well as on the state of his physical and psychological health.
Legal capacity is divided into four full categories:
- incompetent;
- partially competent;
- fully competent;
- partially capable.
Full
All individuals who have reached the age of majority and who are mentally healthy are recognized as fully capable. Sometimes this can happen at an earlier age. These are the following cases:
- Marriage by minors. The law allows, in some cases, persons who have not yet reached the age of eighteen to enter into marriage. In this case, they acquire absolute legal capacity from the date indicated on the certificate issued to the pair.In some parts of the Russian Federation, local law allows marriage for those under the age of sixteen. Such spouses also acquire legal capacity. Moreover, it will be preserved, even if the marriage in question is dissolved by them before both or one spouse reaches eighteen years of age. And only if the marriage is declared invalid by a court, then underage spouses may lose their legal capacity.
- Emancipation. Also a good reason for acquiring full legal capacity. It is a fact of declaring a minor, who, however, has already reached the age of sixteen, as one who has acquired full legal capacity with the consent of both parents or guardians. Sometimes the court can provide such a decision on its own. In what cases do they announce emancipation? If the minor is engaged in entrepreneurial activity or is engaged in an employment contract.
Indeed, it is full legal capacity that makes it possible to acquire civil rights of a person independently. However, the situation with civil duties is similar.
Partial
As a rule, specialists call partly competent specialists minors, that is, those who have not yet reached the age of eighteen. How is this expressed in practice? Civil rights of minors on their own can not be acquired in full. A number of such rights can be granted to them only subject to the consent of their parents or through the conclusion of transactions by parents on behalf of these minors. Specific situations depend, in particular, on the age of a particular minor.
Juveniles are also recognized as partially competent (minors call children aged six to fourteen). They cannot make any deals; their parents can only do this on their behalf.
Nevertheless, certain minors are able to make certain decisions. These are the following cases:
- receiving or giving gifts, if this does not require state registration or notarization;
- conclusion of small household transactions;
- the ability to dispose of the funds provided to them.
Minors who are between the ages of fourteen and eighteen, unlike others, can independently conclude a variety of transactions, if they have the consent of the parents. If this did not happen, then such a transaction may be declared invalid by the court. But minors can make some decisions on their own. Among them are the following:
- the ability to deposit funds in credit organizations and freely dispose of them;
- small business transactions;
- exercise of copyright;
- the ability to independently manage their income.
Limited
Inadmissibility of deprivation and limitation of legal capacity and legal capacity is fixed by law. However, there are certain exceptions that the law also provides. For example, experts consider one of such cases a situation when the court legally limited the legal capacity of an individual who, for example, abuses drugs or alcohol.
If this happened, then this citizen needs constant guardianship, which is established over him directly by the court. He is able to independently manage his property, make various kinds of transactions, receive various types of income (whether it be a pension, wages, or any other), but only after coordinating his actions with the trustee.
At the same time, such a person bears full responsibility for the consequences of transactions or harm done.
Incapacity
Considering the legal capacity and legal capacity of individuals and legal entities, it is necessary to pay attention to the concept of legal capacity. What is she like?
So, incompetent citizens are those individuals who, due to the development of a mental disorder, do not have the physical ability to make decisions independently, to realize the significance and consequences of their own actions, and to manage them.
Who can give an appropriate assessment of the condition of such a person? It is not the court that is responsible for this, but a specialized forensic psychiatric examination. But the final decision should be made by the court. Such a citizen needs constant care. The fact that someone is legally incompetent means that a citizen cannot by any means receive or exercise his civil duties and rights. Can such a person make any transactions? On his behalf, his legal guardian is involved. If the legally incapable person has caused any harm to himself, to others or to property, his guardian (whether it is an individual or an organization) bears responsibility for it.
Capacity limitation
The restriction of a citizen's legal capacity, as well as his legal capacity, is also provided for by law in a number of cases. As for legal entities, in this case we are talking more about the possibility of restricting their rights. This is regulated by the following articles of the law: Art. 22 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation for individuals and Art. 49 Civil Code for legal. This applies equally to the legal capacity of organizations.
Describing the restriction of the legal capacity of a citizen and his legal capacity, attention should be paid to several nuances. Among them are the following:
- legal capacity cannot be terminated voluntarily; this procedure is carried out only by force;
- the ability to limit legal capacity exists only if the latter is shared with legal capacity that does not cease;
- limitation of legal capacity does not imply an obligation to refrain from certain actions;
- if the subject's legal capacity is limited, his rights continue to be exercised, while those bodies or persons that still have the right to make decisions independently take responsibility.
Limitations for legal entities
The restriction of legal capacity of a citizen or legal entity may be expressed in the need to obtain the consent of another person to exercise certain rights. This is true for both individuals and legal entities. Indeed, the restriction of legal capacity and legal capacity, in essence, is the inability to independently choose their actions and the need to transfer the performance of their duties to third parties. There are also frequent situations when such legal entities are forced to fulfill their duties and realize the rights guaranteed to them through the actions of third parties or special bodies that are identified and provided by the state specifically for these purposes, regardless of how they would like to dispose of their rights in this situation, a legal entity.
How can this be implemented in practice? For example, sometimes taxation is required with the help of third-party agents. This is provided for by the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. In this case, the funds for paying taxes are withdrawn from the taxpayer account, however, the procedure for paying them is implemented directly by the agents. Why? Because the responsibility for the timely payment of taxes lies precisely with them. This means that in the event of any violations being detected, the agents will have to be punished and pay compensation.
It is important to understand that even in the case of legal entities, there are grounds for a complete separation of legal capacity and legal capacity, although some experts insist that they not be divided. For example, the inability to independently take managerial and any other decisions by the enterprise invariably leads to the inability to independently carry out business relations with third parties, which, in essence, is a limitation of legal capacity. Such a restriction shall be deemed effective from the moment of termination of the ownership by the director of the enterprise of management powers and their transfer to another, external manager. Such a replacement, as a rule, is forced, does not take into account the opinion of the legal entity.
Ways to limit the competence of a legal entity
There are several alternative methods to limit the exercise of the rights of a legal entity. Among them are the following:
1. The complete cessation of the activities of organizations, not providing for the subsequent restoration of the powers of such organizations. One of the methods in this case is the suspension of the license of the enterprise or its absolute revocation. This implies that within a certain time such an organization must be liquidated.
2. The activities of the enterprise are terminated in order to be able to be resumed in the future.
3. Temporary restriction of authority of the organization. It implies the introduction of interim administration. That is, the management bodies of the enterprise have the right to make decisions, but only with the official permission of the latter. This is relevant to the following cases:
- when transactions are related to decisions on real estate of the enterprise
- transactions are carried out with interested parties;
- disposal of any movable property of the organization.
Conclusion
After reading this article, it seems to have become clear that such a limitation of a citizen’s legal capacity and in which cases it is possible. As you can see, understanding this issue is not difficult. Only a little effort will be required. The concept and content of legal capacity was considered. As well as its relationship with legal capacity and the exercise of fundamental civil rights. Remember that legal capacity may be limited if the court found sufficiently serious prerequisites for this. In all other cases, a citizen has a guaranteed right to exercise his civil rights and fulfill his duties independently, without involving third parties.
Obtaining a certain knowledge base in legal matters will help you protect yourself legally, if the need arises.