The Evolving Concept Of Legal Personhood: The Rights Of Rivers
- IJLLR Journal
- Feb 27
- 2 min read
Ardhra Benny K, Army Institute of Law, Mohali
Tanvi, Army, Institute of Law, Mohali
Introduction
Is it possible for a river to have rights? Is it possible for a river to be represented in a court? Can it sue or be sued? Can it claim compensation? The answer is yes. Several countries like New Zealand, Bangladesh, Columbia have already recognised rivers as the legal persons in the recent years. In India, the answer for this question is a little ambiguous. In 2017, a judgement was passed by the Uttarakhand High Court granting legal personhood to rivers Ganga and Yamuna. But this judgement was later stayed by the Supreme Court. The prominent Rights of Nature movement also advocates that nature including rivers, forests and ecosystem should be granted legal personhood with enforceable rights. In 2008, Ecuador became the first country to include rights to Nature in its constitution3and the same year, the Garma Declaration recognised water as an ecological entity with its inherent right to exist.
Legal Personhood
Personhood means the ability or status of being recognised in the society and legal personhood means being acknowledged as a “person” in the eyes of law. Legal personhood fundamentally concerns who or what counts as a subject rather than an object in law. The key element of legal personhood is the ability to bear rights and duties. Black’s Law Dictionary defines a legal person as an entity “given certain legal rights and duties of a human being; a being, real or imaginary, who for the purpose of legal reasoning is treated more or less as a human being.” Natural Persons are individual human beings who possess certain legal rights and duties which arise from their inherent human status. This includes right to enter into contracts, sue and to be sued. In contrast, Legal persons refer to entities like corporations, non-profit organisations whose existence is created by law. While natural persons are accountable for their actions, legal persons act through their representatives.
