Why and when the term "person" was replaced with the term "legal subject"? (Reflections on the genesis of the concept of a person in the legal sense)
2011
Abstract
The purpose of this article is to elaborate on questions why and when the term "person" in its legal sense was replaced with the term "legal subject". The replacement of "a person" with "a legal subject" in fact even means replacement of a deductive method emanating from "a person" with an inductive method emanating from "a legal subject" which is a bearer of subjective rights and duties.
The article especially focuses on the genesis of the term "person" in the antiquity, the Middle Ages and the Modern Ages. The conclusion is that the term "legal subject" in its contemporary sense has its roots as late at the beginning of 19th century in the work of F.
C. Savigny.