Law of Persons · The Lifeline
The Lifeline
Law of Persons is the legal life of a person — from before birth to after death. Walk the Lifeline from the Gateway of Birth to the Final Gate; each stage is a stop on the road.
Stage 1
The Gateway of Birth
Who is a legal person, and when does personality begin? Concepts, live birth and the nasciturus.
Stage 2
The Age Road
How age shapes capacity — infans, minor, major, the limping contract and emancipation.
Stage 3
The Hall of Identity
Sex and gender, the s 9 equality clause of the Constitution, the Alteration of Sex Description Act 49 of 2003, and the Semenya case.
Stage 4
The Crossroads of Status
Factors that limit capacity in a major — mental illness, intoxication, prodigality, insolvency, disability.
Stage 5
The House of Domicile
A person's legal home — always one, never two; choice (animus manendi) and assignment.
Stage 6
The Final Gate
How personality ends — brain death, presumption of death, commorientes, and the law of the dead.
New to the Lifeline? Start at the Gateway of Birth — it answers the threshold question every Law-of-Persons answer must open with.