A legal person

A legal person, in legal contexts often simply person, less ambiguously legal entity,^[1][2] is any human or non-human entity, in other words, any human being, firm, or government agency that is recognized as having legal rights and obligations, such as having the ability to enter into contracts, to sue, and to be sued.^[3][4][5]

The term "legal person" is however ambiguous because it is also used in contradistinction to "natural person", i.e. as a synonym of terms used to refer only to non-human legal entities.^[6][7]

So there are of two kinds of legal entities, human and non-human: natural persons (also called physical persons) and juridical persons (also called juridic, juristic, artificial, legal, or fictitious persons, Latin: persona ficta), which are other entities (such as corporations) that are treated in law as if they were persons.^[4][8][9]

While human beings acquire legal personhood when they are born, juridical persons do so when they are incorporated in accordance with law.

Legal personhood is a prerequisite to legal capacity, the ability of any legal person to amend (enter into, transfer, etc.) rights and obligations.

In international law, consequently, legal personality is a prerequisite for an international organization to be able to sign international treaties in its own name.