{
 "@context": "https://schema.org",
 "@type": "DefinedTerm",
 "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/entities/legal-personality",
 "identifier": "kaal:entity:legal-personality",
 "name": "Legal personality",
 "termCode": "legal-personality",
 "inDefinedTermSet": {
  "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/entities/index.json"
 },
 "author": {
  "@type": "Person",
  "name": "Wulf A. Kaal",
  "identifier": "https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0757-275X"
 },
 "dateModified": "2026-07-29",
 "canonicalForm": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/entities/legal-personality.md",
 "sha256": "95889d08b34a28162201849439bca76e5d38b46827218d710b9a05df20ec3caf",
 "additionalProperty": [
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   "@type": "PropertyValue",
   "name": "status",
   "value": "derived"
  },
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   "@type": "PropertyValue",
   "name": "claim_count",
   "value": 5
  },
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   "@type": "PropertyValue",
   "name": "work_count",
   "value": 4
  },
  {
   "@type": "PropertyValue",
   "name": "year_span",
   "value": [
    "2016",
    "2025"
   ]
  },
  {
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   "name": "non_current_claims",
   "value": 0
  }
 ],
 "subjectOf": [
  {
   "@type": "Claim",
   "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/2740477-007",
   "identifier": "kaal:claim:2740477-007",
   "text": "Artificial intelligence cannot be held personally liable for damage it causes because national and international law do not currently recognize it as a subject of law, so compensation must be forced through existing provisions never designed for it.",
   "abstract": "However, national and international law do not (currently) recognize AI as a subject of law. Without legal personality, AI cannot be personally liable for damages.",
   "citation": "Wulf A. Kaal, Erik P.M. Vermeulen, Venture Capital as Dynamic Regulation of Disruptive Innovation (2016). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2740477",
   "datePublished": "2016",
   "claim_type": "failure",
   "confidence": "argued",
   "is_failure_mode": true,
   "scope_conditions": [
    "current state of national and international law",
    "damage caused by autonomous AI"
   ],
   "source_pdf_sha256": "c72871b76fa2ad5a8a69ee8d3defc8f64e624be9052ce763e79cf6c58883f726",
   "status": "current"
  },
  {
   "@type": "Claim",
   "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/2808132-009",
   "identifier": "kaal:claim:2808132-009",
   "text": "Because artificial intelligence is not recognized as a subject of law in national or international law, it has no legal personality and therefore cannot be personally liable for damages it causes.",
   "abstract": "provisions in the existing regulatory framework. However, national and international law do not (currently) recognize AI as a subject of law. Without legal personality, AI cannot be personally liable for damages.63 With autonomous AI playing an expanding role in",
   "citation": "Wulf A. Kaal, Erik P.M. Vermeulen, How to Regulate Disruptive Innovation - From Facts to Data (2016). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2808132",
   "datePublished": "2016",
   "claim_type": "failure",
   "confidence": "argued",
   "is_failure_mode": true,
   "scope_conditions": [
    "current national and international legal frameworks",
    "autonomous AI acting without supervision"
   ],
   "source_pdf_sha256": "3515f2317ed9c1d33ae55d70467cdf1f6c4e350065ea6a887d5d7619599ad7d2",
   "status": "current"
  },
  {
   "@type": "Claim",
   "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/2834531-002",
   "identifier": "kaal:claim:2834531-002",
   "text": "Because neither national nor international law recognizes artificial intelligence as a subject of law, AI has no legal personality and therefore cannot itself be held liable for the damages it causes.",
   "abstract": "Because national and international law do not currently recognize AI as a subject of law, AI has no legal personality and as such cannot be held personally liable for damages.",
   "citation": "Mark Fenwick, Wulf A. Kaal, Erik P. M. Vermeulen, Regulation Tomorrow What Happens When Technology Is Faster Than the Law (2017). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2834531",
   "datePublished": "2017",
   "claim_type": "mechanism",
   "confidence": "asserted",
   "is_failure_mode": true,
   "scope_conditions": [
    "under the legal frameworks in force as of 2017"
   ],
   "source_pdf_sha256": "9cd875ebdb0266febbdcdabfca5b9b9f0de1b7ad9e3d5a8a5971bdbe469323b7",
   "status": "current"
  },
  {
   "@type": "Claim",
   "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/5886342-012",
   "identifier": "kaal:claim:5886342-012",
   "text": "Legal Identity is the narrower category: it is an Identity to which rights and obligations are attributed on the basis of the applicable law, in particular natural and legal persons, so having an identity in a digital system does not by itself confer legal personality.",
   "abstract": "A Legal Identity is an Identity to which rights and obligations are attributed based on the Applicable Law, in particular Natural and Legal persons.",
   "citation": "Furrer Andreas, Wulf A. Kaal, Stephan D. Meyer, Universal Digital Law Codex (UDLC) (2025). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=5886342",
   "datePublished": "2025",
   "claim_type": "definitional",
   "confidence": "asserted",
   "is_failure_mode": false,
   "scope_conditions": [
    "attribution depends on the applicable national law"
   ],
   "source_pdf_sha256": "dc456a1ce2ea4a356dbcb35dc900ec36be94b8c9b6da4a2c8c268d6301f66359",
   "status": "current"
  },
  {
   "@type": "Claim",
   "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/5886342-031",
   "identifier": "kaal:claim:5886342-031",
   "text": "A DAO may or may not be a Legal Identity, so the Codex rules for DAOs are written to work whether or not the organization has legal personality under the applicable law.",
   "abstract": "(2) A DAO may or may not be a Legal Identity ac-",
   "citation": "Furrer Andreas, Wulf A. Kaal, Stephan D. Meyer, Universal Digital Law Codex (UDLC) (2025). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=5886342",
   "datePublished": "2025",
   "claim_type": "definitional",
   "confidence": "asserted",
   "is_failure_mode": false,
   "scope_conditions": [],
   "source_pdf_sha256": "dc456a1ce2ea4a356dbcb35dc900ec36be94b8c9b6da4a2c8c268d6301f66359",
   "status": "current"
  }
 ],
 "description": "5 claims in the published works of Wulf A. Kaal carry the concept tag 'legal-personality'. Derived node: a roster, not an adjudicated definition."
}