Issues of the collective will of legal entities

Journal article

The article aims to determine the issues of collective freedom of will of legal entities. The task of research is to find out about the functioning mechanism of the collective will of legal entities and its differentiation from the will of employees and authorised representatives. Research methods. General scientific and unique scientific methods of cognition are applied: logical (deduction and induction, analysis and synthesis, abstraction and comparison); hermeneutic (regarding the understanding of scientific texts); formal-dogmatic. Results. In contrast to psychology and philosophy, the study of collective will in law has yet to become widespread. The article analyses signs of a legal entity to show that all of them are related to the collective will of a legal entity. The paper shows that legal entities have a particular form of free will, which is displayed in signs of a legal entity: 1) organisational unity; 2) registration by the requirements of current legislation; 3) availability of civil legal capacity and legal capacity; 4) the opportunity to act as a plaintiff and a defendant in court; 5) property separation of a legal entity; 6) the independent civil liability of a legal entity; 7) participation in civil circulation on one’s behalf. Conclusions. The freedom of will of a legal entity is the unification of the will of employees (representatives, founders, members, participants) of a legal entity to represent its interests, make and implement decisions on its behalf regarding participation in civil legal relations by taking actions or inaction, ordering sub-objective civil rights and the performance of duties, as well as the possibility to bear legal responsibility for them. A legal entity’s collective will consists of individuals’ individual will (representatives, employees, founders, members, and participants). The individual will of a person is absorbed by the collective will of a legal entity when performing official duties and representing interests. Such an individual will be exercised in the interests of a legal entity, in good faith and reasonably. All signs of a legal entity are related to its collective will.

Authors: Savchenko, V

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Gestors Attorney Association
• Journal: Entrepreneurship, Economy and Law
• Volume: 8
• Issue: 22
• Pages: 22-27
• Place of publication: Kyiv, Ukraine
• Publication date: 2023-08-22
• Acceptance date: 2022-08-30
• DOI: 10.32849/2663-5313/2022.8.03
• Language: English
• Keywords: legal capacity; signs of a legal entity; legal entities; collective will; FFR; the autonomy of will; free will; civil legal capacity