en:person

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Revision as of 12:48, 3 October 2004 by Live and let Troll (Talk | contribs) (group entities as "artificial persons" in some legal codes)

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A person is an individual human, or other hominid (see Hominid personhood). Under anarchy there are no classes, since hierarchy is abolished. Everyone is considered a person regardless of race, gender, religion, etc. Every person has equal rights, except those who infringe on the rights of others. Under natural law, by infringing on the rights of others, you are giving up the rights you infringed upon. It demonstrates a lack of respect for those rights, and so the other person has no reason to respect those rights of yours. This is in line with the principle of treating others the way you wish to be treated.

Under some legal codes, a group entity is considered a person for many legal purposes. Many question the wisdom of this legal fiction; the philosopher John Ralston Saul said, "If you are a person before the law and Exxon or Ford is also a person, it is clear that the concept of democratic legitimacy lying with the individual has been mortally wounded."