Development of the Concept of a Person in Law and its Reflection in the Civil Code of Austria (ABGB) and in the Czech Civil Code of 2012
Abstract
This study brings a comprehensive historical perspective on the development of the concept of a person in the legal sense in the territory of the Czech lands. This study deals with the philosophical definition of this term and examines the natural legal bases of this issue.
Emphasis is placed on the comparison of the legal regulation of natural persons in the Civil Code if Austria (ABGB) which was enacted in 1811 and the Czech Civil Code from 2012. The authors of the new Civil Code designate as the ideological source of the recodification the draft of the Czechoslovak Civil Code from 1937, which was de facto modern revision of the ABGB, so it is important to take into account the relevant ABGB provisions when interpreting the new Civil Code.
It is also reasonable to consider the historical origins of these provisions, while also examining how their interpretation has evolved over time.