Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to comment on Section 18 of the Civil Code and explain why the legislation works with only two types of persons: a natural person and a juristic person. In this respect, the author describes the genesis of the notion of "moral person", from which the notion of "natural person" gradually evolved; a "moral person" then transformed into the concept of "juristic person" (or "legal person").
The concept of a "moral person", and subsequently a "juristic person", is discussed in terms of its legal and philosophical roots and also as regards its basis in positive law, specifically the General Civil Code (ABGB) of 1811. It is also explained why the notion of "přirozená osoba" ("natural person") was gradually abandoned based on legal normativism in the Czech legislation, and since 1950, we can thus only encounter the term "fyzická osoba" ("private individual") (both these terms can be translated as "natural person" - translator's note).
Discussed is also a case where this notion is used in such a context that it is not possible to subsume a "person" under the notion of "natural person" ("fyzická osoba") nor under the notion of "juristic person", as is true of Section 1116, which refers to a single person. This therefore is merely an illustration of a situation similar to the position of co-owners who are treated as a single person, although they cannot be considered such.