What is a 法人 and a 自然人?

[Milkybar_Kid]

Hello,

 

I'm starting to read more business and financial news and often come across the term '法人' to describe someone who has an opinion on a company or market conditions. Please see here for an example:

 

http://udn.com/news/story/7251/1259401-%E6%B3%95%E4%BA%BA%E7%9C%8B%E9%87%91%E8%9E%8D-%E5%83%85%E4%B8%AD%E6%84%8F%E5%85%86%E8%B1%90

 

In this case, would it be safe to say that a '法人' is a commentator? Or some kind of market watcher at a company involved in financial services?

 

I did some research and most places translate '法人' as 'legal person'. At first this seemed like a very literal translation. However, further research showed that there does seem to be some kind of legal significance to this term in the Chinese legal system. Wikipedia gave me this which explains the various types of 'legal people':

 

https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%B3%95%E4%BA%BA

 

Strangely there isn't an English version of that Wikipedia page. There is also a reference in the GF dictionary on Pleco that a differentiation can be made between a '法人‘ and a ’自然人‘. This has just confused me even more.

 

Can anyone help me to understand these two terms?

 

Thanks

[roddy]

From the look of that page it's used as a pen name for a columnist*? Legally speaking 法人 is a term for anyone or thing (company, person, organisation) which has been incorporated and has the legal standing to, eg, sue and be sued, sign contracts. The actual terminology and definition will vary jurisdiction to jurisdiction I guess. This is the Wiki page you want. A 自然人 is an individual person. 

 

*Or not. Reading this makes me wonder if it's a Taiwanese term akin to institutional investors?

[Lu]

It's interesting to me that this is so confusing for an English speaker, as for me as a Dutch person it's completely obvious. Must be because it's a different legal system.

 

As Roddy says: a natural person 自然人 is someone like you and me, one individual who has a name and eats and sleeps and such, who is born and one day will die, and who can also do legal things like get married or open a bank account. A legal person 法人 is when an organisation (company, whatever) can do legal things as if it is a person (not get married usually, but open a bank account).

[roddy]

Having read a bit more I've concluded that in those articles it's shorthand for 三大法人, a term used in Taiwanese finance which I don't yet understand and thankfully don't need to...

[Guest123]

I've found this, maybe it will be useful :

 

http://www.cmoney.tw/notes/note-detail.aspx?nid=6234

[kkisjj]

I've had some experience dealing with mainland Chinese companies a few years ago. I believe that 法人 in mainland Chinese is short for '法定代表人', a company's legal representative. It's more than understandable that other language speakers find it confusing because we all have different business laws. Among many things listed (company name, company address, capital fund, business scope etc) in a Chinese business license (it's a piece of paper, written in two copies, a large one you can frame and hang on the wall, and a small one you can put in your drawer), 法人 is one of them. A person's name is listed under ‘法人’. So 法人 is an individual person acting as the legal representative of a company. In case the compay is brought to court, 法人 has to stand in front of the judge. You may assume that 法人 is the boss/CEO of the company, but that's not necessarily the case. 法人 can also be anyone who has the trust of the company's funder, his wife, her husband, his/her sibilings etc, anyone who is loyal to the company who will not cause any problems by being legal representative. It's really important to pick the right 法人 because he/she has the legal power to bind the company in contracts. In China, signature and personal seal of 法人 is a must in business contract signing. I've seen cases where companies got into some serious trouble because their lousy 法人 weren't loyal and stabbed the business funder in the back