A legal person, also called juridical person or juristic person, is a legal entity through which the law allows a group of natural persons to act as if they were a single composite individual for certain purposes, or in some jurisdictions, for a single person to have a separate legal personality other than their own. This legal fiction does not mean these entities are human beings, but rather means that the law allows them to act as persons for certain limited purposes—most commonly lawsuits, property ownership, and contracts. This concept is separate from and should not be confused with limited liability or the joint stock principle. . Also note that basic rights (like the rights to free speech and due process of law) do not necessarily follow from legal personhood. A legal person is sometimes called an artificial person or legal entity (although the latter is sometimes understood to include natural persons as well). Although the concept of a legal person is more central to Western law in both common law and civil law countries, it is also found in virtually every legal system.

In England and the United States, the use of this terminology does not mean that legal persons are considered human beings. It is simply a "technical legal meaning" in which "a 'person' is any subject of legal rights and duties." Because these entities may have legal rights and duties, they are considered 'legal persons' to distinguish them from natural persons.

Note: This Wikipedia entry deals with the legal concept legal person. There is an ongoing political debate and controversy in the U.S. over the extent to which constitutional rights presumed to have been created for natural persons have increasingly been asserted by corporations and other legal persons, popularly referred to as corporate personhood. For more information, see Corporate personhood debate.