Sharon Toh, MITI MCIL Mar 1, 2014:

Indeed, Shirley In this context, it's about the capacity to make whatever juridical acts. And yes, legal capacity to contract is one example, and the ability to inherit and to sue or be sued are also part of it. Taking contract as an example, who has no or limited capacity to contract? Example of the classes of such people: http://chestofbooks.com/business/law/Law-Of-Contracts-3/Sec-...
Of course, different legal systems may define the classes differently, but the general idea is still the same.
I don't insist on the wording (there is, more often than not, more than one way of saying the same thing), but neither do I think there's any miscomprehension of the source...

Shirley Lao Mar 1, 2014:

Further to my previous comment on "age", the "age" here shall mean one's chronological age rather than one's mental age.

Shirley Lao Mar 1, 2014:

The "capacity to act" usually means "the capability to engage in a particular undertaking or transaction (for example, to enter into a binding contract, to inherit and to sue or be sued), to maintain a particular status or relationship with another individual, and more in general to create, modify or extinguish legal relationships.
www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable/.../ahc6ohchrlegalcap.doc‎

Shirley Lao Mar 1, 2014:

Please refer to 第一章信託概說: 委託人之資格 Page 6-Page 9
www.eyebook.com.tw/books/2F101/2F101-CON.pdf

The "法律上係屬無行為能力人或限制行為能力人" here for 委託人 shall be defined by age (seven years of age) and some other conditions, but not usually by mental competence or capacity, pursuant to the provisions of the Civil Code.

jyuan_us Feb 27, 2014:

I think Wenyi Jia made a point by pointing out that it refers to a person without (with a limited)capacity for civil conduct, 即沒有民事行為能力的人。 目前的譯文聽起來像有沒有能力出庭或介入法律事宜。 This is not the case. The Chinese source means something very different.

jyuan_us Feb 27, 2014:

中文理解有誤 在法律上係屬無行為能力人或限制行為能力人=符合法律上定義的無行為能力或行為能力首先的人，而不是指有沒有LEGAL CAPACITY TO ACT。實際上，這裡所指的應該是智力殘障人士、嚴重精神病患者，以及長期昏迷的人(植物人)

David Lin Feb 27, 2014:

specificity Hi Ewan, to be fair to Phil, your question is specific about 無行為能力人 and most of us, including me, thought you could sort it out yourself. I believe if your question is specific enough about the whole sentence "無行為能力人或限制行為能力人", not just one term, I believe Phil, and others, would still be able to suggest a good answer for you. I think they deserve credit as they attempted to help you and therefore are worth your showing some appreciation of their efforts from a courtesy point of view.

QHE Feb 26, 2014:

Context 只想强调一下：Ewan 所提问题的出处是’ 信託總約定書‘，地点是台灣.

David Lin Feb 26, 2014:

'Incompetence' USA & Canada. It's a common usage. Definitions of incompetent person in law used in U.S.A.:

http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/incompetent

From Cornell Law Information Institute, New York
"Lack of legal ability to do something, especially to testify or stand trial. Also known as "incompetency."

http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/incompetent

From "Legal Status in Louisiana" - U.S.A.
A person's legal status is technically that person's standing in the eyes of the law. A person's legal status is either "competent" or "incompetent"; that is, the person is determined capable or incapable of making his own decisions regarding personal finances, medical treatment or any other decision affecting that person. If a person is unable to care for himself, the law provides methods to change that person's legal status to permit another individual to make the important decisions regarding his care.

http://www.advocacyla.org/tl_files/publications/LegalStatus....

Canada too: The Incompetent Persons Act
"incompetent person" includes a person, not an infant, who is incapable from infirmity of mind of managing the person's own affairs. http://nslegislature.ca/legc/statutes/incompet.htm

jyuan_us Feb 26, 2014:

incapacitated PERSON 来自医疗方面的法律的官方译文。

Sharon Toh, MITI MCIL Feb 26, 2014:

Update to Part 1 (No more space for me to add more words during editing...)
My first sentence in Part 1 should be: For me, capacity and competence are basically the same thing, which was why I said 'capacity/competence' (meaning either one can be used, depending on the target audience), but I also find 'to act' important.

Sharon Toh, MITI MCIL Feb 26, 2014:

Part 3 4. And here's from Wiki on 'competence':
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Competence_(law)

I will look for more references later when I have more time. Time to get back to work for today. :)

Sharon Toh, MITI MCIL Feb 26, 2014:

Part 2 2. http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable/rights/documents/ahc6ohc...
Here, there is some discussion on 'legal capacity' and 'capacity to act'. In page 6, it defines 'capacity to act' as "the capability to engage in a particular undertaking or transaction (for example to enter into a binding contract, to inherit and to sue or be sued), to maintain a particular status or relationship with another individual (e.g. to adopt a child or to marry and found a family), and in general to establish rights and duties by way of one’s own conduct."

Page 9:
"The Committee recognised that there was some discussion concerning the distinction between being a person before the law and having ***legal capacity to act***, and noted the existence of a general agreement that Article 16
was intended to ensure that every person would be a subject, and not an object, of the law; but (…) it was not intended to deal with the question of ***a person’s legal capacity to act, which might be restricted for such [various] reasons...***" [Asterisks are mine]

3. Definition of capacity by the legal dictionary of The Free Dictionary:
http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/capacity

Sharon Toh, MITI MCIL Feb 26, 2014:

My response is too long, so... Part 1 For me, capacity and competence are basically the same thing, which was why I said 'capacity/competence' (meaning either one can be used, depending on the target audience). I shifted the earlier "在法律上" to go along with it (i.e. instead of "legally considered a person with no or limited capacity/competence to act", I said "considered a person with no or limited legal capacity/competence to act"), not for 'redundancy'.

Just done some quick search for the purpose of discussion.

1. This is from Australia: http://www.lawreform.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/Guardian...
The entire article is about 'capacity' and 'incapacity' and is quite long. I've briefly glanced through and read certain parts. Perhaps the definition in its Introduction is more relevant for quoting here: "The concept of capacity is used throughout the law as a shorthand term to refer to a level of cognitive ability that is required before a person can lawfully do various things. Because lack of capacity can prevent people from participating in many of the activities that form part of daily life, alternative decision-making arrangements are necessary."

David Lin Feb 25, 2014:

中国内地对一个人的法律上的行为能力的考量 赞成。欧、英、北美、大中华地区的法律概念确实存在不少差异，但是也许会异途同归。

曾经看过由中国人民公安大学教授李玫瑾写的一篇法律文章。里面提到以 ‘刑事／法律责任能力’ 作鑑定的概念，用来处理犯案精神病人须否付刑事责任。其用词和原文 ‘行为能力’ 有一点相似。

李教授说：“如何认定一个人是否有’刑事责任能力”？关键在于认定此人是否具有“正常活动” 的能力。这里的’活动‘， 指有认识能力的人进行 ’有意识‘ 的智力活动。一个人的行为有指向性，有事先策划或规划性，有在他人面前表现的欲望，有利己的行为选择等，都是’有意识‘的表现，有就相应具有 ’刑事责任能力‘。”

总得来说，好像即英文 a competent person 或 incompetent person 之分。比 capacity 表达得更清楚。

供讨论。

Shirley Lao Feb 25, 2014:

It seems that different legal systems conceptualize and define terms like "legal capacity", "legal competence", "capacity to act", and "disposing capacity" in a slightly different manner.

Refer to the book entitled "The Legal Culture and System of Taiwan" by a professor in law in Taiwan for the definitions of terms like "legal capacity", "disposing capacity" and so forth.
http://books.google.com.tw/books?id=84bfG5_1T5oC&pg=PA73&lpg...

Shirley Lao Feb 25, 2014:

"Legal capacity to act" Versus "Mental capacity to act"
在法律上係屬無行為能力人