ABSTRACT
Legal capacity and capacity to act are regulated in Austrian law by the civil code Allgemeines bürgerliches Gesetzbuch from 1811 (hereinafter ‘ABGB’). The ABGB itself, although more than 200 years old, has been continuously amended and adapted by the legislator to current social or economic needs. Among other things, the regulation of legal capacity, including in particular the position of adults who, for health – especially mental – reasons, are unable to fully manage their own affairs, has been subject to changes recently. Austrian law, like Polish law, assumes that all human beings, natural persons, have full legal personality from the moment of birth. This is derived from § 16 ABGB, which is imbued with a legal-naturalistic concept. The ABGB distinguishes a category of persons with a broader, partial legal capacity. Their legal situation does not generally differ from that of persons between the age of 7 and 14.
