Nature as a legal entity

虽然长期以来，法律只认识私法或公法下的法人形式的非人类，但法人圈子的扩大日益成为争议的焦点。最近，自然权利的出现在世界各地的许多法律制度中都可以观察到，一些作者甚至看到了这一方向的全球趋势。例如，每日新闻报道，在新西兰，一个国家公园和后来的一条河流被法律行为宣布为法人。根据法院的裁决，哥伦比亚和印度也发生了同样的情况。宣布值得特别保护的自然物体为法律实体，使环境保护协会能够代表它们提出上诉，旨在为解决我们这个时代紧迫的环境问题作出贡献。厄瓜多尔在自然权利方面迈出了最决定性的一步，宪法第10条第2款和第71条第1款赋予了整个自然的权利。根据《宪法》第71条第2款，任何人在法庭内外都可以主张自然权利。后续项目旨在调查承认这一新的法律实体所带来的变化。一方面，它将考虑自然权利在厄瓜多尔以外的影响。特别令人感兴趣的是这一概念可转移到其他法律制度以及可能出现的教条问题、冲突和机会。它将考虑在世界各地以及越来越多的欧洲提出自然权利的倡议。特别是，由于德国-厄瓜多尔的合作，出现了这样的问题：厄瓜多尔是否以及如何有效地实施了诉诸法院的途径，以及在程序层面上可以在多大程度上扩大诉诸德国或欧洲法院的途径。在这一框架中，自然的代表性问题也将是相关的。在法律理论层面上，有必要分析自然在法律中是如何表现的，以及这对(法人)理论有什么影响。此外，还将审议如何给予自然实体在司法程序中表达意见的可能性，以及民间社会运动在这方面可以发挥什么作用。该项目希望对新的非人类法人的出现以及将主观权利赋予非人类实体的意义有更深入的了解。

While the law has known non-human persons only in the form of legal persons under private or public law for a long time, expanding of the circle of legal persons increasingly becomes the focus of controversial debate. In the recent past the emergence of Rights of Nature can be observed in many legal systems around the globe, some authors even see a global trend in this direction. For example, the daily press reported that in New Zealand a national park and later a river were declared as legal persons by legal act. The same happened in Colombia and India by court rulings. The declaration of natural objects worthy of special protection as legal entities allows environmental protection associations to file appeals on their behalf and is intended to contribute to solving the pressing environmental problems of our time. The most decisive step towards Rights of Nature is taken in Ecuador, where the constitution gives rights to the entire nature in their entirety in Art. 10 para. 2 and 71 para. 1. According to Art. 71 para. 2 of the Constitution, the Rights of Nature can be claimed by any person in or out of court.The follow-up project aims to investigate the changes brought about by the recognition of this new legal entity. On the one hand, it will consider the impact of the Rights of Nature beyond Ecuador. Of particular interest is the transferability of the concept to other legal systems and the dogmatic problems, conflicts, but also opportunities that may arise. It will consider initiatives that claim Rights of Nature throughout the world and also increasingly in Europe. In particular, due to the German-Ecuadorian cooperation, questions arise as to whether and how access to courts has been effectively implemented in Ecuador and to what extent access to German or European courts could be expanded on a procedural level. In this framework, the question of representation of nature will also be relevant. On a legal-theoretical level, it will be necessary to analyse how nature is represented in law and what effects this has on the theory of the (legal) person. Furthermore, it will be considered how natural entities can be granted the possibility of articulation in judicial proceedings and what role civil society movements can play in this. The project hopes to gain deeper insights into the emergence of new non-human legal persons and the significance of ascribing subjective rights to non-human entities.