The perception of who should be allowed to make binding legal decisions is changing. A long-term EU-funded research project aims to create a new framework for various types of agents in law.
A newborn child is recognised as a legal person. While they possess legal status and certain rights, they remain passive in this role: lacking legal capacity, they are not considered an agent capable of making binding legal decisions or being held accountable. But this perception is shifting, and children are increasingly being regarded as independent agents.
Another example of shifting agency is the gradual but steady increase in autonomy among people with disabilities, supported in part by the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Rather than subjection to guardianship, they increasingly receive support to make important decisions. The question is whether it is possible to go even further in dismantling guardianship.
"One argument advanced involves the right to make bad decisions. Those of us recognised as agents do this all the time; it's simply part of being human," says Associate Professor of Jurisprudence .
Changing concepts
Kurki leads the five-year research project ), which has received €1.5 million from the European Research Council (ERC). The project has an ambitious goal:
"I hope we can create a framework encompassing all types of agency in law," says Kurki.
This theory could in turn help both courts and legislators understand how agency develops.
Alongside Kurki, the group pursuing this goal includes postdoctoral researchers and as well as doctoral researcher .
The need to analyse agency is not solely theoretical; it also stems from tangible social changes and evolving views of people and our environment. The concept of an agent, once very narrow, has become more inclusive over time.
"The concept has in many ways been elitist. Feminist researchers have highlighted that the legal person and agent has traditionally been represented by a white, middle-class man. The concept has been based on assumptions about who can be considered sufficiently rational to make decisions, and traces of these ideas are still evident in legislation and legal thought."
Part of the project specifically aims to uncover the origins of the legal agent in the history of ideas and explore how the concept has come about and evolved over time. Other project components include analysing animals, groups and AI as agents through case studies.
"Regarding AI, the focus is not on whether it should be afforded self-determination, but rather on responsibility and whether AI might one day be recognised as a fully-fledged legal representative. If I can currently appoint a person to represent me and enter into agreements on my behalf, could AI represent me in the future? And should AI be permitted to act as an independent agent on the stock exchange?"
