The Law Dictionary

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STATUS Definition & Legal Meaning

Definition & Citations:

The status of a person is his legal position or condition. Thus, when we say that the status of a woman after a decree nisi for the dissolution of her marriage with her husband has been made, but before it has been made absolute, is that of a married woman, we mean that she has the same legal rights, liabilities, and disabilities as an ordinary married woman. The term is chiefly applied to persons under disability, or per- sons who have some peculiar condition which prevents the general law from applying to them in the same way as it does to ordinary persons. Sweet. See Barney v. Tourtellotte, 138 Mass. 108; De la Montanya v. De la Montanya, 112 Cal. 115. 44 Pac. 345, 32 L. R. A. 82, 53 Am. St. Rep. 105; Dunham v. Dunham, 57 111. App. 407. There are certain rights and duties, with cer- tain capacities and incapacities to take rights and incur duties, by which persons, as subjects of law, are variously determined to certain classes. The rights, duties, capacities, or incapacities which determine a given person to any of these classes, constitute a condition or status with which the person is invested. Aust. Jur.

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