Considerations on the scope and interpretation of the new «legal capacity» of persons with disabilities introduced by Law 8/2021 of June 2, which reforms civil and procedural legislation to support persons with disabilities in the exercise of their legal capacity.

Abstract

The recent publication of Law 8/2021, of June 2, which reforms civil and procedural legislation to support persons with disabilities in the exercise of their legal capacity, in force since September 3, 2021, culminates, without a doubt, one of the most important modifications of recent times by adapting our private legal system to the requirements and guidelines of the 2006 New York Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The main objective of this paper is to analyze the scope and interpretation that should be given to the terms legal capacity and disability used in the new Law, starting from the essence of the proposed reform, that is, from the key elements of the new paradigm presented in the aforementioned Convention and General Comment No. 1 of 2014 of the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The ultimate purpose intended is none other than to propose an adequate integration of said terms in our legal system in general, and in the structure of the Law of the Person, in particular, which facilitates in fine any subsequent interpretation and application of the content of the new Law.