CAPACITY

capacity. 1. The role in which one performs an act <in her corporate capacity>.

proprietary capacity.The capacity of a city or town when it engages in a business-like venture rather than a governmental function. See PROPRIETARY FUNCTION. [Cases: Municipal Corporations  57. C.J.S. Mu-nicipal Corporations §§ 104, 106, 108, 110–115, 117–118, 122,

137–138, 143, 145–146.]

representative capacity.The position of one standing or acting for another, esp. through delegated authority <an agent acting in a representative capacity for the principal>. [Cases:

Principal and Agent  1. C.J.S. Agency §§ 2, 4–6, 23, 25–27, 33, 38–40, 58; Architects § 21.]

2. The power to create or enter into a legal relation under the same circumstances in which a

normal person would have the power to create or enter into such a relation; specif., the satisfaction of a legal qualification, such as legal age or soundness of mind, that determines one’s ability to sue or be sued, to enter into a binding contract, and the like <she had full capacity to bind the corporation with her signature>. • Unless necessary to show the court’s jurisdiction, a plaintiff’s pleadings need not assert the legal capacity of any party. A party wishing to raise the issue of capacity must do so by specific negative pleading. Fed. R. Civ. P. 9(a). — Also termed (specif.) capacity to sue; power over oneself. See STANDING. Cf. LACK OF CAPACITY. [Cases: Contracts  11; Federal Civil Procedure  111; Infants  70. C.J.S. Contracts § 32; Infants§§ 215, 226.] 3. The mental ability to under-stand the nature and effect of one’s acts <his acute pain reduced his capacity to understand the hospital’s admission form>. — Also termed mental capacity; sane memory. See COMPETENCY.

criminal capacity.The mental ability that a person must possess to be held accountable for a crime; the ability to understand right from wrong. See INSANITY; INFANCY. [Cases: Criminal

Law  46; Homicide  815. C.J.S. Criminal Law §§ 96–98, 113.]

diminished capacity.An impaired mental condition — short of insanity — that is caused by intoxication, trauma, or disease and that prevents a person from having the mental state necessary to be held responsible for a crime. • In some jurisdictions, a defendant’s diminished capacity can be used to determine the degree of the offense or the severity of the punishment. — Also termed diminished responsibility. Cf. INSANITY. [Cases: Criminal Law  46; Homicide  816. C.J.S.

Criminal Law §§ 96–98, 113.] disposing capacity.See testamentary capacity.

testamentary capacity.The mental ability that a person must have to prepare a valid will. • This capacity is often described as the ability to recognize the natural objects of one’s bounty, the nature and extent of one’s estate, and the fact that one is making a plan to dispose of the estate after death. Traditionally, the phrase “of legal age and sound mind” refers to the testator’s capacity. — Also termed disposing capacity; disposing mind; sound mind. See age of capacity under AGE.

[Cases: Wills  21–55. C.J.S. Indians § 117; Wills§§ 2, 4–40.]

4. The ability or power to do or experience something.

decreased capacity.A diminution in a person’s physical ability because of an illness, injury, or

impairment. [Blacks Law 8th]