Jurisprudential and Legal Analysis of Article 957 of the Civil Code: Fetal Competence of Enjoyment

In Article 957 of the Civil Code, the legislator has spoken about fetal competence of enjoyment stating that the fetus enjoys civil rights, provided that it is born alive. It seems that there is no clear statement in this regard in jurisprudential texts. In this study, we try to answer the questions: Is the condition of being born alive valid only about inheritance or can it be generalized to all rules of pregnancy and fetus? What is the difference between inheritance and other rights related to pregnancy, which requires several rulings? In this article, based on religious and legal arguments, we have given appropriate answers to these questions and we have reached the conclusion that since the condition of the live birth of a fetus has religious reasons only for inheritance, the condition, by comparing other matters, cannot be generalized to contracts such as gift, peace, sale and endowment without a reason. And the spread of this condition to other contracts requires a reason which is missing, because inheritance is a legal event and is forcibly inherited by the heirs, but contracts are legal acts that are enacted by the legislator and have legal effect or are of an indefinite category that are not mentioned in the law. According to the theory of ownership transferring in contracts, the fetus becomes the owner from the time of transfer of ownership, and it does not matter if he is born alive or dead. As a result, the nature of contracts is different from inheritance. Thus, having multiple natures also requires multiple rulings. Consequently, in Article 957 of the Civil Code, it is better to reconsider the condition of the living birth of the fetus to enjoy civil rights.