In law, individual capacity is a term of art referring to one's status as a natural person, distinct from any other role. For example, an officer, employee or agent of a corporation, acting "in their individual capacity" is acting as himself, rather than as an agent of the corporation. Thus, their actions, in their capacity as an individual would not generally incur a liability on the part of the corporation, nor would they have any protection from liability for their own actions as an individual.
In general, a person may be said by a second party to be acting in their capacity as an individual, whenever the person's actions are the result of their own decisions, rather than being actions to which they are obligated in their capacity as an agent of another person or agency.
Famous quotes containing the words individual and/or capacity:
“What is wanted—whether this is admitted or not—is nothing less than a fundamental remolding, indeed weakening and abolition of the individual: one never tires of enumerating and indicting all that is evil and inimical, prodigal, costly, extravagant in the form individual existence has assumed hitherto, one hopes to manage more cheaply, more safely, more equitably, more uniformly if there exist only large bodies and their members.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“That way of life against which my generation rebelled had given us grim courage, fortitude, self-discipline, a sense of individual responsibility, and a capacity for relentless hard work.”
—Rose Wilder Lane (1886–1968)