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Agency is an area of commercial law dealing with a contractual or quasi-contractual tripartite set of relationships when an Agent is authorized to act on behalf of another <No it is not.>(called the Principal) to create a legal relationship with a Third Party. Succinctly, it may be referred to as the relationship between a principal and an agent whereby the principal, expressly or impliedly, authorizes the agent to work under his control and on his behalf. The agent is, thus, required to negotiate on behalf of the principal or bring him and third parties into contractual relationship. This branch of law separates and regulates the relationships between: Commercial law or business law is the body of law which governs business and commerce and is often considered to be a branch of civil law and deals both with issues of private law and public law. ...
A contract is a legally binding exchange of promises or agreement between parties that the law will enforce. ...
A quasi-contract, also an implied-in-law contract, is a legal substitute for a contract. ...
Agency is an area of law dealing with a contractual or quasi-contractual relationship between at least two parties in which one, the principal, authorizes the other, the agent, to represent her or his legal interests and to perform legal acts that bind the principal. ...
In Commercial Law, a Principal is a person, fictitious or otherwise, who authorises an Agent to act to create one or more legal relationships with a Third Party. ...
- Agents and Principals;
- Agents and the Third Parties with whom they deal on their Principals' behalf; and
- Principals and the Third Parties when the Agents purport to deal on their behalf.
The common law principle in operation is usually represented in the Latin phrase, qui facit per alium, facit per se, i.e. the one who acts through another, acts in his or her own interests and it is a parallel concept to vicarious liability and strict liability in which one person is held liable in Criminal law or Tort for the acts or omissions of another. This article concerns the common-law legal system, as contrasted with the civil law legal system; for other meanings of the term, within the field of law, see common law (disambiguation). ...
Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ...
Vicarious liability is a form of strict, secondary liability that arises under the common law doctrine of agency – respondeat superior – the responsibility of the superior for the acts of their subordinate, or, in a broader sense, the responsibility of any third party that had the right, ability or duty to...
Strict liability is a legal doctrine in tort law that makes a person responsible for the damages caused by their actions regardless of culpability (fault) or mens rea. ...
Criminal law (also known as penal law) is the body of statutory and common law that deals with crime and the legal punishment of criminal offenses. ...
Tort is a legal term that means a civil wrong, as opposed to a criminal wrong, that is recognized by law as grounds for a lawsuit. ...
The concepts The reciprocal rights and liabilities of Principal and Agent reflect commercial needs and legal realities. In any business of size, it is not possible for one person to travel everywhere to negotiate all the transactions necessary to maintain or grow the business. These problems are increased if the business is a corporation, because it is then a fictitious legal person and, as such, it can only act through human agents. Hence, independent people are contracted by businesses to buy and sell goods and services on behalf of those businesses. When agreements are made, the Principal is liable under the contract(s) made by the Agent. So long as the Agent has done what he or she was instructed to do, the result is the same as if the Principal had done it directly. Corporate redirects here. ...
If the issue is considered from the view of innocent Third Parties, they are approached by a person who is clearly identified as acting for another. They deal with that person in good faith, relying on the representation of authority. Indeed, in a busy commercial world, it would not be cost-effective to check that everyone who is represented as having the authority to act for another actually has that authority. Deals are done at face value in the majority of routine situations. If it should later appear that the alleged agent was acting without the consent of the Principal, the Agent will usually be held liable. Any other decision would be unduly disruptive to the usual flow of trade. This commercial necessity has led to the creation of a body of law that applies in any situation, commercial or otherwise, where one person is seen to be acting for another. Good faith, or in Latin bona fides, is the mental and moral state of honesty, conviction as to the truth or falsehood of a proposition or body of opinion, or as to the rectitude or depravity of a line of conduct, even if the conviction is objectively unfounded. ...
Brief statement of legal principles There are three broad classes of Agent: - Universal agents hold broad authority to act on behalf of the Principal, e.g. they may hold a power of attorney (also known as a mandate in civil law jurisdictions) or have a professional relationship, say, as lawyer and client.
- General agents hold a more limited authority to conduct a series of transactions over a continuous period of time; and
- Special agents are authorized to conduct either only a single transaction or a specified series of transactions over a limited period of time.
A power of attorney or letter of attorney in common law systems or mandate in civil law systems is an authorization to act on someone elses behalf in a legal or business matter. ...
Mandate can mean: An obligation handed down by an inter-governmental body; see mandate (international law) The power granted by an electorate; see mandate (politics) A League of Nations mandate To some Christians, an order from God; see mandate (theology) The decision of an appeals court; see mandate (law) The...
Civil law or continental law is the predominant system of law in the world. ...
In law, jurisdiction (from the Latin ius, iuris meaning law and dicere meaning to speak) is the practical authority granted to a formally constituted legal body or to a political leader to deal with and make pronouncements on legal matters and, by implication, to administer justice within a defined area...
English barrister 16th century painting of a civil law notary, by Flemish painter Quentin Massys. ...
Authority For these purposes, the Principal must give, or be deemed to give, the Agent authority to act. - This arises where the Principal's words or conduct reasonably cause the Agent to believe that he or she has been authorized to act. This may be express in the form of a contract or implied because what is said or done make it reasonably necessary for the person to assume the powers of an Agent. If it is clear that the Principal gave actual authority to Agent, all the Agent's actions falling within the scope of the authority given will bind the Principal. This will be the result even if, having actual authority; the Agent in fact acts fraudulently for his own benefit unless the Third Party was aware of the Agent's personal agenda. If there is no contract but the Principal's words or conduct reasonably led the Third Party to believe that the Agent was authorized to act, or if what the Agent proposes to do is incidental and reasonably necessary to accomplish an actually authorized transaction or a transaction that usually accompanies it, then the Principal will be bound.
- If the Principal's words or conduct would lead a reasonable person in the Third Party’s position to believe that the Agent was authorized to act, say by appointing the Agent to a position which carries with it agency-like powers, those who know of the appointment are entitled to assume that there is apparent authority to do the things ordinarily entrusted to one occupying such a position. If a Principal creates the impression that an Agent is authorized but there is no actual authority, Third Parties are protected so long as they have acted reasonably. This is sometimes termed "Agency by Estoppel" or the "Doctrine of Holding Out", where the Principal will be estopped from denying the grant of authority if Third Parties have changed their positions to their detriment in reliance on the representations made.
- Authority by virtue of a position held:
- For example, partners have apparent authority to bind the other partners in the firm, their liability being joint and several (see below), and in a corporation, all executives and senior employees with decision-making authority by virtue of their declared position have apparent authority to bind the corporation.
Even if the Agent does act without authority, the Principal may ratify the transaction and accept liability on the transactions as negotiated. This may be express or implied from the Principal's behavior, e.g. if the Agent has purported to act in a number of situations and the Principal has knowingly acquiesced, the failure to notify all concerned of the Agent's lack of authority is an implied ratification to those transactions and an implied grant of authority for future transactions of a similar nature. A contract is a legally binding exchange of promises or agreement between parties that the law will enforce. ...
In the broadest sense, a fraud is a deception made for personal gain. ...
In law, ostensible authority refers to the apparent authority of an agent (usually a company director) of a company as it appears to others,[1] and it can operate both to enlarge actual authority and to create authority where no actual authority exists. ...
Estoppel is an equitable doctrine proposing that any person who asks the courts to enforce a legal remedy should have a clear conscience. ...
A partnership is a type of business entity in which partners share with each other the profits or losses of the business undertaking in which all have invested. ...
Joint and several liability is a common law rule of liability, whereby a plaintiff may recover the entirety of the damages from any of negligent defendants independent of their individual share of the liability. ...
Corporate redirects here. ...
Liability of agent to third party If the Agent has actual or apparent authority, the Agent will not have liability on any transactions agreed within the scope of that authority so long as the Principal was disclosed, i.e. the fact of the agency was revealed and the identity of the Principal revealed. But where the agency is undisclosed or partially disclosed, both the Agent and the Principal are bound. Where the Principal is not bound because the Agent had no actual or apparent authority, the purported Agent is liable to the Third Party for breach of the implied warranty of authority.
Liability of agent to principal If the Agent has acted without actual authority, but the Principal is nevertheless bound because the Agent had apparent authority, the Agent is liable to indemnify the Principal for any resulting loss or damage.
Liability of principal to agent If the Agent has acted within the scope of the actual authority given, the Principal must indemnify the Agent for payments made during the course of the relationship whether the expenditure was expressly authorized or merely necessary in promoting the Principal’s business.
Liability of third party to principal The Third Person will be liable to the Principal on the terms of the agreement made with the Agent unless the Principal was undisclosed and there is clear evidence that either the Agent or the Principal knew that the Third Party would not have entered into the agreement if he or she had known of the Principal's involvement.
Duties The Agent's primary fiduciary duty is to be loyal to the Principal. This involves duties: A fiduciary is a person who occupies a position of trust in relation to someone else such that he is required to act for the latters benefit within the scope of that relationship. ...
- Not to accept any new obligations that are inconsistent with the duties owed to the Principal. Agents can represent the interests of more than one Principal, conflicting or potentially conflicting, only on the basis of full and timely disclosure or where the different agencies are based on a limited form of authority to prevent a situation where the Agent's loyalty to any one of the Principals is compromised. For this purpose, express clauses in the agreement signed by each Principal with the Agent may identify specific types or categories of activities that will not breach the duty of loyalty and so long as these exceptions are not unreasonable, they will bind the Principals.
- Not to make a private profit or unjustly enrich himself from the agency relationship.
In return, the Principal must make a full disclosure of all information relevant to the transactions that the Agent is authorized to negotiate and pay the Agent either a prearranged commission, or a reasonable fee established after the fact. The payment of commission as remuneration for services rendered or products sold is a common way to reward sales people. ...
Termination An Agent's authority can be terminated at any time. If the trust between the Agent and Principal has broken down, it is not reasonable to allow the Principal to remain at risk in any transactions that the Agent might conclude during a period of notice.
Agency and partnership This has become a more difficult area as states are not consistent on the nature of a partnership. Some states opt for the partnership as no more than an aggregate of the natural persons who have joined the firm. Others treat the partnership as a business entity and, like a corporation, vest the partnership with a separate legal personality. Hence, for example, in English law, a partner is the agent of the other partners whereas, in Scots law where there is a separate personality, a partner is the agent of the partnership. This form of agency is inherent in the status of a partner and does not arise out of a contract of agency with a Principal. In the English Partnership Act 1890 provides that a partner who acts within the scope of his actual authority (express or implied) will bind the partnership when he does anything in the ordinary course of carrying on partnership business. Even if that implied authority has been revoked or limited, the partner will have apparent authority unless the Third Party knows that the authority has been compromised. Hence, if the partnership wishes to limit any partner's authority, it must give express notice of the limitation to the world. However, there would be little substantive difference if English law was amended (see Law Commission Report 283 [1]): partners will bind the partnership rather than their fellow partners individually. For these purposes, the knowledge of the partner acting will be imputed to the other partners or the firm if a separate personality. The other partners or the firm are the Principal and Third Parties are entitled to assume that the Principal has been informed of all relevant information. This causes problems when one partner acts fraudulently or negligently and causes loss to clients of the firm. In most states, a distinction is drawn between knowledge of the firm's general business activities and the confidential affairs as they affect one client. Thus, there is no imputation if the partner is acting against the interests of the firm as a fraud. There is more likely to be liability in tort if the partnership benefited by receiving fee income for the work negligently performed, even if only as an aspect of the standard provisions of vicarious liability. Whether the injured party wishes to sue the partnership or the individual partners is usually a matter for the Plaintiff since, in most jurisdictions, their liability is joint and several. In jurisprudence, a natural person is a human being perceptible through the senses and subject to physical laws, as opposed to an artificial person, i. ...
The term business entity refers generally to any organization engaged in business activities, regardless of legal structure. ...
Corporate redirects here. ...
English law is a formal term of art that describes the law for the time being in force in England and Wales. ...
Scots law (or Scottish law) is the law of Scotland. ...
The Law Commission is an independent body set up by Parliament in 1965 to keep the law of England and Wales under review and recommend necessary reforms. ...
The principle of imputation or attribution reflects the general public policy underpinning the operation of the law which is that ignorantia juris non excusat, the Latin for ignorance of the law is no excuse. ...
Negligence is a legal concept usually used to achieve compensation for accidents and injuries. ...
Tort is a legal term that means a civil wrong, as opposed to a criminal wrong, that is recognized by law as grounds for a lawsuit. ...
Joint and several liability is a common law rule of liability, whereby a plaintiff may recover the entirety of the damages from any of negligent defendants independent of their individual share of the liability. ...
Agency relationships Agency relationships are common in many professional areas. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...
For the album by the Kaiser Chiefs see Employment (album) Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. ...
Real estate is a legal term that encompasses land along with anything permanently affixed to the land, such as buildings. ...
A real estate broker is a party who acts as an intermediary between sellers and buyers of real estate and attempts to find sellers who wish to sell and buyers who wish to buy. ...
A mortgage broker acts as an intermediary who sources mortgages on behalf of individuals or businesses. ...
This page may meet Wikipedias criteria for speedy deletion. ...
Stock brokers are people who deal with stock & bonds. ...
Accountancy (profession) or accounting (methodology) is the measurement, disclosure or provision of assurance about financial information primarily used by managers, investors, tax authorities and other decision makers to make resource allocation decisions within companies, organizations, and public agencies. ...
PR may stand for: Pacific Southwest Airlines IATA code defunct PageRank Peer review Performance rating Permanent residency per rectum, an abbreviation for a rectal examination Perry Rhodan Pershing Rifles personal record, in running, specifically competitive running, such as cross country running or track and field. ...
Management (from Old French ménagement the art of conducting, directing, from Latin manu agere to lead by the hand) characterises the process of leading and directing all or part of an organization, often a business, through the deployment and manipulation of resources (human, financial, material, intellectual or intangible). ...
This article is concerned with the production of books, magazines, and other literary material (whether in printed or electronic formats). ...
For other uses, see Music (disambiguation). ...
For other uses see film (disambiguation) Film refers to the celluliod media on which movies are printed Film — also called movies, the cinema, the silver screen, moving pictures, photoplays, picture shows, flicks, or motion pictures, — is a field that encompasses motion pictures as an art form or as...
Serge Sudeikins poster for the Bat Theatre (1922). ...
Show business is a vernacular term for the business of entertainment. ...
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