Nature and Extent of an Agents Authority

Authors

Floyd R. Mechem, University of Chicago

Abstract

§ I. PURPOSE of THIS PAPER.-It has been seen in another place how the relation of principal and agent may be created and how it may be terminated. The purpose of creating the agency is to confer authority upon the agent,--to clothe him to a greater or less extent, and for a shorter or longer period, with a portion of that power with which nature and the laws of society have invested the principal. For the time being, and in some capacity, the principal has another self, who, by his will and act, is invested with the power to speak and do with like effect as if he himself should speak or do. It will be very evident that to those persons who may have occasion to deal with the principal through this other self, the question of how fully, how certainly and for how long a time, he has invested the latter with his own personality, becomes exceedingly important. And not only this, but these matters being ascertained, it is no less important to determine whether any given act assumed to be done by virtue thereof, is, in reality, within the fullness, the certainty and the term of the investment. It will be equally evident that these are questions not always easy of solution, not only because men are notoriously careless and indefinite in their words and acts, but because even if, in a given case, a power has been conferred in terms the most express and definite, the questions may still arise whether the express words embrace the act assumed to be done by virtue of them; whether the mode of doing has been that contemplated by the language used; whether subsequent changes in the circumstances of the parties, or the condition of the subject matter have warranted any departure from that mode; whether in consideration of the nature of the act to be done, or the time and place of doing it, custom or necessity have added to, or subtracted from, the powers originally conferred. It is the purpose of this paper to ascertain the principles upon which the solution of these questions rests.

Recommended Citation

Floyd R. Mechem, Nature and Extent of an Agents Authority, 4 Mich. L. Rev. 434 (1906).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol4/iss6/2