Agency (law)

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 sometimes bind the principal. The agent sometimes has a fiduciary relationship with and is under a legal duty to act in the best interests of the principal. An agency can be expressly created for various purposes by contract or appointment, but it can also be implied from the conduct of the parties. Both an "attorney-in-fact" and an "attorney at law" are agents. In the former the agent is given a "power of attorney" also known as a mandate in civil law jurisdictions.

Creating agency

• Express authority is given in a written contract that defines positions, duties, and expectations of parties
• Implied authority is the agent's right to act where it is customary or the norm in the specific business context
• "Ostensible" agency is when actions cause a third party to assume someone is an agent
• Agency by estoppel is created when an agent's unauthorized activity causes a third party to believe the agent has that authority.
• Agency by ratification occurs when the unauthorized action of the agent is accepted by the principal after the fact.