Agency Flashcards
What are the requirements to create an agency relationship?
- Assent - both parties agree
- Benefit - will work for principal
- Control - A agrees to work for control
No CX needed
What is a principal?
Any individual or entity with the legal capacity to possess rights and incur obligation who agrees to be bound by the acts of an agent within the scope of the agent’s authority.
Who cannot be a principal?
Incapacitated persons, the intoxicated, the very ill, etc.
What entities can be principals?
Employers, corporations, partnerships
What entity cannot be a principal for want of legal capacity?
Unincorporated associations
Who can be an agent?
Any person with minimal capacity
Who can be a principal?
Any person with legal capacity.
What is required for minimal capacity?
The ability to:
- Assent to the agency relationship;
- Perform the tasks on behalf of the principal; and
- Be subject to the principal’s control
What characteristics define independent contractors?
- Maintain a high level of independence
- Free to work for others
- Paid on a fix fee
- Have own tools
Who can terminate an agency relationship?
Either party can terminate an agency relationship unilaterally.
When is a principal liable for contracts entered to by an agent?
The principal is bound on a contract when the principal has authorized the agent to enter that contract.
What are the four types of legal authority?
- Actual express authority.
- Actual implied authority.
- Apparent authority.
- Ratification.
What is actual express authority and what is required for it?
Actual express authority requires:
- The principal expressly grants authority to the agent.
- The agent must have the subjective intent of doing what the principal wants him to do.
- The belief must be reasonable
What is actual implied authority?
Actual implied authority is words or conduct that conveys authority to that may reasonably be understood by the agent to authorize taking whatever steps are necessary to achieve the principal’s objectives.
When does death end authority?
Actual express authority ends when the agent has actual knowledge of the principal’s death or when the agent dies.