Nature, Form and Kind of Agency

Question 0

Article 1869

Answer 0

Art. 1869. Agency may be express, or implied from the acts of the principal, from his silence or lack of action, or his failure to repudiate the agency, knowing that another person is acting on his behalf without authority.

Agency may be oral, unless the law requires a specific form. (1710a)

Question 1

Article 1868

Answer 1

Art. 1868. By the contract of agency a person binds himself to render some service or to do something in representation or on behalf of another, with the consent or authority of the latter. (1709a)

Question 2

Article 1870

Answer 2

Art. 1870. Acceptance by the agent may also be express, or implied from his acts which carry out the agency, or from his silence or inaction according to the circumstances. (n)

Question 3

Article 1871

Answer 3

Art. 1871. Between persons who are present, the acceptance of the agency may also be implied if the principal delivers his power of attorney to the agent and the latter receives it without any objection. (n)

Question 4

Article 1872

Answer 4

Art. 1872. Between persons who are absent, the acceptance of the agency cannot be implied from the silence of the agent, except:

(1) When the principal transmits his power of attorney to the agent, who receives it without any objection;
(2) When the principal entrusts to him by letter or telegram a power of attorney with respect to the business in which he is habitually engaged as an agent, and he did not reply to the letter or telegram. (n)

Question 5

Article 1873

Answer 5

Art. 1873. If a person specially informs another or states by public advertisement that he has given a power of attorney to a third person, the latter thereby becomes a duly authorized agent, in the former case with respect to the person who received the special information, and in the latter case with regard to any person.
The power shall continue to be in full force until the notice is rescinded in the same manner in which it was given. (n)

Question 6

Article 1874

Answer 6

Art. 1874. When a sale of a piece of land or any interest therein is through an agent, the authority of the latter shall be in writing; otherwise, the sale shall be void. (n)

Question 7

Article 1875

Answer 7

Art. 1875. Agency is presumed to be for a compensation, unless there is proof to the contrary. (n)

Question 8

Article 1876

Answer 8

Art. 1876. An agency is either general or special.

The former comprises all the business of the principal. The latter, one or more specific transactions. (1712)

Question 9

Article 1877

Answer 9

Art. 1877. An agency couched in general terms comprises only acts of administration, even if the principal should state that he withholds no power or that the agent may execute such acts as he may consider appropriate, or even though the agency should authorize a general and unlimited management. (n)

Question 10

Article 1878

Answer 10

Art. 1878. Special powers of attorney are necessary in the following cases:

(1) To make such payments as are not usually considered as acts of administration;
(2) To effect novations which put an end to obligations already in existence at the time the agency was constituted;

(3) To compromise, to submit questions to arbitration, to renounce the right to appeal from a judgment, to waive objections to the venue of an action or to abandon a prescription already acquired;
(4) To waive any obligation gratuitously;
(5) To enter into any contract by which the ownership of an immovable is transmitted or acquired either gratuitously or for a valuable consideration;
(6) To make gifts, except customary ones for charity or those made to employees in the business managed by the agent;
(7) To loan or borrow money, unless the latter act be urgent and indispensable for the preservation of the things which are under administration;
(8) To lease any real property to another person for more than one year;
(9) To bind the principal to render some service without compensation;
(10) To bind the principal in a contract of partnership;
(11) To obligate the principal as a guarantor or surety;
(12) To create or convey real rights over immovable property;
(13) To accept or repudiate an inheritance;
(14) To ratify or recognize obligations contracted before the agency;
(15) Any other act of strict dominion. (n)

Question 11

Article 1879

Answer 11

Art. 1879. A special power to sell excludes the power to mortgage; and a special power to mortgage does not include the power to sell. (n)

Question 12

Article 1880

Answer 12

Art. 1880. A special power to compromise does not authorize submission to arbitration. (1713a)

Question 13

Article 1881

Answer 13

Art. 1881. The agent must act within the scope of his authority. He may do such acts as may be conducive to the accomplishment of the purpose of the agency. (1714a)

Question 14

Article 1882

Answer 14

Art. 1882. The limits of the agent’s authority shall not be considered exceeded should it have been performed in a manner more advantageous to the principal than that specified by him. (1715)

Question 15

Article 1883

Answer 15

Art. 1883. If an agent acts in his own name, the principal has no right of action against the persons with whom the agent has contracted; neither have such persons against the principal.

In such case the agent is the one directly bound in favor of the person with whom he has contracted, as if the transaction were his own, except when the contract involves things belonging to the principal.

The provisions of this article shall be understood to be without prejudice to the actions between the principal and agent. (1717)