Lecture 7

Agency

An agency is a relationship of two parties in which one party – the agent – acts on behalf of another party – the principal. The principal is generally the owner of property and delegates authority to the agent to carry out some or all of the rights of ownership with respect to some or all of that property. As a practical matter, this will frequently involve the negotiation and execution of a contract by the agent on behalf of the principal. Employment, which we will study briefly later int he quarter, is a specialized form of agency in which the basic common law agency rules have been modified by statute, usually to favor the employee.

An attorney is a special form of agent, created by some statutory process. Attorneys-at-law are those licensed by the state to represent clients in legal transactions. Attorneys-in-fact receive authority through powers of attorney; because the authority involves significant property rights or health care decisions, the agency must follow the formal requirements of statutes.

Materials: Read Miller & Jentz Chapter 22, and scan through Chapter 31. Also read carefully this summary of powers of attorney and this example of an advance directive. These are the lecture slides. The lecture itself will be available as a downloadable file during and after the TTh 12-2 class meeting.

Quizzes:

       Quiz 11 will be available from 1600 on 20 October until 1000 on 21 October. It covers only the readings & slides for this lecture.

       Quiz 12 will be available from 0800 on 23 October until 1800 on 24 October. This will cover all the material from this lecture.