Also known as: agency law · agency
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A body of legal rules that governs the relationship in which one party, the principal, authorizes another party, the agent, to act on the principal's behalf and to affect the principal's legal relations with third parties. The doctrine imposes fiduciary duties on the agent within the scope of the agency and determines when the principal is bound by the agent's acts.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Lakeshore Industries received a subpoena in a contract dispute requiring it to produce a witness on supply-chain practices. The company designated its operations manager to testify after conferring with opposing counsel about the topics. The manager's testimony bound the company because the designation satisfied the requirement that the organization select a person with knowledge reasonably available to it.
Lorenzo Lugo left a federal agency after working on a procurement matter. He later sought to represent a bidder in the same procurement. The ethics review concluded that his prior personal and substantial participation barred the representation absent written consent from the agency.
Laura Lewis hired Luke Latham to negotiate a land purchase. Latham learned of a zoning change that would increase the property's value and purchased an adjacent parcel for himself without disclosure. The court held Latham liable for breaching his duty to act solely for Lewis's benefit within the scope of the agency.
Lunar Dynamics, a religious foster agency, refused to certify same-sex couples under a city policy that allowed case-by-case exemptions. The agency invoked the policy's discretionary language to argue the rule was not generally applicable. The court applied strict scrutiny because the exemption mechanism undermined general applicability.
Lakewood Manufacturing contracted to buy steel at a price set by an industry index published by a trade association. The association ceased publishing the index. The buyer could treat the contract as cancelled or fix a reasonable price because the agreed standard was not recorded.
Lillian Locke purchased medical supplies for her incapacitated husband using joint funds. When the supplier sought payment from her alone, the court imposed liability on both spouses under the doctrine that one spouse may bind the other for necessaries regardless of express agency authority.
An organization is bound when it designates a person to testify about information known or reasonably available to it under the deposition rule. The designation process requires good-faith conferral on the matters for examination before or promptly after service of the notice.
The appropriate government agency must give informed consent confirmed in writing. Without that consent the lawyer is disqualified from the representation.
…or] in a hospital approved by the [Department of Health] or operated by the United States, this state, or any department, agency, or political subdivision of either;] or by a female upon herself upon the advice of the physician; and "(2) within [20] weeks after the commencement of the pregnancy [or after [20] weeks…
…cost of the advertisement was approximately $4800, and it was published by the Times upon an order from a New York advertising agency acting for the signatory Committee. The
…offending against the provisions aforesaid shall forfeit a sum of $500 for each and every offence, and every person having any agency in circulating any note aforesaid not stamped as aforesaid directed shall forfeit a sum not exceeding $100; every penalty aforesaid to be recovered by indictment or action of debt in the…
…for administering the law is vested in the Landmarks Preservation Commission (Commission), a broad based, 11-member agency
…their conduct and not to their intent or their words as between themselves but to their factual relation. Restatement (Second), Agency
The agent owes fiduciary duties of loyalty and good faith. Breach of those duties exposes the agent to liability for profits obtained or losses caused within the scope of the agency.
A policy loses general applicability when it grants officials discretionary authority to create individualized exemptions. Such a regime triggers strict scrutiny even if the policy appears neutral on its face.
The buyer may treat the contract as cancelled or fix a reasonable price. The failure of the agreed standard to be recorded removes the price term that the parties selected.
Yes. The common-law doctrine of necessaries imposes liability on both spouses for essential goods and services regardless of whether the purchasing spouse had actual or apparent authority to bind the other.