Introduction

The first part of this book considers one of most important and traditional aspects of any commercial law undergraduate course, the law of agency. Chapter 1 begins by attempting to define the law of agency by providing several examples from commercial law scholars. Indeed, Part 1 as a whole illustrates the difficulty experienced by the courts in England and Wales in defining the term ‘agency’. The next part of Chapter 1 deals with the nature and characteristics of agency, followed by a brief outline of the different types of agents that exist in the United Kingdom. Chapter 2 provides a detailed commentary on the different types of authority that relate to an agency agreement, including actual authority. Chapter 3 seeks to provide an overview of the legal obligations that an agent owes to his principal. These include, for example, the duty to carry out contractual obligations; to obey the principal’s instructions; that the agent must not exceed his authority; the performance of contractual duties; that the agent must exercise due care and skill; the duty not to make a secret profit; not to allow any conflict of interest; and the fiduciary duties not to take a bribe or make a secret profit and to account. The chapter also outlines the rights of an agent, beginning with a discussion of the implications of a disclosed agency, a situation where the third party knows of the existence of the principal, and then dealing with an undisclosed agency, a situation where the agent acts for a principal who is not disclosed to the third party.