Apparent Authority in UK Law

Leading Cases
  • Hely-Hutchinson v Brayhead Ltd
    • Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
    • 22 Junio 1967

    It is express when it is given by express words, such as when a board of directors pass a resolution which authorises two of their number to sign cheques. It is implied when it is inferred from the conduct of the parties and the circumstances of the cape, such as when the board of directors appoint one of their number to be managing director. They thereby impliedly authorise him to do all such things as fall within the usual scope of that office.

    Ostensible or apparent authority is the authority of an agent as it appears to others. Thus, when the board appoint one of their number to be managing director, they invest him not only with implied authority, but also with ostensible authority to do all such things as fall within the usual scope of that office. But sometimes ostensible authority exceeds actual authority.

  • Freeman & Lockyer (A Firm)(Plaintiffs) Buckhurst Park Properties (Mangal) Ltd and Shiv Kumar Kapoor (Defendants)
    • Court of Appeal
    • 24 Enero 1964

    An "apparent" or "ostensible" authority, on the other hand, is a legal relationship between the principal and the contractor created by a representation, made by the principal to the contractor intended to be and in fact acted upon by the contractor, that the agent has authority to enter on behalf of the principal into a contract of a kind within the scope of the "apparent" authority, so as to render the principal liable to perform any obligations imposed upon him by such contract.

    The representation which creates "apparent" authority may take a variety of forms of which the commonest is representation by conduct, that is by permitting the agent to act in some way in the conduct of the principal's business with other persons.

    He can rely only upon a representation by a person or persons who have actual authority to manage or conduct that part of the business of the corporation to which the contract relates.

    The commonest form of representation by a principal cremating an "apparent" authority of an agent is by conduct, namely, by permitting the agent to act in the management or conduct of the principal's business.

  • Armagas Ltd v Mundogas SA (The Ocean Frost)
    • Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
    • 18 Octubre 1984

    It is frequently very difficult to tell whether a witness is telling the truth or not; and where there is a conflict of evidence such as there was in the present case, reference to the objective facts and documents, to the witnesses' motives, and to the overall probabilities, can be of very great assistance to a judge in ascertaining the truth.

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Legislation
  • Carriage of Goods by Sea Act 1992
    • UK Non-devolved
    • 1 de Enero de 1992
    ... ... , and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: ... 1: Shipping documents etc. to which Act ... a person who was not the master but had the express, implied or apparent authority of the carrier to sign bills of lading, ... 5: Interpretation ... ...
  • Partnership Act 1890
    • UK Non-devolved
    • 1 de Enero de 1890
    ... ... the authority of the same, as follows: ... Nature of Partnership ... Nature of ... ) Where one partner acting within the scope of his apparent ... authority receives the money or property of a third person and ... ...
  • Consumer Rights Act 2015
    • UK Non-devolved
    • 1 de Enero de 2015
  • Health and Social Care Act 2012
    • UK Non-devolved
    • 1 de Enero de 2012
    ... ... , and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:— ... PART 1: The health service in England ... subsection (1) , after paragraph (c) insert—(d) an alleged or apparent failure in a service provided by the authority in pursuance of ... ...
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Books & Journal Articles
  • Reluctant Bedfellows: Want of Authority and Knowing Receipt
    • No. 75-1, January 2012
    • The Modern Law Review
    The case note examines the recent decision of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal in Thanakharn Kasikorn Thai Chamkat (Mahachon) v Akai Holdings Ltd, where Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury adopted the ...
    ... ... ) v Akai Holdings Ltd , where Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury adopted the test of irrationality in determining whether a defaulting agent had apparent authority to act on behalf of his principal to confer benefits on a third party.His Lordship further held that a concurrent claim in knowing receipt ... ...
  • Syntagmatic relationships and indexing consistency on a larger scale
    • No. 64-4, July 2008
    • Journal of Documentation
    • 602-615
    Purpose: The purpose of this article is to examine interindexer consistency on a larger scale than other studies have done to determine if group consensus is reached by larger numbers of indexers a...
    ... ... apparent authority of communally developed informationresources, communally ... ...
  • BUREAUCRACY IN A COLLEGE OF ADVANCED EDUCATION
    • No. 12-2, February 1974
    • Journal of Educational Administration
    • 123-134
    This paper reports the results of a questionnaire survey of academic staff at the Western Australian Institute of Technology (WAIT). On the question of bureaucracy in its technical rather than its ...
    ... ... A number of questions were asked on authority relations and it was apparent that those in the sample perceiving a clear ... ...
  • Parad0x and Pragmatism: ?Virtual Immunities' and the Imposition of Liability in Negligence Claims Against Local Authorities
    • No. 4-1, January 2014
    • Southampton Student Law Review
    • David Humphreys
    • 63-84
    The field of public authority liability has attracted much attention through apparent uncertainty of law. The issue of immunity for local authorities, due to policy considerations, has received div...
    ... ... David Hum phrey s ... The field of public authority liability has attracted much attention through apparent uncertainty of ... ...
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Law Firm Commentaries
  • Directors' Apparent Authority
    • Mondaq United Kingdom
  • Academy Trust Contracts
    • Mondaq UK
    ...A question of authority ... What can an academy trust do: ... where a delegated power to ... has been made through apparent authority ... Apparent authority Internal governance structures of ... ...
  • What Happens When You Sign A Corporate Contract Without Authorisation?
    • Mondaq UK
    ... ... act beyond their actual authority? Will the company have to foot ... the bill and face the consequences of ... The principle of "apparent authority" ... This is where the principle of "apparent authority" ... ...
  • What Did You Intend? Negotiators Beware
    • Mondaq United Kingdom
    ... ... who attended the September 2003 meeting on their behalf had no authority to enter into a binding contract. MUL accepted that the individual in ... representative did have authority and on that basis, there was apparent authority. The Court reiterated that apparent or ostensible authority can ... ...
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