ABSTRACT

A full-blown consideration of the topic of agency is more properly the concern of a commercial law course, rather than one on the general law of contract. It is not uncommon, however, to find some treatment of agency in contract law. There are probably two reasons for this. One is that the concept is an important exception to the doctrine of privity. It will often be dealt with in this context. Another reason is that the basic concepts of agency are used in other areas of the law (company law is a good example) and so some basic understanding of them is desirable. Even within the mainstream of contract, cases such as The Eurymedon (1975), which involve the use of agency concepts, such as ratification, are difficult to understand properly without some grasp of the essence of agency itself.