ABSTRACT
Agency is of immense importance in business and professional life, and indeed everyday life. The starting point of the law of agency in English law is the usual one of freedom of contract, that the agent and the principal should be free to agree between themselves what terms they want. In both common and civil law systems, commercial agents are first and foremost 'agents' in law since they act on behalf of and in the name of the principal. The fact that civil and common law systems regulate the agency relationship in a different manner seems to be explained when looking at the origins of the general rules of agency. The Directive is based on the mainland European civil-law rationale whereby commercial agents are in need of protection. The two main commercial considerations are the control of the business and financial risk. The Agency Regulations implement Directive 86/653, which was enacted in order to reinforce the protection of commercial agents.
