ABSTRACT
The law of agency is particularly important to allow for the smooth flow of commercial transactions, some of which require specialised knowledge. It would be near impossible to expect a single person to carry out all his business single-handedly. For this reason, principals employ the services of agents to act on their behalf to enter into contracts or dispose of their property. These actions are traditionally considered to encompass the law of agency. One author correctly notes, however, that agency should not be so strictly construed as agents are sometimes delegated the legal powers of the principal without performing either of these two tasks. 1 One case in point is the real estate agent who, assuming the legal power of the principal, may show a property but not necessarily have the authority to dispose of it or enter into a contract for that purpose.
