Principal And Agent - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition principal-and-agent

Definition :

Principal and agent, he who being sui juris, and competent to do any act for his own benefit on his own account, employs another person to do it, is called the principal constituent, or employer, and he who is thus employed is called the agent, attorney, proxy, or delegate of the principal, constituent or employer. The relation thus created between the parties is termed an agency. The power thus delegated is called in law an authority. And the act, when performed, is often designated as an act of agency or procuration, Story on Agency, 3. See AGENT; POWER OF ATTORNEY; VICARIOUS RESPONSIBILITY; and consult Bowstead on Agency or Wright on Principal and Agent.

Principal and agent, expressions 'principal' and 'agent' used in a document are not decisive. The nature of transaction is required to be determined on the basis of the substance there and not by the nomenenture use, Assam Small Scale Ind. Dev. Corporation Ltd. v. M/s J.D. Pharmacenficalse Ltd., AIR 2006 SC 131.