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Agency law blog

Roger Billins

What is the law of agency and why should you bother about it ? I was prompted to write my textbook as a result of the introduction into our law ( all our national jurisdictions) of the E.U’s The Commercial Agents Council Directive1993. This was a radical step bringing in similar statutory protection for agents as those available to employees and also introducing into our common law concepts from the civil law of European jurisdictions. Despite Brexit the regulations implementing the Directive still apply. When writing the book, I realised the breadth of the areas of commercial and public life for which the law of agency is relevant-banking, partnership, directorships, shipping, consumer law, estate agency, solicitors and so on. Put simply an agent is someone (either a person or a corporate body) who has the authority of another (the principal) to commit that other to a contract or some private or public liability. That is why my regular updates to “ Agency Law” were so time consuming and that is why now that I am free of that burden I intend to keep my blog on the subject up to date here and on Linkedin.