AUTHORITY

5 definitions found across Law Mind sources

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The Law Mind • 1331 words
Definition
Authority is a multi-layered legal term encompassing three distinct but related concepts: 1. Delegated power (agency law). The lawful grant of power from one person (the principal) to another (the agent) to act on the principal's behalf. This is the dominant meaning in private law and the one most thoroughly developed in American jurisprudence. The authority may be express or implied, general or special, coupled with an interest or bare. 2. Governmental power. The legal right of a public officer or government body to issue commands, take action, or impose obligations within the scope of a defined public function. Authority in this sense is coextensive with jurisdiction and is bounded by the enabling statute, constitution, or charter from which it derives. 3. Administrative body. In English public law (and by adoption in some American administrative contexts), an "authority" is a public body constituted to exercise jurisdiction over a particular subject matter — sanitary authorities, housing authorities, port authorities, and similar bodies. This usage is structural rather than relational: the word names the institution rather than the power it wields. A fourth usage, distinct from the three above, refers to legal precedent or persuasive sources — cases, statutes, treatises — cited to support a legal argument. This usage is standard in appellate practice and legal writing but belongs to legal methodology rather than to substantive law. ---
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): Power or right to make or enforce rules, give orders, or impose obligation; or a position having such power or right. Also, persons regarded collectively who occupy official positions of power; police or law enforcement. Also, a reliable, definitive source of information on a subject. Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): Legal or rightful power; a right to command or to act; power exercised by a person in virtue of his office or trust; dominion; jurisdiction; authorization. "Thus can the demigod, Authority, Make us pay down for our offense." — Shakespeare. The common language captures the governmental and institutional meanings reasonably well but entirely misses the agency-law meaning — the granular, relational concept of delegated power between a principal and an agent — which is the term's workhorse meaning in contracts, torts, and commercial law. A researcher encountering "authority" in a 19th-century contract dispute is almost certainly reading about agency, not government power. ---
Common Confusion
Authority is frequently conflated with power, but they are not synonymous in legal usage. Power is the capacity to produce a legal effect; authority is the permission or delegation that makes the exercise of that capacity lawful. An agent may have the power (practical ability) to bind a principal without having the authority (legal right) to do so — and the consequences differ significantly. Unauthorized acts may still bind principals under apparent authority doctrines, but the distinction matters for ratification, liability, and indemnification analysis. Authority coupled with an interest is often confused with ordinary agency. The distinction is legally significant: a mere authority is revocable by the principal at will; an authority coupled with an interest — where the agent holds a stake in the subject matter of the authority itself — is irrevocable. Bouvier and Rapalje both flag this distinction, and it recurs throughout 19th-century equity cases involving security arrangements. ---
Recognized Forms
/SUBTYPES Express authority: Authority explicitly conferred, in writing or orally. Implied authority: Authority inferred from the nature of the agency or the circumstances. Apparent (ostensible) authority: Authority arising from the principal's conduct toward third parties, even if not actually granted. General authority: Authorization to act across the full range of a particular business or enterprise. Special (limited) authority: Authorization restricted to a specific act or class of acts. Authority coupled with an interest: An irrevocable authority granted as part of a security or for valuable consideration where the agent holds an interest in the subject matter. ---
Why It Matters in Research
The term shifts meaning depending on the field of law and the era of the source. A researcher moving between agency opinions, administrative law materials, and appellate briefs may encounter "authority" doing three entirely different jobs in the same document. Failure to anchor the term to its operative context is a common source of misreading. In historical sources, authority in agency law was developed primarily through English common law and Story's treatise on agency, which Bouvier cites directly. American courts in the 19th century drew heavily on Story, and many early American decisions on apparent authority and ratification are traceable to that framework. Researchers working in agency-law history should follow the Story citations embedded in Bouvier rather than treating the dictionary definitions as self-contained. The administrative-body usage — "authority" as institutional name — becomes significant in the 20th century with the proliferation of federal and state administrative agencies styled as "authorities." Port authorities, housing authorities, and transit authorities occupy an ambiguous constitutional space between government and private entity. Research in this area must distinguish between what the authority is (structural) and what authority it has (functional). Historical dictionaries treat this usage briefly and primarily through English examples; American administrative law scholarship is the better resource. The legal-precedent meaning of "authority" — cases and statutes cited as support — is almost entirely absent from the historical dictionaries, which treat it only glancingly. Yet it is ubiquitous in case law and appellate briefs. When a 19th-century opinion refers to "the weight of authority" or "controlling authority," it is using this methodological sense, not the agency or governmental sense. Jurisdictional variation in what constitutes apparent authority, and whether apparent authority can arise from an agent's own representations alone (the minority rule), is a persistent trap in multi-jurisdictional research. ---
Historical Dictionary Support
The historical dictionaries are largely in agreement on the core definition — lawful delegation of power by one person to another — drawing on the same common-law tradition. Black's (both editions), Bouvier, and Rapalje all lead with this formulation, suggesting it was the settled and primary meaning by the mid-to-late 19th century. Anderson's Dictionary of Law adds structural texture by enumerating subtypes: executive authority (vested in the president or governor), judicial authority (power of a court or judge), and legislative authority, reflecting the emerging administrative vocabulary of the post-Civil War period. This taxonomy maps onto the separation-of-powers framework that was hardening into doctrine during the same era. Rapalje's treatment of authority coupled with an interest is notably crisp: "mere authority is revocable by the grantor at any time; one coupled with an interest is not." This formulation predates modern restatement language but captures the same rule. Researchers relying on pre-Restatement sources will find Rapalje useful as a bridge text. What the historical dictionaries miss collectively: the apparent authority doctrine receives little systematic treatment, the administrative-body usage is explained primarily through English examples (sanitary authorities, prison authorities), and the legal-precedent meaning is not treated as a distinct definition at all. For any of these, modern secondary sources and the Law Mind Encyclopedia are more reliable guides. ---
Jurisdictional Note
The law of implied and apparent authority varies meaningfully by jurisdiction, particularly regarding whether apparent authority can be created by the agent's own representations without corroborating conduct by the principal. Researchers working across jurisdictions in agency disputes should not assume uniformity and should check whether the relevant state has adopted the Restatement (Third) of Agency, which modernized several of these doctrines. ---
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
Commander-in-Chief Power and Military Authority (The Law Mind Constitutional Law Encyclopedia) — relevant to the governmental-power meaning of authority as it applies to executive command and the constitutional limits on presidential military action. ---
Related Terms
Agency | Apparent authority | Delegation | Express authority | Implied authority | Authority coupled with an interest | Principal | Ratification | Power | Jurisdiction | Mandate | Scope of authority | Administrative agency | Ultra vires
AUTHORITYmain
Black's Law Dictionary • 1891
In contracts. The law- ful delegation of power by one person to an- other. In the English law relating to public ad- ministration, an authority is a body having jurisdiction in certain matters of a public nature. In governmental law. Legal power; a right to command or to act; the right and power of public officers to require obedience to their orders lawfully issued in the scope of their public duties. Authority to execute a deed must be given by deed. Com. Dig. "Attorney," C, 5; 4 Term, 313; 7 Term, 207; 1 Holt, 141; 9 Wend. 68, 75; 5 Mass. 11; 5 Bin. 613.
AUTHORITYmain
Bouvier's Law Dictionary • 1928
In Contracts. The lawful delegation of power by one person to another. Authority coupled with an interest is an authority given to an agent for a valuable consideration, or which forms part of a security. Express authority is that given explicitly, either in writing or verbally. General authority is that which authorizes the agent to do everything connected with a particular business. Story, Ag. § 17. It empowers him to bind his employer by all acts within the scope of his employment; and it cannot be limited by any private order or direction not known to the party dealing with him. Paley, Ag. 190, 800, 801. Limited authority is that where the agent is bound by precise instructions. Special authority is that which is con- fined to an individual transaction; Story, Ag. § 19; 15 East 400, 408; 6 Cow. 854. Such an authority does not bind the employer, unless it is strictly pursued; for it is the business of the party dealing with the agent to examine his authority; and therefore, if there be any qualifica tion or express restriction annexed to it, it must be observed; otherwise, the principal is discharged; Paley, Ag. 208. Naked authority is that where the prin- cipal delegates the power to the agent wholly for the benefit of the former. A naked authority may be revoked; an authority coupled with an interest is irrevocable. Unlimited authority is that where the agent is left to pursue his own discretion. Authority by law. An agency may be created by law, as in those cases where the law authorizes a wife to pledge her hus- band's credit, even against his will, it creates a compulsory agency, and her re- quest is his request; Mechem, Ag. § 82; 134 Mass. 418. Delegation of. An authority may be del- egated by deed for any purpose whatever; for whenever an authority by parol would be sufficient, one by deed will be equally so. When the authority is to do something which must be performed through the medium of a deed, then the authority must also be by deed, and executed with all the forms necessary to render the instrument perfect; unless, indeed, the principal be present, and verbally or impliedly authorize the agent to fix his name to the deed; as, if a man be authorized to convey a tract of land, the letter of attorney must be by deed; Whart. Ag. § 48; Paley, Ag., Lloyd ed. 157; Story, Ag. §§ 48, 51; 65 N. C. 688; 14 S. & R. 331; 2 Pick. 345; 5 Mass. 11: 1 Wend. 424; 12 id. 525; 67 III. 161; 11 Ohio 223; 46 Mich. 610; 72 Ind. 48. But a writ- ten authority is not required to authorize an agent to sign an unsealed paper, or a contract in writing not under seal, even where a statute makes it necessary that the contract, in order to bind the party. shall be in writing, unless the statute posi tively requires that the authority shall also be in writing; Paley, Ag., Lloyd ed. 161; 2 Kent 613, 614; Story, Ag. § 50; 1 Chitty, Com. Law 213; Mech. Ag. 311: 6 Ves. Ch. 250; 8 Ired. 74; 29 Mo. 439; 13 N. Y. 587; 21 Mich. 374; 44 N. J. L. 126; 67 Ala. 336; 84 111. 263; 65 N. C. 688. For most purposes, the authority may be either in writing not under seal, or verbally, or by the mere employment of the agent; or it may be implied from the conduct of the employer in sanctioning the credit given to a person acting in his name; Paley, Ag. 2, 161. The exigencies of commercial affairs render such an appointment indis- pensable; Story, Ag. § 47; Dig. 8. 3. 1. 1; Pothier, Pand. 3. 3. n. 8; Domat 1. 15, § 1, art. 5; 3 Chitty, Com. Law 5, 194, 195; 7 Term 350. The authority given must have been possessed by the person who delegates it, or it will be void; and it must be of a thing fawful, and be otherwise ca- pable of being delegated, or it will not justify the person to whom it is given; Dig. 102; Keilw. 83; 5 Coke 80. The authority may be conferred merely by letter; 86 Mo. 178; 99 U. S. 668; 17 III. 441. An authority is to be so construed as to include not only all the necessary and prop- er means of executing it with effect, but also all the various means which are justi- fied or allowed by the usages of trade; Story, Ag. §§ 58, 60; 6 S. & R. 146; 10 Wend. 218; 11 III. 177. Exercise of. An agent who has bare power or authority from another to do an act must execute it himself, and cannot delegate his authority to a sub-agent; for the confidence being personal, it cannot be assigned to a stranger; Story, Ag. § 18; Mech. Ag. 184-197; 2 Kent 633. But the principal may, in direct terms, authorize his agent to delegate the whole or any por- tion of his authority to another. Or the power to appoint a sub-agent may be im- plied, either from the terms of the original authority, from the ordinary custom of trade, or from the fact that it is indispens- able in order to accomplish the end; Paley, Ag., Dunlop ed. 175; Story, Ag. § 14;9 Ves. Ch. 234, 251, 252. See DELEGATION. When the authority is particular, it must, in general, be strictly pursued, or it will be void, unless the variance be merely circum- stantial; Co. Litt. 49 b, 181 b, 303 b;
AUTHORITYn.
Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913
Legal or rightful power; a right to command or to act; power exercised buy a person in virtue of his office or trust; dominion; jurisdiction; authorization; as, the authority of a prince over subjects, and of parents over children; the authority of a court. Thus can the demigod, Authority, Make us pay down for our offense. Shak. By what authority doest thou these things Matt. xxi. 23. Government; the persons or the body exercising power or command; as, the local authorities of the States; the military authorities. [Chiefly in the plural.] The power derived from opinion, respect, or esteem; influence of character, office, or station, or mental or moral superiority, and the like; claim to be believed or obeyed; as, an historian of no authority; a magistrate of great authority. That which, or one who, is claimed or appealed to in support of opinions, actions, measures, etc. Hence: Testimony; witness. "And on that high authority had believed." Milton. A precedent; a decision of a court, an official declaration, or an opinion, saying, or statement worthy to be taken as a precedent. A book containing such a statement or opinion, or the author of the book. Justification; warrant. Wilt thou be glass wherein it shall discern Authority for sin, warrant for blame. Shak.
authoritynoun
Wiktionary (English) • 2026
Wiktionary contributors • CC BY-SA 4.0 • via Kaikki
Extracted and formatted for display by Law Mind. Source link opens the current Wiktionary page and its contributor history; it is not a frozen copy of this extract.
Power or right to make or enforce rules, give orders, or impose obligation; or a position having such power or right. | Persons, regarded collectively, who occupy official positions of power; police or law enforcement. | A reliable, definitive source of information on a subject. | Status as a trustworthy source of information, reputation for mastery or expertise; or claim to such status or reputation. | Official permission; authorisation to act in some capacity on behalf of a ruling entity. | A government-owned agency that runs a revenue-generating activity for public benefit.

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