DELEGATION - The Law Mind Legal Dictionary

See encyclopedia: Assignment of Rights -- General Principles and Limitations →

DELEGATIONAuthored

The Law Mind • 1461 words

Definition

Delegation is the act of conferring authority, power, or responsibility upon another person to act on one's behalf. The term carries distinct meanings across three primary legal contexts:

1. Agency and General Law. The transfer of authority by one person to another, empowering the recipient (the delegate) to act within the scope of that authority. A person who holds a bare power or discretionary authority generally cannot re-delegate that power to a third party — the principal's trust was placed in the original agent, not in whoever that agent might choose.

2. Contract Law — Delegation of Duties. The assignment by an obligor of the performance of a contractual duty to a third party. Delegation of a duty is distinct from assignment of a right. The delegating party remains liable on the original obligation unless the obligee expressly releases them; the delegate's performance satisfies the duty but does not automatically discharge the delegator. Some duties are non-delegable as a matter of law or contract — particularly those involving personal skill, trust, or confidence.

3. Civil Law — Novation by Delegation. A substitution mechanism by which an original debtor, in order to be discharged from an obligation to a creditor, places a third party before that creditor as the new obligor. When the creditor accepts the substitution, the original debtor is released. This is a species of novation and requires the creditor's consent to achieve discharge.

A fourth usage — political and representative — describes the body of persons appointed to represent a constituency, state, or group at a convention, assembly, or deliberative body. This usage is largely descriptive rather than doctrinal.

Common Language

Modern common usage (Wiktionary): The act of delegating; a group of delegates; in law, the act by which a debtor assigns performance of an obligation to another party.
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): The act of delegating, or investing with authority to act for another; one or more persons commissioned to represent others, as in a convention or Congress; also, a kind of novation by which a debtor, to be liberated from a creditor, gives him a third person as a new debtor.
The common definitions capture the transfer-of-authority and representative-body meanings accurately. The legal gap lies in the consequences: common usage implies that delegation fully substitutes the delegate for the delegator, while contract law holds that the delegator typically remains bound unless expressly released. The civil-law novation sense requires affirmative creditor acceptance to achieve discharge — a condition the ordinary definition does not signal.

Recognized Forms

/SUBTYPES
DELEGATION IN AGENCY: Transfer of authority from principal through agent to sub-agent. Subject to the rule that a delegated power may not ordinarily be re-delegated (delegatus non potest delegare).

DELEGATION OF CONTRACTUAL DUTIES: An obligor arranges for a third party to perform a duty owed under a contract. The original obligor is not discharged unless the obligee agrees to a novation or the contract provides otherwise.

NON-DELEGABLE DUTIES: Duties that, by their nature or by agreement, must be performed personally. Typically includes obligations that depend on personal skill, special trust, or the specific identity of the performer. Delegation of a non-delegable duty does not transfer the obligation and does not excuse non-performance.

DELEGATION BY NOVATION (CIVIL LAW): A three-party transaction — delegator (original debtor), delegate (new debtor), and delegatee (creditor) — in which the creditor's acceptance of the new debtor extinguishes the original obligation.

DELEGATION OF TRUSTEE AUTHORITY: A trustee's conferral of discretionary powers or administrative functions upon co-trustees, agents, or advisors. Governed by the prudent investor standard in modern trust law; the trustee retains a duty to monitor delegates.

POLITICAL DELEGATION: The body of representatives collectively sent from one state, district, or organization to a larger assembly. A descriptive usage with minimal independent doctrinal content.

Why It Matters in Research

The central research trap with delegation is conflation across its three doctrinal meanings. A historical source discussing delegation in a contracts context may be using civil-law novation vocabulary — particularly in Louisiana materials or treatises drawing on Roman law — when the surrounding jurisdiction actually applies common-law rules under which the delegator remains liable. Read the discharge question carefully: civil-law delegation discharges the original debtor upon creditor acceptance; common-law delegation of duties does not.

The maxim delegatus non potest delegare (a delegate cannot delegate) appears throughout agency, administrative, and public law materials. In historical sources, this phrase often signals discussion of the limits of sub-agency. In constitutional and administrative law research, the same maxim appears in the non-delegation doctrine governing legislative power — a separate body of law not centered on private agency. Do not import private-law delegation rules into constitutional non-delegation doctrine without care.

In contracts research, distinguish clearly between delegation of duties and assignment of rights. Historical sources sometimes use "assignment" loosely to cover both. The liability consequences differ sharply: assignment of a right transfers the benefit; delegation of a duty transfers performance responsibility but not, absent novation, ultimate liability.

For trusts research, the historical and modern standards for permissible trustee delegation diverged substantially in the twentieth century. Older sources reflect a stricter rule against trustees delegating discretionary functions. Modern prudent investor frameworks permit broader delegation with ongoing monitoring duties. The encyclopedia entries cross-referenced above address both the general principles and the post-delegation liability question in contract and trust contexts respectively.

The political delegation meaning — a body of representatives — is common in nineteenth-century American legal and legislative sources. It carries no doctrinal weight but can create confusion when a historical text shifts between discussing the act of delegating authority and referring to a representative group as "the delegation."

Historical Dictionary Support

The historical dictionaries present delegation across its civil-law, common-law, and political senses with varying emphasis and completeness.

Bouvier's Law Dictionary centers its treatment on the civil-law novation meaning, defining delegation as a substitution by which the original debtor "gives [the creditor] a third person, who becomes obliged in his stead." Bouvier ties the concept to novation explicitly and conditions debtor discharge on creditor acceptance — the structurally important point. Bouvier also states the agency limit clearly: when a "bare power or authority" has been given, the agent "cannot, in general, delegate that authority, or any part of it, to a third person, for the obvious reason that the principal" — the entry as reproduced does not complete the sentence, but the principle is unmistakable.

Burrill's Law Dictionary follows the same civil-law emphasis, treating delegation primarily as a "changing or substitution of one debtor for another" and a "species of novation," citing Erskine's Institutes. Burrill's treatment is the most textually complete on the civil-law side and anchors the concept firmly in Roman law origins, though it does not extend to the common-law contracts context in detail.

Rapalje & Lawrence offer a broader definitional sweep — "a sending away; a putting into commission; the assignment of a debt to another; the entrusting another with a general power to act for the good of those who depute him" — that acknowledges both the contractual assignment sense and the representative-authority sense. This multi-clause approach is useful for navigating sources that slide between meanings.

Black's Law Dictionary (2nd Ed.) synthesizes effectively, presenting the common-law transfer-of-authority sense alongside the civil-law debt-substitution sense and acknowledging the political body meaning. The second edition is the most practically useful of the shelf sources for modern common-law research because it does not subordinate the agency meaning to the civil-law one.

The historical dictionaries collectively omit two things modern researchers need: the distinction between delegation of duties and assignment of rights in contract law, and any treatment of administrative or constitutional non-delegation doctrine. For those questions, the historical shelf provides background vocabulary but not doctrinal guidance.

Jurisdictional Note

Louisiana follows civil-law tradition and treats delegation primarily within the novation framework, requiring creditor acceptance for discharge of the original debtor. Common-law jurisdictions apply the rule that delegation of a contractual duty does not discharge the delegator absent an express release or novation. The constitutional non-delegation doctrine — limiting Congress's ability to delegate legislative power to administrative agencies — is a distinct federal constitutional subject not covered by the private-law entries in this dictionary.

DELEGATIONmain

Black's Law Dictionary • 1891

DELEGATES, THE HIGH COURT

DELEGATIONmain

Bouvier's Law Dictionary • 1928

In Civil Law. A kind of novation by which the original debtor, in order to be liberated from his creditor, gives him a third person, who be- comes obliged in his stead to the creditor or to the person appointed by him. See

DELEGATIONmain

Bouvier's Law Dictionary • 1928

Any person, sui juris, may delegate to another in authority to act for him in a mat- ter which is lawful and otherwise capable of being delegated; Comyns, Dig. Attorney, c. 1; 9 Co. 75b; Story, Ag. § 6. When a bare power or authority has been given to another, the latter cannot, in gen- eral, delegate that authority, or any part of it, to a third person, for the obvious rea- son that the principal has relied upon the intelligence, skill, and ability of his agent, and cannot have the same confidence in a stranger; Story, Ag. § 13; 2 Kent 633; Broom, Leg. Max. 839; 5 Pet. 390; 3 Stor. 411, 425; 1 McMull. 453; 15 Pick. 303, 307; 26 Wend. 485; 11 G. & J. 58; 5 Ill. 127, 133; 35 W. Va. 300; 62 Hun 369; 2 Misc. Rep. 397. A power to delegate his authority may, however, be given to the agent by express terms of substitution; 1 Hill 505. And some- times such power is implied, as in the fol- lowing cases: First, when, by the law, such power is indispensable in order to accom- plish the end proposed: as, for example, when goods are directed to be sold at auc- tion, and the law forbids such sales except by licensed auctioneers ; 6S. & R. 386. Second, when the employment of such substitute is in the ordinary course of trade: as, where it is the custom of trade to employ a ship- broker or other agent for the purpose of procuring freight and the like; 2 M. & S. 301; 2 B. & P. 438; 3 Johns. Ch. 167, 178; 6 S. & R. 386. Third, when it is understood by the parties to be the mode in which the particular thing would or might be done; 3 Chit. C. L. 206; 9 Ves. 234, 251, 252; 1 M. & S. 484; 2 id. 301, 303, note. See 53 Fed. Rep. 936. Fourth, when the powers thus delegated are merely mechanical in their nature; 1 Hill 501; Sugd. Pow. 176. As to the form of the delegation, for most purposes it may be either in writing, not under seal, or verbally without writing; or the authority may be implied. When, how- ever, the act is required to be done under seal, the delegation must also be under seal unless the principal is present and verbally or impliedly authorizes the act; Story, Ag. § 51; Mech. Ag. 81; 5 Cush. 483. Judicial power cannot be delegated; 3 Brev. 500; 112 N. C. 141; a statute author- izing an attorney to sit in the place of a judge who was disqualified, by reason of prejudice or interest, is void; 39 Wis. 390; S. Č. 20 Am. Rep. 50. See 3 Dutch. 622; Cooley, Const. Lim. 117. Legislative power cannot be delegated by the legislature to any other body or author- ity; 62 Me. 62, 451; 43 Tex. 41; 72 Pa. 491; 45 Mo. 458; 26 Vt. 362; 4 Harring. 479; 8 N. Y. 483; Cooley, Const. Lim. 141; 45 Fed. Rep. 178; 50 id. 406; 47 Mo. App. 125; see 143 U. S. 649; but the taking effect of a statute may be made to depend upon some subsequent event; 7 Cra. 382; 60- Me. 356; 23 Md. 449; 42 Conn. 583; 43 Iowa 252. The grant by congress to the secretary of war prescribing rules for the use of canals owned or operated by the government is not a delegation of legislative power, and the rules prescribed by him have the force of law and persons violating the same are subject to criminal punishment therefor; 74 Fed. Rep. 207. The question of the adop- tion or rejection of a general law cannot be referred to the vote of the people. It is usual, however, to confer certain legisla- tive functions upon muncipal corporations, and this practice has been constantly upheld. The state government may delegate to a municipal corporation part of its own powers, but these powers cannot be dele- gated by the corporation, unless the author- ity to delegate is specially granted by the legislature, nor can the corporation divest itself of the discretion vested by the statute; 44 La. 809. Acts (commonly called local-option laws) permitting the people of a locality to ac- cept or reject for themselves particular police regulations, have been upheld as con- stitutional; 72 Pa. 491; s. c. 13 Am. Rep. 716; 119 Mass. 199; 42 Ind. 547; contra, 6 Pa. 507; 4 Harring. 479; 33 Ia. 134; s. C. 11 Am. Rep. 115; 62 Mo. 168. See Cooley, Const. Lim. 150; 60 Conn. 97.

DELEGATIONn.

Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913

The act of delegating, or investing with authority to act for another; the appointment of a delegate or delegates. One or more persons appointed or chosen, and commissioned to represent others, as in a convention, in Congress, etc.; the collective body of delegates; as, the delegation from Massachusetts; a deputation. A kind of novation by which a debtor, to be liberated from his creditor, gives him a third person, who becomes obliged in his stead to the creditor, or to the person appointed by him. Pothier.

delegationnoun

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.

An act of delegating. | A group of delegates. | A method-dispatching technique describing the lookup and inheritance rules for self-referential calls. | The act whereby or constellation in which the performance of an obligation (owed to an obligee, presuming its validity; irrespective of the obligation as the target of the delegation, rarely called delegatary) is assigned by its debtor (delegator, obligor) to and towards another party (delegatee, delegate)

Explore the full Law Mind legal research platform.

Subscribe Encyclopedia Sign In