Agent Law and Legal Definition
The term agent is derived from the Latin word “agens,” meaning to do or to act. The meanings of the term “agent” vary. A representative or official of an administrative agency or government is known as an agent: an FBI agent. An agent can be a thing or a substance that produces change: a chemical agent, an electronic agent.
In the legal context, an agent is some one who is authorized to act on behalf of another (usually the principal). Any individual capable of performing the specific functions and creating legal relations between a person (principal) and third parties can become an agent. It is not essentially required that an agent be legally capable of entering into a contract. Therefore, any individual can be an agent, i.e. a minor or a lunatic can be an agent. However, the court would ignore either’s attempt to act as s/he was so young or completely incapable of understanding the function they were attempting to perform.
There are different kinds of agent such as corporate agent, dual agent, foreign agent and independent agent. For example, an independent agent is one who makes a personal judgment and is accountable to the principal only for work performed by him.
