contract of agency
agency agreement , also: agency contract

Alternatives to the universal partnership exist in the form of life partnership contracts and contracts of agency.

This form of agency is inherent in the status of a partner and does not arise out of a contract of agency with a principal.

An analogy can be drawn with study of the law of contract: books are written both on particular types of contract, such as contracts of agency or sale, but also on the general principles of the law of contract.

Nor did the fact that the defendants had a direct financial interest in securing a sale of Vertigo constitute a breach of fiduciary duty since the contract of agency envisaged that they might have such a conflict of interest.

Thus, in the present case, the scope of the fiduciary duties owed by the defendants to the plaintiff (and in particular the alleged duty not to put themselves in a position where their duty and their interest conflicted) are to be defined by the terms of the contract of agency.

This fact is fully recognised in the introduction to chapter 5 of Bowstead on Agency, pp. 137-138: the rest of the chapter, including the proposition on which the judge relied, is dealing with the duties which will arise from the terms normally found in a contract of agency.