Question 2 OR (b)

Ratification relates back: it is equivalent to prior authority

6 marks

Time to write
About 12 minutes
Topic
Agency
Notes
Crux notes

Question

Question 2 OR (b) · 6 marks

Ratification tantamounts to prior authority. Discuss.

Reworded from the university paper; the task is the same. The original paper belongs to the University of Delhi. See DU's question bank.

Before you write

Read off the question and its marks

12 minfor 6 marks

Read from the question

  • DiscussA statement to explain: say what it means first, then build the answer around it.

Write it in this order

  1. Read; underline the asks; jot your points 1 min
  2. 1 Ratification: meaning, express or implied 2 marks 3 min
  3. 2 Relation back to the date of the act 2 marks 3 min
  4. 3 Conditions (ss. 198–200); conclusion 2 marks 3 min
  5. Check: every ask answered, key terms underlined 2 min

Easy marks

  • Step 1 opens with the meaning: a one-line definition, the quickest mark in it.

Short on time? Trim steps 1–3 evenly rather than skip one: each is capped at its own marks.

Try it first. About 12 minutes for 6 marks. Write it out, then open the solution.

Solution

Hover or tap a marked figure, like 72,000, to see how it is made and where else it appears.

Meaning (s. 196). Where one person acts on behalf of another without that other's knowledge or authority, the other may elect to ratify or to disown them. If he ratifies them, the same effects follow as if they had been performed by his authority. Ratification means approving a previous act or transaction; it may be express or implied by conduct (s. 197).

Effect. Because ratification produces the same effects as if the act had been authorised when it was done, it relates back to the date of the act: the act binds the principal from that date, as if the agent had held prior authority. Where an agent bought goods on credit on 10 January without permission and the principal accepted responsibility for them on 20 January, the purchase bound the principal as an authorised purchase.

Conditions for a valid ratification:

  1. The person ratifying must have full knowledge of the facts; ratification by one whose knowledge is materially defective is not valid (s. 198).
  2. He must ratify the whole transaction of which the unauthorised act formed part, not merely the convenient part (s. 199).
  3. Ratification cannot subject a third person to damages, or end a right or interest of a third person, that the act would have caused if it had been authorised (s. 200).

Conclusion. Within these limits, ratification is equivalent to prior authority: the act stands as if the principal had authorised it in advance.

Where the 6 marks sit

#ComponentMarks
1Ratification: meaning, express or implied2
2Relation back to the date of the act2
3Conditions (ss. 198–200); conclusion2
Total6
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