4.2 Features of Contract of Agency

1. Agreement between principal and agent (express or implied) — plus consent, express or implied, of the agent to act and of the principal to be bound. 2. Fiduciary character — loyalty, no conflict, no secret profit (the heart of the relationship). 3. Acting on the principal's behalf — the agent brings the principal and third party into direct relations (distinct from the contractor's own account). 4. Capacity — anyone competent to contract can be a principal or agent; a minor's agency fails with the general law (Law of Contract-I, Unit 3). 5. No consideration necessary to create agency (the Indian Act's express rule — name only) — the relationship rests on consent, not price. 6. The authority's limits define the principal's bond — the principal is bound only within actual or apparent authority.