Introduction to Nigerian Business Law: Law of Agency and Hire-Purchase

Flashcards covering vocabulary and key legal principles of Agency Law and Hire-Purchase as presented in the Nigerian Business Law lecture notes.

Agency Relationship

A relationship that exists whenever one person (the agent) acts on behalf of another person (the principal) and has power to affect the principal's legal position with a third party.

delegatus non potest delegare

A Latin maxim meaning that an agent to whom power has been delegated cannot, as a general rule, sub-delegate that power to another person.

Ministerial Act

An act that is administrative in nature rather than involving personal skill, serving as an exception to the rule against sub-delegation.

Duty of Care and Skill

The obligation for an agent to exhibit such care and skill in the performance of duties as might reasonably be expected of an agent of their status.

Fiduciary Position

A position of trust meaning an agent must act in good faith and must not allow personal interest to conflict with their duty.

Duty to Account

The requirement for an agent to pay over all sums received to the principal and maintain proper records produced on request.

Estoppel

A principle where an agent is not allowed to deny the title of their principal to any property or money which is the subject-matter of the agency.

Express Authority

Authority created when a principal specifically authorizes an agent to perform an act, which does not necessarily need to be in writing.

Implied Authority

Authority an agent has to do everything necessary or incidental to the execution of their express instructions from the principal.

Usual Authority

Authority an agent in a specific trade or profession (like a managing director or legal practitioner) is typically assumed to have.

Apparent Authority

Authority implied by law when a person creates a state of affairs that makes someone appear to be their agent to a third party.

General Agency

A type of agency where the agent has broad authority to represent the principal in the ordinary course of business, trade, or profession.

Special Agency

An agency where authority is limited to a particular transaction or event outside the normal scope of the agent's business.

Mercantile Agency

An agent who, in the customary course of business, has authority to sell goods, buy goods, or raise money on the security of goods.

Brokerage

An agency where the agent is authorized to negotiate and conclude a contract for the sale of goods without having possession of the goods.

Lien

The right of an agent to retain the principal's property or money in their possession as security for unpaid remuneration or commission.

Ratification

The act of a principal adopting a prior unauthorized act of another person, which makes it binding retroactively to the date of the original act.

Secret Profit

Any illicit benefit, information, or opportunity received by an agent in the course of their agency without full disclosure to the principal.

Undisclosed Principal

A principal whose existence is not revealed by the agent to the third party at the time the contract is made.

Authority Coupled with an Interest

An irrevocable agency where the authority is given to the agent as security for a debt owed by the principal to the agent.

Hire-Purchase

A contract of hire plus purchase where an owner lets goods to a hirer for periodic payments on the condition that the hirer may eventually exercise an option to purchase.

Credit Sale

A contract of sale where goods are delivered to a buyer on the condition that payment is made in the future, transferring ownership immediately.

Bailment

A legal situation where an owner (bailor) delivers possession or custody of goods to another (bailee) for a specific purpose, after which the goods are returned.

Snatch-Back Tactic

The practice of an owner repossessing goods without recourse to court, which was legal at common law regardless of how much the hirer had paid.

Relevant Proportion

A statutory threshold defined as $3/5$ of the price for motor vehicles or $1/2$ for other goods, after which an owner cannot repossess without a court order.

Minimum Payment Clause

A punitive penalty clause requiring a hirer to pay a large fixed sum to the owner upon termination of the agreement.

Quiet Possession

An implied warranty in a hire-purchase agreement that the hirer will not be unlawfully interfered with by the owner during the agreement period.