§ 788 Sachsisches Gesetzbuch; artt. 1984, 1998 code civil.

169 Brinz, Pandekten, §371.

170 Windscheid/Kipp, § 73 (pp. 350 sqq.).

171 This had been Savigny's opinion (Obligationenrecht, vol. II, §§ 54 sqq., 57, 59)

("('•eschafisherrntheorie"; organ theory); for an analysis, see Heinz Mohnhaupt, "Savignys

Lehre von der Stellvertretung", (1979) S lus Commune 60 sqq.; cf. for England also Stoljar,

op. cit., note 93, pp. 14 sq.

172 Cf., for example, § 166 BGB; Flume, AT, § 43, 3. This is also the situation pertaining

in modern Roman-Dutch l aw; see, for exampl e, De Wet en Yeats, p. 87 sq.; Joubert, op.

cit., note 162, pp. 24 sqq.

m "Die Stellvertretung bei dem Abschluss von Rechtsgeschaften nach dem Allgemeinen

Deutschen Handelsgesetzbuch", (1866) 10 ZUR 183 sqq.

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58 The Law of Obligations

abstraction in agency,174 on which the BGB and most subsequent

codifications of private law around the world are based.175 Whilst the

mandate relates to the (internal) relationship between principal and

agent, the grant of authority determines the (external) relationship

between the principal and the other party with whom the agent

concludes the contract. Both acts are independent of each other: there

can be a mandate without grant of authority, just as it is possible to

have a grant of authority without mandate. Not much differently,

English law distinguishes between agency as a contract engendering

rights and duties and as a transfer of authority;176 it does not, however,

put this insight to any systematic use.177 In modern Roman-Dutch law,

the concept of authorization as an abstract (unilateral) juristic act178 is

still vying with the traditional view of agency as one of the specific

contracts ("mandat"), namely "un acte par lequel une personne donne une

autre le pouvoir defaire quelque chose pour le mandant et en son nom".179