Apparent authority的意思

"Apparent authority" is a legal term that refers to the authority that a third party reasonably believes an agent has, based on the actions or words of the principal. In other words, if a principal (the person who grants authority to an agent) leads a third party to believe that an agent has certain powers or responsibilities, then the agent may be considered to have apparent authority to act on behalf of the principal, even if the agent does not actually have that authority.

For example, if a company's CEO introduces an employee to a client as the company's representative for a particular project, the client may reasonably believe that the employee has the authority to make decisions and commitments on behalf of the company. If the employee then makes a commitment to the client that they were not actually authorized to make, the company may be bound by that commitment if it can be shown that the client had a reasonable belief in the employee's authority, based on the CEO's actions.

Apparent authority is an important concept in agency law, and it can have significant implications for businesses and other organizations. Principals who wish to avoid being bound by the actions of agents who lack actual authority may need to take steps to ensure that third parties are not led to believe that the agents have more authority than they actually possess.