Also known as:legal relations · legal relationship · legal relationships · jural relation
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A connection in law between persons or entities that gives rise to enforceable rights, duties, or powers. Such a relation may be created, modified, or destroyed by acts that satisfy the requirements of authority, consideration, or other legal doctrines.
Sources & Authorities
How it applies
Common Examples
6
Agent Executes Trade Authorization
Coastal Capital permitted Marilyn to use firm letterhead and business cards listing her as Associate Advisor. Marilyn presented the card to client Mark and obtained his signature on a discretionary trading authorization. Mark transferred funds in reliance on the document. Coastal Capital later denied that Marilyn could bind the firm. The authorization altered Mark's legal relations with Coastal Capital because Marilyn's acts occurred within the scope of the manifestations made to him.
Curriculum Design as Consideration
Pacific School asked Claudia to design a new test-prep curriculum and stated it would find a way to compensate her. Claudia spent several weeks creating and submitting the curriculum. The school later refused payment. Claudia's performance created a new legal relation between the parties because the design work was bargained for in exchange for the school's assurance.
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Cases
Statutes
Uniform Acts
Model Codes
Restatements
Dictionaries
One-House Veto Attempted
Congress passed a statute allowing either house to veto an executive decision to release certain funds. One house later exercised the veto to block the release. The affected recipients challenged the veto. The veto altered the legal relations of persons outside the legislative branch without bicameral passage and presentment, rendering the action invalid.
Apparent Authority Through Firm Materials
Coastal Capital gave Marilyn access to letterhead and digital templates after internally limiting her authority. Marilyn sent Mark a trading authorization on firm letterhead. Mark executed the document and transferred funds. Coastal Capital refused to honor the trades. The firm's manifestations to Mark created apparent authority that affected his legal relations with the firm.
Employment Status Modification
Pacific School offered Claudia a multi-year appointment if she signed an agreement converting her from at-will to a position with specific termination procedures. Claudia signed the agreement. The school later denied any obligation. The signed agreement modified Claudia's legal relation with the school because the change in employment status was the bargained-for performance.
Agent Alters Principal's Relations
BlueWave authorized Marco to contract with terminals and tug operators in its name. Marco negotiated and executed a berthing agreement with a terminal. BlueWave later refused to honor the agreement. Marco's execution of the contract altered the legal relations between BlueWave and the terminal because an agent holds power to change those relations.
Common questions
Frequently Asked
5
How does an agent's authority affect legal relations?+
Authority is the power of the agent to affect the legal relations of the principal by acts done in accordance with the principal's manifestations of consent. When an agent acts within that authority, the principal becomes bound to third parties as if the principal had acted directly.
Supporting sources
What role does a legal relation play in determining consideration?+
A performance or return promise constitutes consideration if it is bargained for. One recognized form of such performance is the creation, modification, or destruction of a legal relation between the parties.
Supporting sources
When does apparent authority alter legal relations?+
Apparent authority arises from the principal's manifestations to third persons. Those manifestations give the agent power to affect the legal relations of the principal with those third persons even if actual authority is absent.
Supporting sources
Does a manifestation that a promise shall not affect legal relations prevent contract formation?+
Yes. A manifestation of intention that a promise shall not affect legal relations may prevent the formation of a contract even if the parties otherwise appear to have reached agreement.
Supporting sources
What power does an agent hold regarding legal relations?+
An agent or apparent agent holds a power to alter the legal relations between the principal and third persons and between the principal and the agent himself.
Supporting sources
392 U.S. 83 (1968)Criminal Procedure
…"a personal stake in the outcome of the controversy," Baker v. Carr, supra, at 204 , and whether the dispute touches upon "the legal relations of parties having adverse legal interests." Aetna Life Insurance Co. v. Haworth, supra, at 240-241 . A taxpayer may or may not have the requisite personal stake in the outcome, depending…