Bell v Ogilvie (1863) 2 M 336
Citation: Bell v Ogilvie (1863) 2 M 336
Rule of thumb 1: Do agency agreements have to be written in order to be valid contracts? No, they can be agreed orally.
Rule of thumb 2: What standard is expected of an agent in a contract? Diligence & skill – knowing key facts & applying the technical standard of the trade.
Judgment:
This case laid out fundamental points of agency agreements. Agency agreements do not have to be written – they can be agreed orally/via a handshake and the terms of them are implied. Agents are supposed to bring the basic level of skill and apply it carefully as their main obligations, and principal has to pay the reasonable going rate for this as their main obligation. The solicitor and client relationship is fundamentally a contract for services rooted in the law agency.
‘the relation of the agent and client is in general constituted without any written contract, and without any special contract, either written or verbal. The mere acceptance of employment creates that relation – a relation carrying with it certain well-known consequences, without any necessity for expressing them. The agent, on the one hand, engages that he possesses the requisite skill, and will employ it with all due diligence in the client’s service; and the client, on the other hand, becomes bound to supply funds for disbursements, and to pay the agent at the proper time reasonable remuneration for his services. These correlative obligations are all implied, unless any of them be expressly dispensed with’, Lord Justice Clerk Inglis
Warning: This is not professional legal advice. This is not professional legal education advice. Please obtain professional guidance before embarking on any legal course of action. This is just an interpretation of a Judgment by persons of legal insight & varying levels of legal specialism, experience & expertise. Please read the Judgment yourself and form your own interpretation of it with professional assistance.