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the principal and the third party. The agent’s authority in negotiating thecontract with the third party may be actual or apparent.Actual AuthorityActual authority is the real power a principal gives to an agent toact on the principal’s behalf. Such actual authority may be expressed inwords or implied from the nature of the relationship or the conduct ofthe parties.Express AuthorityExpress authority includes all of the orders, commands, ordirections a principal directly states to an agent when the agency relationshipis first created. These instructions may be very general or veryspecific.Example 1. While vacationing in Europe, Joanna DiBlasi asksAbe Eney to be her agent in selling her motorcycle. In a writtendocument, Joanna specifically instructs Abe to accept no lessthan $2,000 for the motorcycle. She also includes in the agreementa clause telling Abe to accept cash only. Finally, the agreementexpressly forbids selling the motorcycle to a minor. All ofthese instructions make up Abe’s express authority as an agent inthe sale of Joanna’s motorcycle.Implied AuthorityMentioning every single act that the agent is allowed to perform inan agreement with a principal is unnecessary. Doing so would make theagreement cumbersome and confusing. The law allows some actualauthority to be implied or understood from the express terms that createthe agency relationship, which constitutes an agent’s impliedauthority .Example 2. In Example 1, Abe Eney had express authority tosell Joanna DiBlasi’s motorcycle for no less than $2,000 in cashto anyone who had reached the age of majority. From theseexpress powers would come the implied authority to allow aprospective buyer to inspect the motorcycle, take it for a testdrive, and have an impartial mechanic examine it. All of thesepowers can be reasonably implied from Abe’s authority to sellthe motorcycle, even though the agreement does not specificallyaddress these matters.Dress CodeIf you wear a uniformto school, you don’thave to worry abouta dress code. Schoolswithout uniformscreate dress codes fortheir students.Sometimes, studentsare suspended fromschool for wearingclothing thatadministrators deemoffensive. In some ofthese cases, studentsrespond with a lawsuitclaiming their FirstAmendment rightswere violated. Howdo you feel aboutstudents wearingT-shirts that featureracial, ethnic,or religiousstereotyping?Get InvolvedOrganize a group ofstudents and teachersat your school todiscuss issues ofcultural sensitivityand stereotyping. Findout how the FirstAmendment applies tofreedom of speech intoday’s society.Implied authority is simply a form of actual authority because it alsoarises from the instructions that the principal communicates to the agent.Chapter 19: Agency Relationships and Their Termination 415