A general power of attorney transfers to the attorney the broadest authority to act in the grantor’s name, and this breadth makes the document the most dangerous one for the person giving it. The mandate chapter of the Civil Code provides the instruments with which the grantor protects their interests: an exhaustive list of authorised acts, a prohibition on delegation, reporting duties and the right to revoke at any time. We explain how these mechanisms work and how we draft the text so that it never works against you.
The legal nature of the mandate relationship
Authority is conferred by a declaration of will made towards the attorney or towards the third party with whom the representation is to take place — this rule is laid down in the Civil Code. Under a contract of mandate, the attorney is obliged to perform for the principal one or several acts in the principal’s name and at the principal’s expense — hence the practical difference between a special power of attorney for one concrete act and a broad general power of attorney.
As a rule, the declaration of will does not require the form necessary for the underlying transaction — unless a special form is prescribed. In practice the boundaries of a general power of attorney therefore depend entirely on the text we draft: the law does not limit the attorney by itself; only a correctly written document does.