Stamp. 
Apparent 
Authority 
the real 
Authority. 
Limitation 
of above 
doctrine. 
Powers 
strictly 
ronstrued. 
274- 
SECRETARIAL PRACTICE 
should be notarially certified, and if for use in foreign countries 
they should also be legalized by the consul of the country to 
which they are to be sent. The advice of a notary should be 
obtained in such cases, and the notary will see to the necessary 
legalization. 
Conversely, powers from the Dominions and Colonies 
should be notarially certified, and those from foreign countries 
should also be legalized by the local British consul (see Order 
61 (a) of the Supreme Court Rules). 
A power of attorney should be stamped in the country 
'n which it is to be used with the appropriate duty imposed 
hy the laws of that country. The English stamp duty is ten 
shillings. 
In ascertaining the scope of the document it should be 
remembered that the third party is entitled to act upon 
the principle of law that the apparent authority is the real 
authority. The following statement of this principle, taken 
from an American case, was approved by the Privy Council in 
Bryant v. La Banque du Peuple (1893), A.C. 170: “Whenever 
the very act of the agent is authorized by the terms of the 
power, that is, whenever, by comparing the act done by the 
agent with the words of the power, the act is in itself warranted 
by the terms used, such act is binding on the constituent as to 
all persons dealing in good faith with the agent. Such 
persons are not bound to inquire into facts aliunde. 
Where, however, the act is on the face of it one which is 
being done by the attorney on his own behalf and not on behalf 
of his principal, the third party, who has thus notice that the 
attorney is using the power for his own purposes, cannot 
retain the benefit of the act so done to the detriment of the 
donor of the power. This principle was finally established by 
the House of Lords in Reckitt v. Barnett. Pembroke & Slater, 
Ltd. (1929) A.C. 176.1 
Apart, however, from this question of the third party's 
knowledge that the attorney is abusing his authority, to say 
that the apparent authority is the real authority is not to say 
that the third party must not be on his guard. If a person 
is acting ex mandato, those who have dealings with him must 
look to his authority and assure themselves of its genuineness, 
its legal form, and its limitations. The important point to 
remember is that on the one hand specific powers are con- 
strued with great strictness, and that on the other hand where, 
after the enumeration of specific powers, there is added (as 
is often the case) a general clause, the latter does not give 
1 See also below, under the heading of fraud of the attorney.