On The Fusion Of The Two Legal Systems Agency System

The differences of agency system between two legal systems are determined bytheir different valuations. The Civil Law system values the interest of the third person,while the Common Law system values the interest of the principal. However, with thedevelopment of social economy, there is an inevitable tendency of amalgamation behindthose differences. The similarity of functions is the internal causation of thisamalgamation. This essay discusses the basic theories of agency law, explores theagency authority and examines the varieties of agency in both law systems. The authorargues that the concepts of apparent agency and agency by estoppel, indirect agency andundisclosed agency are two sets of similar terms, while the concept of direct agency inthe Civil Law system almost equals to named agency and unnamed agency in theCommon Law system. With these comparisons, the author tries to draw the outline ofamalgamation in the two law systems. This article also studies three documents in theinternational level, i.e. Convention on Agency in the International Sale of Goods (1983),The Principles of European Contract Law (1988) and Convention on the law Applicableto Agency (1978), which reflect the tendency of amalgamation of two law systems. Thelast part of the article examines the current legislation on agency law in China andconcludes that the Chinese legislators are trying to transplant the advanced experiencein both law systems.