Prospects of Development of the Form of Authorisation by Natural Persons

Authorisation is a legal institution, which makes it possible to exercise individual’s rights effectively by involving other persons. Only personal rights may not be transferred to others. As a rule,
rights are delegated by means of a power of attorney, which is a declaration materialised in the form of
a procedural document presenting the principal’s intent with respect to tasks given to the agent and
their timeframe. That is to say, the power of attorney is a document certifying the agent’s right to act
for the principal. The objective of the research is to examine the forms of recording a natural person’s
declaration of intent by means of a power of attorney and the procedure for granting powers of attorney
within the context of modern global technologies in order to identify routes ahead in this area and offer
suggestions for improvement of the existing legal framework.
Methods
The research has employed methods of legal interpretation to analyse legislation and the inductive and deductive method to draw conclusions and formulate suggestions.
Results
There are two aspects underlying public certification of a natural person’s power of attorney: to
secure rights of the principal and to safeguard rights of third parties. When a power of attorney is certified publicly, legal effects of the power of attorney being granted are explained to the principal, while,
as regards third parties, it is a guarantee that the principal is aware of the legal affects of the power of
attorney. This prima facie gives an impression that both the principal and third parties are protected
against any threats to their rights and interests.
Conclusions
The written form of a power of attorney facilitates interpretation of the principal’s declaration of
intent and assurance as to principal’s identity. Meanwhile, legal protection provided by public certification can be viewed as illusory to a certain extent as public certification does not rule out falsification;
based on an analysis of the interpretation of tasks given by a power of attorney and the binding force
of execution with respect to the principal, one may conclude that public certification does not ensure
protection because the likelihood of disputes between the principal and the agent is not excluded.
Predictability of a legal relationship is of no value in this respect because disputes arising between
the principal and the agent may neither affect nor impair rights of third parties. The principal must
accept tasks carried out by the agent. Given the above, the evolution of the authorisation by natural
persons can be driven by possibilities offered by e-signature, namely: the future power of attorney is
issued by a natural person electronically and signed with that person’s e-signature. From the viewpoint
of law, a declaration of intent made by means of an electronic document is analogous to that made before
a sworn notary or family court, while awareness of legal effects is attributed to person’s individual
characteristics rather than the form of the power of attorney, emphasising that the Civil Law does not
require public certification of powers of attorney. Such public certification may be necessary only for
certain types of authorisation. A power of attorney certified with a natural person’s e-signature would
equally secure rights of the principal and assure third parties of principal’s identity and scope of
the authorisation.