User:Visviva/Legal authority

Legal authority, in the common law tradition, is a right or permission to do something.

Some actions are criminal unless they are done with legal authority. For example, an arrest by a properly authorized government official with the power of arrest may be lawful, but if done by someone else it may constitute the crime of false arrest.

In the law of agency, authority refers to an agent's actual or apparent ability to enter into binding legal relations on behalf of the principal.