Mandate and Representation – General principles
Art. 2989. Mandate defined. A mandate is a contract by which a person, the principal, confers authority on another person, the mandatary, to transact one or more affairs for the principal.
Revision Comments-1997. Under this article, a principal may confer authority on a mandatary to act either in his own name or in the name of the principal. The principal may, therefore, be either disclosed or undisclosed. For the rights and obligations of a disclosed principal and of an undisclosed principal, see C.C. arts. 3016, et seq., According to traditional civilian notions, an “affair” may be either a juridical act or a material act. Louisiana decisions may be found in which a mandatary was charged with the responsibility for certain material acts, such as collection of debts, making repair estimates, receiving payments, etc. When no special provisions are made under the Code articles on mandate, the contract of mandate is governed by the provisions for contracts.
Art. 2990. Applicability of the rules governing obligations. In all matters for which no special provision is made in this Title, the contract of mandate is governed by the Titles of “Obligations in General” and “Conventional Obligations or Contracts”.
Art. 2991. Interest served. The contract of mandate may serve the exclusive or the common interest of the principal, the mandatary, or a third person.
Art. 2992. Onerous or gratuitous contract. The contract of mandate may be either onerous or gratuitous. It is gratuitous in the absence of contrary agreement. As with procurations, the mandate is not subject to any particular requirement of form. However, when the law prescribes a certain form for an act, the mandate authorizing the act must be in that form. For example, an act of donation or acceptance of donation must be in authentic form, therefore for a mandatary to execute an act of donation or accept a donation on behalf of the principal, the mandate must be an authentic act. Similarly, a suretyship must be in writing, so a mandatary may not bind his principal as a surety unless the mandate is in writing.
Art. 2993. Form. The contract of mandate is not required to be in any particular form. Nevertheless, when the law prescribes a certain form for an act, a mandate authorizing the act must be in that form.
