Mandators

Mandators are parties that authorize another person or entity to act on their behalf. The mandator is the principal in a mandate, and the person or entity that acts for the mandator is the mandatary.

In civil law, a mandate (mandatum) is a contract or legal arrangement in which the mandator entrusts the mandatary with tasks or authority to perform acts in the mandator’s name. The mandatary is obliged to act within the scope of the mandate and in the mandator’s best interests, following instructions and adhering to fiduciary duties. liability rules vary by jurisdiction and contract terms; the mandator generally bears responsibility for acts performed within the mandate, while the mandatary may be liable for fault or breach of duty.

Terminology varies by legal tradition. In English-language civil-law contexts, mandator denotes the party authorizing representation, while mandatary denotes the agent. In many common-law systems, the equivalent relationship is described as principal and agent, and the specific term “mandator” is less common.

In international law, the closest historical use concerns the mandate system after World War I, where a sovereign state was designated as the mandatory power to administer a territory on behalf of an international mandate. In that context, the standard term remains mandatory power rather than mandator.

Etymology-wise, mandator comes from the Latin mandare, meaning to entrust. The concept underpins agency relationships across civil and administrative law, distinguishing the entrusting party (the mandator) from the commissioned agent (the mandatary). See also mandate, mandatary, principal-agent relationships.