felhatalmazó

Felhatalmazó is a Hungarian term referring to a person or authority that grants another person the power or authority to act on their behalf. The act of granting authorization is typically called felhatalmazás or meghatalmazás, and the person who receives the delegated power is usually known as the meghatalmazott. In some contexts the grantor is also described as the meghatalmazó, emphasizing the act of empowering.

The concept is mainly used in legal, administrative, and business contexts. A felhatalmazó defines the scope, purpose, duration, and limits of the delegated authority in a document such as a felhatalmazólevél or meghatalmazás. The authorization can be general, allowing broad powers, or specific, limited to particular tasks or transactions. It may be revocable, unless the document states otherwise or a fixed term is set.

In practice, felhatalmazó arrangements are common in everyday life and organizational processes. Examples include a company CEO (the felhatalmazó) authorizing a manager to sign contracts up to a certain amount, a parent or guardian granting a representative permission to handle administrative matters, or a voter appointing a proxy to vote on their behalf. Banks, government agencies, and healthcare institutions frequently rely on felhatalmazó provisions to permit designated individuals to act on behalf of others.

Etymology derives from hatalom (power) plus the prefix fel- (up, enabling) and the agentive suffix -mazó, meaning one who enables or empowers. The term is closely related to meghatalmazás and meghatalmazó, with nuances primarily about emphasis on empowerment versus the act of delegating, and in practice the terms are often used interchangeably in everyday language.