Formation of direct representation in private law
the article deals with some key steps leading to legal recognition of the direct agency in civil law countries. Two clear prohibitions in Roman law to stipulate in favour of a third party and to acquire property rights through a third person prevented lawyers from recognizing direct agency not only in Ancient Rome, but also in the medieval civil law doctrines (ius commune), as elaborated by glossators and commentators in the University of Bologna during 12th to 15th centuries. The main staples of the concept of direct agency are due to Spanish legal scholars of the 16th century as well as Hugo Grotius, who came up with the idea to a new type of promises, namely in favour of an absent benefi ciary where the nominal creditor may act without direct authorisation of the intended benefi ciary. However, even the most elaborated doctrine of Hugo Grotius misses several crucial points of the concept of direct agency as we know it today.