Short answer. Yes. Article 1871 provides that between persons who are present, acceptance of the agency may be implied if the principal delivers his power of attorney to the agent and the agent receives it without any objection. Taking the document in person and saying nothing against it is treated as accepting the appointment.
What the law says
Between persons who are present, the acceptance of the agency may also be implied if the principal delivers his power of attorney to the agent and the latter receives it without any objection.
Civil Code, Article 1871 — Implied Acceptance (Present Parties). Read the full provision →
Silence can be acceptance — when you are face to face
Agency is a contract, and like any contract it needs the agent's acceptance. But acceptance need not be spelled out in words. Article 1871 provides that between persons who are present, the acceptance of the agency may also be implied if the principal delivers his power of attorney to the agent and the latter receives it without any objection. So where the two are together and the principal hands over the written authority, the agent's taking it without protest is itself an acceptance. The law reads the situation sensibly: a person who is handed a document appointing him agent, face to face, and simply pockets it without objecting has, by his conduct, agreed to act.
What 'present' and 'without objection' mean
Two elements make the rule work. The parties must be present — physically together, dealing face to face — which is what makes the agent's silence meaningful; the principal can see the agent take the document and not refuse it. And the agent must receive the power of attorney without any objection — he does nothing to signal that he declines. If the agent, on being handed the authority, says he will not act, or refuses to take it, there is no implied acceptance. The rule turns on an unprotesting receipt in a setting where a protest would have been natural and easy.
Why acceptance matters
Whether the agency was accepted is not a technicality — it decides whether the agent is bound. Once he has accepted, expressly or by taking the authority without objection, he takes on an agent's duties: to carry out the agency, to act within his authority and in the principal's interest, and to answer for damage caused by failing to do so. So the moment of acceptance is the moment the agent's obligations attach.
If you are handed authority
The practical lesson cuts both ways. If someone hands you a power of attorney in person and you do not intend to act, say so — object then and there, or decline to take it — because silently receiving it can bind you to the agency and its duties. If you do intend to act, taking it without objection is enough; you need not sign a formal acceptance. And if you are the principal, handing the authority over face to face and noting that the agent took it without protest is a clean way to fix acceptance. When in doubt, make the acceptance or the refusal explicit, so there is no argument later about whether the agency was undertaken.