Civil Code, Article 1404 — Unauthorized Contracts

What this article means

Unauthorized contracts (entered in another's name without authority) are governed by Article 1317 and the principles of agency — unenforceable until ratified by the principal.

An unauthorized contract typically arises when someone signs an agreement in another person's name or on another's behalf without the power to do so. Because Article 1317 treats such a contract as unenforceable unless the person in whose name it was executed later ratifies it, and because the outcome largely mirrors what happens when an agent exceeds the authority given by a principal, this article simply directs that the general principles of agency fill in the details rather than restating them separately for this situation.

Questions about this provision

• Someone signed a contract in my name without any authority, am I bound by it?

Related provisions

• Article 1402 — Mutual Restitution Is Reciprocal.
• Article 1405 — Ratification Under the Statute of Frauds.

Cases interpreting this article

• Authorities on this article will be added here as each is verified against primary sources.