Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Related legal acts

Key definition

Power of attorney definition

What does Power of attorney mean? A power of attorney is a written instrument by which one person authorises another to act and sign on their behalf in defined matters or generally, commonly used in commercial transactions, property, banking and litigation. The person giving authority is the donor (Scotland: granter); the authorised person is the attorney (agent). Across the UK and Ireland, ordinary powers of attorney delegate authority but usually terminate on revocation, death or the donor’s loss of mental capacity. In England & Wales and Northern Ireland, an ordinary power must be executed as a deed by the donor and is widely recognised...

Capacity to Make Gifts, Settle Property and Enter Contracts: Common Law Tests, MCA 2005 (England and Wales), and Solicitors’ Duties and the Golden Rule

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Practice notes

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Mental capacity is the ability to carry out a particular juristic act by understanding it and deciding to do something that attracts legal consequences, for example making a Will, putting in place a Power of attorney, making a gift, or giving consent. A lack of mental capacity is the inability to take such action or to give consent because of a Mental disorder or Disability. This absence of capacity may well fluctuate. It will also differ according to the specific task in question that calls for the choice or consent and, for that reason, mental capacity is described as being 'function-specific'.

The Common law presumption of capacity

In the common law, every individual is presumed to possess mental capacity until the opposite is proved. Where it has been proved or accepted that someone was so mentally disordered as to lack the capacity to enter a contract or make a disposition, that condition is presumed to continue until it is shown to have ended, and the burden of demonstrating a recovery or a lucid interval lies on the person who alleges it...

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Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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