The Undisclosed Principal in Commercial Law

The common law recognises three forms of agency: disclosed agency, where the third party (T) will be aware of the identity of the principal (P) for whom the agent (A) is acting; unnamed agency, where the third party will have been made aware that the agent is acting for a principal, but the latter’s identity will not have been revealed; and undisclosed agency, where the very existence of a principal – an undisclosed principal (UP) – has been concealed from the third party and the latter is under the illusion that he is contracting with the agent.