Delegate means giving another person or agent the responsibility of exercising the performance agreed to in a contract. Three parties are involved in this act - the one who sets the obligation to perform under the contract is called the delegator; the one who should take responsibility for exercising the duty is called the delegate, and the one who accepts this performance he owed is called the obligee. If the delegate fails to meet the requirement of the contract, the obligee could select to take this failure as a breach of contract or could claim all remedies due to a third-party beneficiary being damaged. In constitutional law, delegate means to transfer one of the specific authorities by one of the three branches of government to another agency. Delegation means the process that divides administrative action or decision making to a lower level of agency, in the field of administrative law.
In some states, legislators also rule that trustees shall exercise reasonable care, skill, and caution in some fields, like selecting agents, establishing the scope of delegation or reviewing agents’ action, etc., to fulfill the requirement of the duties.
[Last updated in February of 2022 by the Wex Definitions Team]
