Qui facit per alium facit per se
Latin: He who acts through another acts himself.
Also called: Principle of agency, Vicarious liability
He who does a thing through another does it himself. The act of an agent or servant, done within his authority, is treated as the act of the principal or master.
Explained
Qui facit per alium facit per se means that he who acts through another acts himself. A person who authorises or instructs another to do an act is treated in law as having done it in person. The maxim is one of the foundations of the law of agency and of vicarious liability in tort, alongside respondeat superior, let the master answer.
In contract the principle is codified. Section 226 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 provides that contracts entered into through an agent, and obligations arising from acts done by an agent, may be enforced in the same manner and have the same legal consequences as if made or done by the principal in person. Section 238 applies the same idea to wrongdoing: misrepresentations made or frauds committed by agents acting in the course of business for their principals have the same effect on agreements as if made by the principals, but not when they are outside the agent's authority. Section 26 of the Indian Partnership Act, 1932 makes a firm liable for the wrongful act or omission of a partner acting in the ordinary course of the firm's business or with the authority of his partners.
In tort, a principal is liable for a wrong that he expressly authorises, and a master for a wrong committed by his servant in the course of employment. The maxim fits most directly the case of authorisation: if a person instructs another to do an act which turns out to be a tort, the person who gave the instruction is liable as if he had done it himself, and it is no answer that he believed the act to be lawful. The agent who actually did the act may also be liable, since the wrongdoers are jointly responsible.
Examiners test the meaning in maxim match questions and in short principle and facts problems, where the person who instructed the wrongful act is held liable along with the person who carried it out.
What the law says
Contracts entered into through an agent, and obligations arising from acts done by an agent, may be enforced in the same manner, and will have the same legal consequences, as if the contracts had been entered into and the acts done by the principal in person.
Illustrations
(a)A buys goods from B, knowing that he is an agent for their sale, but not knowing who is the principal. B’s principal is the person entitled to claim from A the price of the goods, and A cannot, in a suit by the principal, set-off against that claim a debt due to himself from B.
Agent's contracts and acts bind the principal
Misrepresentation made, or frauds committed, by agents acting in the course of their business for their principals, have the same effect on agreements made by such agents as if such misrepresentations or frauds had been made or committed by the principals; but misrepresentations made, or frauds committed, by agents, in matters which do not fall within their authority, do not affect their principals.
Illustrations
(a) A, being B’s agent for the sale of goods, induces C to buy them by a misrepresentation, which he was not authorized by B to make. The contract is voidable, as between B and C, at the option of C.
Agent's misrepresentation or fraud affects the principal
Where, by the wrongful act or omission of a partner acting in the ordinary course of the business of a firm, or with the authority of his partners, loss or injury is caused to any third party, or any penalty is incurred, the firm is liable therefor to the same extent as the partner.
Firm liable for wrongful acts of a partner
Example
For example, A instructs his servant B to clear a strip of land and put up a fence on it, believing the strip to be his own, though it belongs to his neighbour C. B does so. A is liable to C for trespass as if he had entered the land himself.
For the exam
- Means he who acts through another acts himself.
- Basis of agency and of vicarious liability; related to respondeat superior.
- Contracts made through an agent bind the principal as if made in person (Section 226 ICA).
- Firm liable for a partner's wrongful act in the ordinary course of business (Section 26 Partnership Act).
- The person who authorised a wrong is liable even if he believed the act lawful.
10 questions in the Law Maker question bank use this maxim. Practise Law of Torts questions
Related terms
- Respondeat superiorA master or employer is liable for the wrongs of his servant committed in the course of employment, even though he did not himself commit them.
- AgentA person employed to do any act for another, or to represent another in dealings with third persons; the person represented is the principal. Section 182 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872.
- PrincipalThe person for whom an act is done by an agent, or who is represented by an agent in dealings with third persons. Section 182 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872.
- Sub-agentA person employed by, and acting under the control of, the original agent in the business of the agency (Section 191, Contract Act). He answers to the agent, not to the principal, save for fraud or wilful wrong.
- Res ipsa loquiturThe thing speaks for itself. Where an accident is of a kind that does not ordinarily happen without negligence and the thing was under the defendant's control, negligence may be inferred.
Further reading
Checked 6 November 2026. Statutory text is quoted from the Bare Acts library, taken from India Code. See the full glossary.