Next friend
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 209 U.S. 490 - In the Matter of Albertn Moore an Infant by Next Friend · 1908Most cited · 461 citing opinions
A next friend is neither the agent nor attorney for his ward. An agent or attorney derives his authority as such from his principal, but an infant cannot appoint an agent and empower him to do an act which, in contemplation of law, he is himself incapable of doing. The next friend does not derive his authority from the infant, and his office does not rest on such authority, either express or implied. ... It is because the law regards an infant incapable of conducting a law suit in his own behalf that it has made provisions for the appointment of a next friend to act for him. The next friend derives his authority from the court which appoints him; and, as he is appointed to institute and conduct the suit, it follows that he has authority to do every act which the interest of the infant demands and the law authorizes.
How often courts cite the case defining “Next friend”
Court decisions citing the opinion that defined “Next friend” — 456 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining case as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.