When an agent exceeds his authority, his principal is bound by his authorized acts so far only as they can be plainly separated from those which are unauthorized.
Cal. Civ. Code § 2333
Mutual Obligations of Principals and Third Persons
Applied in 3 court decisions — leading case Torrance National Bank v. Enesco Federal Credit Union (1955)
Most recently applied in Farmers Union Oil Co. of Dickinson v. Wood (December 1980)
Enacted 1872.
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: California Legislative Information. Reproduced from public-domain California statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.