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Delegate

Short Description​

A delegate is the transferral of ownership of one or more obligations (duties) of a party (the delegator), including the associated accountability, to another party (the delegatee), including the associated accountability, to another party (the delegatee). Doing so has several consequences:

  • the delegatee, as the new owner, is autonomous and must therefore be expected (or: is free) to realize such obligations as it sees fit.
  • since the results associated with these obligation continue to be consumed by others (third parties), the delegatee should - in its own way - ensure that they are/remain fit for the purpose(s) that these other parties need them to serve.

The transferral of ownership of an obligation differs from having a party produce the expected results as in the latter case, the governance of the obligation is not transferred.

Delegates are subject to the legal system of a jurisdiction, which has the rules and constraints that specify what can(not) be done with them. Thus, delegated obligations are duties that are enforced using the means that its jurisdiction applies for that. The same goes in case of conflicts that concern delegates. Also, jurisdictions may themselves specify delegates, or templates for delegates that e.g. only require the delegator and delegatee(s) to be filled in.

While a party is usually free to delegate its obligations, it may result in 'mismatches' of corresponding expectations of other parties - see the section Matching of the Governance and Management pattern.

Purpose​

The purpose of (formal and/or explicit) delegates is that it enables parties to establish whether or not parties that have a specific action(s) executed, are entitled to do so.

Criterion​

A delegate is the transferral of ownership of one or more obligations of a party (the delegator), including the associated accountability, to another party (the delegatee), including the associated accountability, to another party (the delegatee), which implies that the delegatee can realize such obligations as it sees fit.

Examples​

Here's a translation of a Dutch text that explains delegation: "If an administrative body transfers its power to take certain decisions to another administrative body, this is referred to as delegation. An administrative body can only delegate a power if the law allows it. The administrative body that transfers a power through delegation can no longer exercise this power itself. The administrative body that has been transferred the authority exercises this authority in its own name and under its own responsibility. He is therefore legally responsible for that exercise, and thus also the defendant in objection or appeal against a decision taken on the basis of the delegated power."

Notes​

The main difference between a mandate and a delegate is that under a mandate, responsibility/accountability is not transferred to the mandatee, whereas under a delegate the responsibility/accountability is also transferred.