Power

Power is a legal term, to some extent identical in meaning with such terms as liberty, faculty, &c. A public officer is empowered to do certain acts which are not permitted to private persons. An individual, not under disability, has power to bind himself by contract, and to dispose of his property: if he chooses to settle his property he may effect the purposes of the settlement by conferring powers on himself and others; he may, for example, reserve to himself a power of revocation; he may give power to a person who takes a life interest to charge the inheritance with portions for daughters, &c. Powers of appointment are commonly used in English settlements to enable parents to appoint or distribute settled property among their children. Such powers must be exercised in good faith, and with the forms prescribed by the settler who confers them. A power of attorney is a deed whereby one person appoints another to do some act on his behalf or to represent him generally. A, for example, may make B his attorney, to manage his estate and receive the rents during A's absence abroad. Forms of such powers are given in Davidson, Prideaux, and other books of precedents; the difficult legal questions which arise in regard to powers over settled property are discussed in the treatises of Sugden and Farwell.