Legal Definitions - delegator

A delegator is an individual, organization, or entity that assigns a task, duty, or authority to another party. In essence, the delegator is the one who initiates the transfer of a responsibility or power to someone else.

Here are some examples to illustrate the concept of a delegator:

• Imagine a busy project manager at a software company who needs to ensure a new feature is thoroughly tested before launch. The project manager assigns the responsibility of creating and executing a comprehensive test plan to the lead Quality Assurance engineer. In this scenario, the project manager is the delegator because they are transferring the specific task of test plan development and execution to another team member.

• Consider a homeowner who is going on an extended vacation and wants someone to manage their property, including collecting rent and handling minor repairs, during their absence. They formally grant a limited power of attorney to a trusted property management company to handle these specific duties. Here, the homeowner acts as the delegator by formally entrusting certain property management responsibilities and authority to the company.

• A national government, facing a complex environmental issue that requires specialized expertise, might create an independent agency and empower it to develop and enforce specific regulations related to environmental protection. The national government, through its legislative process, is the delegator because it is assigning the authority to regulate and enforce environmental laws to the newly formed agency.