CIFA Foundation Level
Regulation of Financial Markets glossary
Every term this guide defines, A to Z, each with the chapter that teaches it. Open it when a word in a question is unfamiliar, and test yourself on it in the last week: cover the definition and say it in one sentence.
26 terms from the free first chapter
A
- Authority of agents
Actual authority is what the principal genuinely gave the agent; apparent (ostensible) authority is what a reasonable third party would believe the agent had, based on the principal's own representations, and can bind the principal even where actual authority was withheld.
Taught in Introduction to law
C
- Classification
Contracts may be written or oral, bilateral (both sides promise) or unilateral (one side promises in exchange for an act), and simple or made under seal (a deed).
Taught in Introduction to law
- Court of Appeal
Hears appeals from the High Court and equal-status courts; the highest purely appellate court below the Supreme Court.
Taught in Introduction to law
D
- Discharge of contracts
A contract ends by performance, agreement between the parties, frustration (an unforeseen event makes performance impossible), or breach.
Taught in Introduction to law
- Duties and rights of principals and agents
An agent owes duties of good faith, obedience to lawful instructions, reasonable skill and care, and accounting for the principal's property (directly underpinning an intermediary's client-money obligations); the principal owes duties to remunerate the agent and indemnify them for authorised acts.
Taught in Introduction to law
E
- Employment and Labour Relations Court
Equal status to the High Court, with exclusive jurisdiction over employment and labour disputes.
Taught in Introduction to law
- Environment and Land Court
Equal status to the High Court, with exclusive jurisdiction over environmental and land matters.
Taught in Introduction to law
F
- Formation
Requires offer, acceptance, consideration (something of value exchanged), capacity of the parties, and an intention to create legal relations.
Taught in Introduction to law
- Formation of agency
Arises by express appointment, by implication from the parties' conduct, by ratification (the principal later adopts an unauthorised act), or by necessity (emergency circumstances).
Taught in Introduction to law
H
- High Court
Unlimited original jurisdiction in civil and criminal matters, including judicial review and constitutional interpretation; the Capital Markets Tribunal's decisions may ultimately be appealed here.
Taught in Introduction to law
I
- Illegal contracts
Contracts whose formation or purpose breaches the law or public policy are unenforceable, regardless of what the parties agreed.
Taught in Introduction to law
K
- Kadhi's courts
Subordinate courts with jurisdiction limited to questions of Muslim personal law (marriage, divorce, inheritance) where all parties profess the Muslim faith.
Taught in Introduction to law
L
- Limitation of actions
A claim for breach of contract must be brought within a fixed statutory period, after which the right to sue lapses even if the breach is genuine.
Taught in Introduction to law
M
- Magistrates' courts
Subordinate courts with jurisdiction limited by the value of the claim (civil) or the severity of the offence (criminal).
Taught in Introduction to law
N
- Nature of agency
A relationship in which one party (the agent) is authorised to act on behalf of another (the principal), creating legal relations between the principal and third parties.
Taught in Introduction to law
P
- Personal liability of agents
An agent who discloses that they act for a principal is generally not personally liable on the contract; an agent who fails to disclose the agency, or exceeds their authority, can become personally liable.
Taught in Introduction to law
- Private law
Governs relationships between individuals and entities: contract, tort, property and, central to this chapter, agency.
Taught in Introduction to law
- Procedural law
Governs how those rights are enforced, for example how a claim is brought before a court.
Taught in Introduction to law
- Public law
Governs the relationship between the state and individuals: constitutional, criminal and administrative law.
Taught in Introduction to law
R
- Remedies for breach
Damages (financial compensation), specific performance (a court order to perform), injunction (a court order to stop an act), and rescission (unwinding the contract).
Taught in Introduction to law
S
- Substantive law
Defines rights and duties themselves, for example what makes a contract valid.
Taught in Introduction to law
- Supreme Court
The apex court, with jurisdiction over presidential election petitions and appeals certified as raising a matter of general public importance.
Taught in Introduction to law
T
- Termination of agency
Ends by agreement, completion of the purpose, revocation by the principal, renunciation by the agent, death or incapacity of either party, or frustration.
Taught in Introduction to law
- Terms of a contract
Conditions are terms so fundamental that breach entitles the innocent party to repudiate the contract; warranties are less central terms whose breach gives a right to damages only.
Taught in Introduction to law
- Tribunals
Specialised, quasi-judicial bodies created by statute for a defined subject area, of which the Capital Markets Tribunal is the example most relevant to this paper.
Taught in Introduction to law
V
- Vitiating factors
Circumstances, mistake, misrepresentation, duress, or undue influence, that undermine genuine consent and can make a contract voidable or void.
Taught in Introduction to law
The full glossary adds every term from the other 9 chapters, A to Z, each with the chapter that teaches it.