POWER (ante), in law, may be considered under two heads—powers of attorney and powers creatdd by will or deed, the latter class being connected with the law of real estate. 1. A power of attorney may be general, authorizing the agent to act for the grantor gen erallv; or special, limiting his authority to particular acts. It is strictly construed, and may or may not be under seal, according to the statutes of the states. It was formerly licit] that the attorney could not execute a conveyance under seal unless his own authority was sealed, but this doctrine has been generally abandoned in this country. Powers of attorney are revocable or irrevocable; revocable in cases where they are not " coupled with an interest," and irrevocable only in that case. The power, if revocable, expires at the death of the grantor. 2. In th'e law of real property the term power was used to indicate an authority enabling a person to dispose of interest in real property through the statute of uses (see ante). The creation of such a power may be by will or deed, and the grant may contain a reservation to the grantor. Such powers may be col lateral, where the donee has no estate in the realty; general or special, according to the liberty given the donee to appoint whom he pleases, or the confining of his choice to particular individuals or a class; may be of appointment, to create new estates, or of revocation, divesting or abridging an already existing estate; appendant, where a legal estate, as a life estate, is given the donee, and the powers granted by him must be limited by, and depend for their validity upon, his own estate, as leases under the life estate; or in gross, where the donee has authority to create only estates which do not depend on or take effect from his own estate or interest. The right of the donee to create an estate by
the power is not itself an estate. The execution of the power must he by the donee, and cannot be assigned unless coupled with an interest or expressly authorized by the grant. If the donee alone be interested in the performance he may execute or not as he pleases, but equity will compel execution where the power is coupled with a trust for others. Where the execution in the exact terms of the power is impossible, courts may. apply the cy p•es doctrine and carry out the donor's intention as closely as possible. The doctrine of powers is of less importance in the United States than in England, and is there chiefly used in perpetuating great family estates. By its means the headof a family may, in some measure, provide for contingencies impossible to foresee.