Delegated authority is an authority obtained from another that has authority since the authority does not naturally exist.
Typically this is used in a government context where an organization that is created by a legitimate government, such as a Board, City, Town or other Public Corporations to allow them to legally function in the name of the constitutional government.
Famous quotes containing the word authority:
“An ... important antidote to American democracy is American gerontocracy. The positions of eminence and authority in Congress are allotted in accordance with length of service, regardless of quality. Superficial observers have long criticized the United States for making a fetish of youth. This is unfair. Uniquely among modern organs of public and private administration, its national legislature rewards senility.”
—John Kenneth Galbraith (b. 1908)