In the field of law, the term undisclosed principal relates mainly to the liability of an agent for obligations incurred on behalf of a principal. If the agent does not disclose the nature of his agency (the fact that he acts on behalf of another) and thus does not disclose the name of the principal, the agent may be held personally liable for his actions. If, however, the agent disclosed his agency and the name of the principal (disclosed principal), he will normally not be held liable for commitments undertaken within his authorized agency. A dummy buyer may sometimes have an undisclosed principal.
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“It is perhaps the principal admirableness of the Gothic schools of architecture, that they receive the results of the labour of inferior minds; and out of fragments full of imperfection ... raise up a stately and unaccusable whole.”
—John Ruskin (1819–1900)