How did commercial law make English agency law more flexible?

English agency law, which originally developed from rigid common-law roots—specifically actions of debt, assumpsit, and deeds—was significantly modernized by 18th-century commercial law. Having separated from the main body of common law, commercial law operated under less stringent controls, allowing it to modify feudal concepts and adapt to the practical requirements of individual cases.1

This commercial influence introduced a vital legal flexibility that enabled the doctrine of undisclosed agency to emerge alongside open representation. Unlike continental European systems, which often required an agent to act openly in the name of the principal, English law began to recognize claims for and against a principal even when they remained concealed, provided they held the real economic interest in the transaction. By prioritizing the everyday needs of the principal-agent relationship over the narrow, conceptually systematic treatment found elsewhere, commercial law helped transform agency into a versatile institution capable of "knitting together" various forms of employment and representation.1