Two little words

[yellow peril]

Here's hoping this can be sorted.

Two little words, "of" and "on".

Lawyers are experts at using words that have a meaning all of their own.
I suppose I have used the right There/Their. Their is them and There is in that place, There/Their has nothing to do with the question I am about to ask, but I thought I would explain it in case I have used the wrong word.


My question: Is, "[of] whose behalf he/she is acting", any different from, "[on] whose behalf he/she is acting"?

Draughtsman of Acts of Parliament are very particular in how they use words, and these two little words could be very important in the way they are used - or not.

 

[freezeframe]

Here's hoping this can be sorted.

Two little words, "of" and "on".

Lawyers are experts at using words that have a meaning all of their own.
I suppose I have used the right There/Their. Their is them and There is in that place, There/Their has nothing to do with the question I am about to ask, but I thought I would explain it in case I have used the wrong word.


My question: Is, "[of] whose behalf he/she is acting", any different from, "[on] whose behalf he/she is acting"?

Draughtsman of Acts of Parliament are very particular in how they use words, and these two little words could be very important in the way they are used - or not.

I'm not a lawyer, but "of whose behalf" is not correct.

 

[yellow peril]

Thanks freezeframe for your quick reply.

However, you say, "of whose behalf", isn't correct.

Why isn't it correct and if "of" is used instead of "on", would it make any difference to the meaning of the sentence?

To put it another way, is it bad English to use "of whose behalf" or would there be a totally different meaning if, "on whose behalf" was used instead?

 

[Soup]

My question: Is, "[of] whose behalf he/she is acting", any different from, "[on] whose behalf he/she is acting"?

The former "[of] whose behalf" looks odd to me. Could you give us the context, the sentence or paragraph you found it in?

Here are phrases 'behalf' commonly occurs within:

on whose behalf
in whose behalf
on behalf of someone
in behalf of someone


Take a look at the Usage note at the bottom of the page here.

 

[yellow peril]

Soup.

The exact sentence is as follows:-

The name of the local authority/authorities of whose behalf s/he is acting. I underlined of.

If I could expand a little.
As you may know there are many authorities.

We will call two of these authorities A and B. A is the principal authority and through an agreement B carries out certain functions for A.

B's staff are required by law to wear a uniform when the carry out certain functions for A.

There has to be some form of identity to show what function they are carrying out and also show what I have typed in red above.

So are they acting for the principal or the authority who employ's them?

It might appear tricky and it might appear trivial, but when it comes to the law, (which I do not expect, although there might be some of you well versed in the law on this site) it is important to establish the exact meaning as set out in the sentence in red.

I hope I have explained it in simple terms, without getting you bogged down.

 

[Soup]

Soup.

The exact sentence is as follows:-

The name of the local authority/authorities of whose behalf s/he is acting.

Thank you for the context. It helps a great deal.

Here's what I found. I googled the example sentence and came up with six sites that copied and pasted the information from a government site, and, from what I can tell, 'of behalf' is a typing error. It should be 'on behalf'.

 

[yellow peril]

Thanks SOUP,

You can tell it is a typing error.

Can you please tell me and other interested parties, how you have arrived at that conclusion.

Also, If it wasn't a typing error, what difference would "Of" make instead of "On"?:roll:

 

[freezeframe]

Thanks SOUP,

You can tell it is a typing error.

Can you please tell me and other interested parties, how you have arrived at that conclusion.

Also, If it wasn't a typing error, what difference would "Of" make instead of "On"?:roll:

Of and behalf of don't go together. Putting them together doesn't mean anything; it's just incorrect.

 

[bhaisahab]

Thanks SOUP,

You can tell it is a typing error.

Can you please tell me and other interested parties, how you have arrived at that conclusion.

Also, If it wasn't a typing error, what difference would "Of" make instead of "On"?:roll:

"The name of the local authority/authorities of whose behalf s/he is acting." This is simply wrong. It could be written, "The name of the local authority on behalf of which she is acting". I can't see any reason to do so, however, when "The name of the local authority on whose behalf she is acting" is perfect.

 

[Soup]

Thanks SOUP,

You can tell it is a typing error.

Can you please tell me and other interested parties, how you have arrived at that conclusion.

The relative pronoun whose refers to a possessive noun; e.g., Tom's authority; whose authority; however, in our example sentence whose does not refer to a possessive noun. It refers to the noun phrase 'the name of the local authority/authorities', a non-possessive noun phrase, one that takes the relative pronoun which:

• S/he is acting on behalf of the local authority.

• ...the local authority of *whose/which she is acting on behalf.

The problem with the original example sentence is that is has whose in place of which not to mention is missing the preposition on:

Original Sentence
The name of the local authority/authorities of whose behalf s/he is acting. :cross:

​

Suggested Correction
The name of the local authority/authorities of which on whose behalf s/he is acting. :tick:
​

By the way, the phrase of which really isn't needed at all. It can be omitted without changing the meaning of the sentence. So in editing the sentence it is much simpler to say that 'of' is a typo and that it should be 'on':

The name of the local authority/authorities of whose behalf s/he is acting. :cross:

​

The name of the local authority/authorities on whose behalf s/he is acting. :tick:​

 

[5jj]

You can tell it is a typing error. Can you please tell me and other interested parties, how you have arrived at that conclusion.

Also, If it wasn't a typing error, what difference would "Of" make instead of "On"?:roll:

Soup arrived at that conclusion because 'of' someone's behalf is not acceptable English.

 

[Soup]

Soup arrived at that conclusion because 'of' someone's behalf is not acceptable English.

Your conclusion, not mine. How does saying that it "is not acceptable English" help the poster gain a better understanding of the workings of the grammar? I would never offer such a conclusion, but you have offered it for me. Please do not speak for me. (It's becoming oh so terribly tiresome.)

_________________
The problem: why can't 'of which on whose behalf' be shortened to 'of whose behalf' given that the syntax allows such an array (prep+possN+noun).

 

[5jj]

Your conclusion, not mine. How does saying that it "is not acceptable English" help the poster gain a better understanding of the workings of the grammar? I would never offer such a conclusion, but you have offered it for me. Please do not speak for me.

I am sorry if I appeared to speak for you. I was merely attempting to remind the questioner that you had already pointed out the incorrectness and had explained why it was incorrect.

(It's becoming oh so terribly tiresome.)

I wasn't aware that I'd done it before.