For the doctrine of ratification to fix a supposed principal with contractual liability, the putative agent's past conduct must have amounted to the immediate making of a contract avowedly on behalf of the principal. Where the putative agent merely undertakes to promote a transaction with the principal, there is no contract capable of being ratified, regardless of the principal's subsequent conduct (such as providing receipts for money received). The question whether a counterparty may withdraw from a contract before ratification remains unsettled in Australian law.
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