Question

Power vs Authority: What is the difference? Is authority only conferred by law?

Answer 1

Authority is the moral (or if you are amoral legal) right to do something. Power is the means to actually carry it out.

A policeman with a gun has both the authority and the power to shoot a fleeing criminal. A policeman without his gun has authority, but no power. An armed vigilante has the power but not the authority.

Authority is generally conferred by law, yes, in the sense that the "law" is some operational code for deciding when actions are right or wrong. The only subtlety here is that here are many different forms of law: there is moral law, e.g. the Ten Commandments if you are Christian, or perhaps the dictates of your own consciences, if you are a freethinker or alone on a desert island, or the last man alive on Earth. There is natural law, also known as tradition, such as the traditional right to use lethal force to defend yourself against someone trying to kill, rape or rob you, or someone you are bound to defend. And, finally, there is the written law, statutes passed by a governing body, or handed down from your king, dictator, warlord, or tribal chieftain.