AGENCY

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AGENCY

AGENCY, contracts. An agreement, express, or implied, by which one of the parties, called the principal, confides to the other, denominated the agent,the management of some business; to be transacted in his name, or on hisaccount, and by which the agent assumes to do the business and to render anaccount of it. As a general rule, whatever a man do by himself, except invirtue of a delegated authority, he may do by an agent. Combee's Case, 9 Co.75. Hence the maxim qui facit per alium facit per se. 2. When the agency express, it is created either by deed, or in writingnot by deed, or verbally without writing. 3 Chit. Com. Law 104; 9 Ves. 250;11 Mass. Rep. 27; Ib. 97, 288; 1 Binn. R. 450. When the agency is notexpress, it may be inferred from the relation of the parties and the natureof the employment, without any proof of any express appointment. 1 Wash. R.19; 16 East, R. 400; 5 Day's R. 556. 3. The agency must be antecedently given, or subsequently adopted; andin the latter case there must be an act of recognition, or an acquiescencein the act of the agent, from which a recognition may be fairly implied. 9Cranch, 153, 161; 26 Wend. 193, 226; 6 Man. & Gr. 236, 242; 1 Hare & Wall.Sel. Dec. 420; 2 Kent, Com. 478; Paley on Agency; Livermore on Agency. 4. An agency may be dissolved in two ways - 1, by the act of theprincipal or the agent; 2, by operation of law. 5.-1. The agency may be dissolved by the act of one of the parties.1st. As a general rule, it may be laid down that the principal has a rightto revoke the powers which he has given; but this is subject to someexception, of which the following are examples. When the principal hasexpressly stipulated that the authority shall be irrevocable, and the agenthas an interest in its execution; it is to be observed, however, thatalthough there may be an express agreement not to revoke, yet if the agenthas no interest in its execution, and there is no consideration for theagreement, it will be considered a nude pact, and the authority may berevoked. But when an authority or power is coupled with an interest, or whenit is given for a valuable consideration, or when it is a part of asecurity, then, unless there is an express stipulation that it shall berevocable, it cannot be revoked, whether it be expressed on the face of theinstrument giving the authority, that it be so, or not. Story on Ag. 477;Smith on Merc. L. 71; 2 Liv. on Ag. 308; Paley on Ag. by Lloyd, 184; 3 Chit.Com. f. 223; 2 Mason's R. 244; Id. 342; 8 Wheat. R. 170; 1 Pet. R. 1; 2Kent, Com. 643, 3d edit.; Story on Bailm. Sec. 209; 2 Esp. R. 665; 3 Barnw.& Cressw. 842; 10 Barnw. & Cressw. 731; 2 Story, Eq. Jur. Sec. 1041, 1042,1043 6.-2. The agency may be determined by the renunciation of the agent.If the renunciation be made after it has been partly executed, the agent byrenouncing it, becomes liable for the damages which may thereby be sustainedby his principal. Story on Ag. Sec. 478; Story on Bailm. Sec. 436; Jones onBailm. 101; 4 John r. 84. 7.-2 The agency is revoked by operation of law in the followingcases: 1st. When the agency terminates by the expiration of the period,during which it was to exist, and to have effect; as, if an agency becreated to endure a year, or till the happening of a contingency, it becomesextinct at the end or on the happening of the contingency. 8.-2. When a change of condition, or of state, produces an incapacityin either party; as, if the principal, being a woman, marry, this would be arevocation, because the power of creating an agent is founded on the rightof the principal to do the business himself, and a married woman has no suchpower. For the same reason, when the principal becomes insane, the agency is ipso facto revoked. 8 Wheat. R. 174, 201 to 204; Story on Ag. Sec. 481;Story on Bailm. Sec. 206. 2 Liv. on Ag. 307. The incapacity of the agentalso amounts to a revocation in law, as in case of insanity, and the like,which renders an agent altogether incompetent, but the rule does notreciprocally apply in its full extent. For instance, an infant or a marriedwoman may in some cases be agents, although they cannot act for themselves.Co. Litt. 52a. 9.-3. The death of either principal or agent revokes the agency,unless in cases where the agent has an interest in the thing actually vestedin the agent. 8 Wheat. R. 174; Story on Ag. Sec. 486 to 499; 2 Greenl. R.14, 18; but see 4 W. & S. 282; 1 Hare & Wall. Sel. Dec. 415. 10.-4. The agency is revoked in law, by the extinction of thesubject-matter of the agency, or of the principal's power over it, or by thecomplete execution of the trust. Story on Bailm. Sec. 207, Vide generally, 1Hare & Wall. Sel. Dec. 384, 422; Pal. on Ag.; Story on Ag.; Liv. on Ag.; 2Bouv. Inst. n. 1269-1382.

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