PRINCETON COLLEGE PRISON DISCIPLINE. 



251 



being very large and of the richest purple hue. Un- 

 fortunately its native habitat, on the banks of streams 

 fed with ice-cold waters from melting snows, unfits it 

 fur wanner situations, and it does not yield kindly to 

 cultivation. The American Cowslip, DodecatMon 

 Mendin, one of our most beautiful wild flowers, be- 

 longs to another genus of the same family. It is found 

 in woods from Pennsylvania to Wisconsin and south- 

 wardly, and bears a gracefully drooping cluster of pale 

 purple flowers. The beautiful garden flowers called 

 PolyanthtU and Auricula are results of cultivation of 

 species of the primrose genus. (c. M.) 



PRINCKTON COLLEGE. See NEW JERSEY, 

 Ci'u.K'iF. OK. md THXOIXXHCAL SEMINARIES. 



PRINCIPAL AND AGENT. Agen.-y is founded 

 upon a contract, either express or implied, by which 

 one of the parties confides to the other the management 

 of some business to be transacted in his name or on 

 his account, and by which the other assumes to do the 

 business, and to render an account of it. The authority 

 may be by deed or writing, or verbal merely. The 

 agency may be inferred from the relation of the par- 

 tie* and the nature of the employment, without proof 

 of auy express appointment. If the agent is to con- 

 vey or complete the conveyance of land or interests 

 therein, however, the appointment must be in writing. 

 Tlie agency must be previously given or subsequently 

 adopted. Acquiescence in the assumed authority of 

 another when his acts are known to the principal 

 is equivalent to an express authority. Thus it has been 

 held that if a confidential clerk has been accustomed 

 to draw checks for his principal, and has occasionally 

 been permitted to endorse for him, the jury would be 

 warranted to infer a general authority to endorse. 



An agent intrusted with general powers must exer- 

 cise a sound discretion, and he has all the implied pow- 

 ers which are within the scope of the employment. If 

 his powers arc limited, he must strictly follow them : 

 he cannot have an adverse interest or employment, 

 as to represent both buyer and seller. If an agent ex- 

 hit powers, his principal is not liable on the con- 

 tract except so far as the agent was authorized to go. 

 If the agent executes his commission iti part only, the 

 principal is liable in some cases, as if the agent was 

 empowered to buy a farm of fifty acres and he bought 

 one of forty acres, corresponding to the directions as 

 nearly as possible. The acts of a general agent, with 

 power to transact all the principal's business of 'a par- 

 ticular kind, or at a particular place, will bind the 

 priueipal so long as the agent keeps within the general 

 Hcope of his authority, though he may act contrary to 

 privnte instructions. But an agent appointed for a 

 jiarticular purpose, with limited power, cannot bind 

 his principal it he exceeds that power. Any one deal- 

 ing with such an agent does so at his peril, when the 

 pMMl the | .iveise limits of his power; as where 

 C. a holder of a bill of exchange, desired A to get it 

 discounted, but refused to endorse it, and A procured 

 B's endorsement to it, it was held that C was not 

 bound, A being a special agent with limited authority, 

 not to endorse the bill. The presumption of an author- 

 ity to sell is inferred in some cases from the nature of 

 the business of the agent, as if a broker be intrusted 

 hv a men-haul with goods, the principal would be 

 bound by a sale of them. A (actor, who buys or sells 

 on comniisHon. may sell on credit if the usage of the 

 trade is such, provided he be not restrained by his in- 

 structions, does not give an unreasonably extended 

 credit, and uses due diligence to ascertain the solvency of 

 the purchaser. He cannot sell on credit, how-\er. 

 where such is not the UMIL-C. as in a sale of stock. A 

 note taken in this way by a factor belongs to the prin- 

 cipal, even if the factor has sold without disclosing his 

 principal. .Should the factor fail, the note would not 

 nees upon the doctrine that the prin- 

 cipal may follow his goods or the proceeds into the 

 hands of the agent or of his legal representatives or 



The sale by an agent on what is known as a Del Cre- 

 dere commission, i. e., on credit at his own risk, for an 

 additional premium, has generally been held to sub- 

 stitute the agent's liability to the principal for that of 

 the purchaser. 



A factor cannot pledge the goods of his principal for 

 his own debt. In such case the principal may look to 

 the pledgee for the goods : there is an exception to this 

 rule, however, in the case of negotiable paper, unless 

 notice of the fraud or want of title can be brought 

 home to the endorsee. 



Where an agent is duly constituted, and names his 

 principal, and contracts in his name, without exceeding 

 iiis authority, the principal becomes responsible : the 

 agent is personally liable only when the principal is 

 not known, or where there is no responsible principal, 

 or where the agent undertakes in his own name, or ex- 

 ceeds his power. If the agent buys in his own name, 

 but for the benefit of the principal, without disclosing 

 his name, both are bound, provided the goods reach 

 the principal, or the agent acted in the business in- 

 trusted to him and within his power. If the authority 

 of the agent be coupled with an interest in the prop- 

 erty, he may sell in hisowu name and be personally liable, 

 e. g. , the case of a master of a ship, or a mortgagee. It 

 has been generally held that an agent cannot be sued 

 on a written contract binding the principal only, made 

 by the agent without authority. Where goods have 

 been sold by a factor, the owner may call upon the pur- 

 eha-iT for the price before payment to the factor, and 

 a payment to the factor after notice from the owner not 

 to pay would not prejudice the rights of the owner. 

 Where a party dealing with an agent, knowing him to 

 be such, elects to make the agent his debtor, he re- 

 leases the principal. It has been generally held that an 

 ai;ent, making a contract on behalf of a government, is 

 not roponsible himself, though by the terms of the 

 contract he might be if it were private : the presump- 

 tion in such ease is that the party who deals with a 

 public agent relics on the good faith and standing of 

 the government. 



I M general principle is that an agent is liable to third 

 persons for acts of misfeasance and positive wrong ; but 

 lor mere non-feasance, and negligence in the course of 

 his employment, he is answerable only to his principal, 

 and the principal is answerable to the third party. 



Since agency is generally a personal trust, the prin- 

 cipal employing the agent from the opinion which he 

 has of his personal skill and integrity, the latter cannot 

 as a general thing delegate the confidence reposed in 

 him to another. In some cases, however, a usage of 

 trade has been held to authorize an agent to employ a 

 broker. 



A factor has a lien on the goods of his principal in 

 his possession, or on the proceeds if he has sold the 

 goods, for his charges and commissions. In like man- 

 ner attorneys, bankers, etc., have a lien on the papers 

 of their clients for the amount of their charges. 



The authority of the agent may terminate (1) by his 

 death ; this results from the personal nature of the trust; 

 (12) by tin- /iriin-ijMi/ x ririu-iition, in which case the agent 

 must immediately be notified : all acts of the agent un- 

 der the agency previous to notification are binding on 

 the principal : so also if the agent had concealed the 

 fact of notification, and the public had no means of 

 knowing of it ; ('',) li\i a r/innge in the slate or condition 

 nftlif princnxil, as by his bankruptcy, or lunacy, or the 

 marriage of a feme xrile principal ; (4) by the denth of 

 tke principal : under the civil law the acts of an agent, 

 done bnna fide, after the death of the principal, but 

 before notice of it, bind his representatives. In Eng- 

 land and America, however, it has generally been held 

 that the death of the principal is an instantaneous and 

 absolute revocation of the agent's authority, unless the 

 agent's power be coupled with an interest. (T. R.) 



PRINTING. See TYPOGRAPHY. 



PRISON DISCIPLINE. Prisons are as old as 

 I history. Eighteen centuries before the Christian era 



