LEGAL DEPARTMENT. 619 



father's store, or receives payment of bills due him with his knowledge 

 and without objection, is the agent of the father, and may bind him in 

 subsequent transactions of the same nature if no notice is given to the 

 contrary. 



Principal. The principal is the person for whom the business is to be 

 transacted. Generally every person of legal age and competent to con- 

 tract may act as principal. The principal and not the agSStt is bound 

 by the agent's acts, so long as the agent does not exceed the authority 

 given him. 



Liability of Principal to Third Parties. When an Agent acts within 

 the limit of his authority, the principal is liable to third persons, to the 

 same extent as though he transacted the business himself. If the agent 

 violates the instructions given by the principal, the person with whom he 

 is dealing being ignorant of the fact and his act being apparently within 

 the limit of his authority, or if the agent makes a fraudulent representa- 

 tion, the principal will be held liable. The principle of the law is that 

 ' ' when one of two innocent persons must suffer, the one should sustain 

 the loss, who has put it in the power of the wrongdoer to commit the 

 wrong, ' ' but in cases of special agency the agent could not bind his prin- 

 cipal to exceed his special authority. 



If an agent is pursuing the business of his agency, and by his negli- 

 gence or unskillfulness injures another, the principal is liable ; for 

 instance, suppose you are riding on an express train from Toronto to 

 Montreal, you are rushing along with speed that rivals the wind, a care- 

 less engineer has his engine standing upon the track of your train, when 

 it ought to have been somewhere else, you go crashing into it, there is a 

 wreck, and you are pulled from the debris only to find yourself a cripple 

 for life. What do you do ? Bring an action for damages against the 

 engineer, who is the agent of the railroad company, or do you say to the 

 company itself, I have been injured through the carelessness of your 

 agent, and to you I look for damages ? 



Should the act of the agent be willful and not in the conduct of the 

 principal's business the agent and not the principal is liable ; to illustrate, 

 I am passing along the street in my carriage and your servant willfully 

 drives against me, the servant alone is liable. But had the act been 

 one of carelessness, you, the principal, would be liable. 



The Principal is Liable to the Agent for damages sustained by the 

 agent without his own default, in following the directions of his principal. 



