118 



waeeanty; sale and waeeanty by agent, etc. 



ness, but with a misrepresentation as to the place from 

 which he was brought, " that if the warranty was answered, 

 a misrepresentation as to the place from which the horse 

 was procured would not suffice to set aside the sale " (e). 



An agfint 

 cannot dele- 

 gate his 

 authority. 



Nor exceed it. 



Agency deter- 

 mines by 

 principal's 

 death. 



Difference 

 between a 

 remunerated 

 and an un- 

 remunerated 

 agent. 



Agent acting 

 without 

 proper autho- 

 rity. 



His personal 

 responsibility. 



Sale and Warranty by an Agent. 



An agent is always incompetent, without special autho- 

 rity for that purpose, to appoint another person to act in 

 his stead, the maxim of the law being, delegatus non potest 

 delegare (/). 



An agent employed for a particular purpose has no right 

 to exceed his authority. Thus a servant or other person 

 authorized to sell a horse, must receive payment for him 

 in money ; he cannot exchange him for another {g). 



An agency determines ipso facto by the death of the 

 principal, and is also capable of being revoked by him in 

 his lifetime, with as little ceremony as it was created {h). 



There is a difference between the principal's rights 

 against a remunerated and against an unremunerated agent. 

 The former, having once engaged, may be compelled to 

 proceed to the task which he has undertaken ; the latter 

 cannot, for his promise to do so being induced by no con- 

 sideration, the rule, ex niido pacto non oritur actio, applies. 

 But if he do commence his task, and afterwards be guilty 

 of misconduct in performing it, he will, though unremu- 

 nerated, be liable for the damage so occasioned ; since by 

 entering upon the business, he has prevented the employ- 

 ment of some better qualified person («'). 



Wherever a party undertakes to do any act as the 

 agent of another, if he does not possess any authority 

 from the principal, and the other does not know it, or if 

 he exceeds the authority delegated to him, he will be 

 personally responsible to the person with whom he is dealing, 

 tor or on account of the principal {k). 



If the agent contracts in such a form as to make him- 

 self personally responsible, he cannot afterwards, whether 

 his principal were or were not known at the time of the 

 contract, relieve himself from that responsibility (/). And 



(e) Gcddes v. Fennington, 5 Dow, 

 163. 



(/) 2 Steph. Com. 120. 



[g) Thompson v. Davenport, 9 B. 

 &C. 78. 



(A) 2 Steph. Com. 118. 



(i) See Smith's Merc. Law, 112 ; 

 Balfe V. West, 22 L. J., C. P. 176. 



(k) Story's Commentaries, 226 ; 

 BarperY. Williams, 4 Q,. B. 232. 



(/) Higgins v. Senior, 8 M. & "W. 

 845. 



