Miscellaneous Legislative Provisions. 
413 
allowed to operate,—should be carefully and accurately determ¬ 
ined. 
A few of these provisions only can be enumerated. In Eng¬ 
land and in most of the states of the Union, acts have been 
passed to suppress speculative transfers in stock, either gener¬ 
ally, or in some kinds of securities. 1 Speculation in government 
securities is illegal in England under the provisions of “Sir 
John Bernard’s Act. ” 2 Another method of restriction has been 
to limit the relation of principal and agent, removing in some 
cases cognizance of law from the obligations incurred. The 
legal character of the obligation of contracts has been with¬ 
drawn, both in England and this country, from gaming and 
wagering contracts, by numerous enactments, thus withholding 
the enforcement of law when the taint of gambling can be es¬ 
tablished. 3 Contracts made with the end in view of establish¬ 
ing a “corner” on the market are void in this country. An 
even wider legislation is that in England against enhancing the 
price of stocks to the damage of the purchasing public. Adolf 
Wagner has shown that the taxation of stock-exchange “deals” 
and. speculative transfers in general rests upon the same basis 
with an inheritance tax; that is to say, upon the principle 
which justifies the state in appropriating a part of those eco¬ 
nomic gains accruing to individuals, upon the basis of the pres¬ 
ent social and economic order, and which are only in a subordi¬ 
nate measure the result of the recipient's own productive exer¬ 
tions. 4 
The legal status of the stock exchange is somewhat anomal¬ 
ous, resembling that of an association or club. As it is not 
4 Eng. and Am. Encyc. of Law, vol. 23, p. 737. 
2 This does not however apply to railway or joint-stock shares. 
3 The contract is void when merely fictitious, and when nothing more 
than a settlement of the differences between present and future prices 
is contemplated. In England the broker may hold his principal for 
losses paid at the latter's request. In this country the tendency is to 
leave the broker without recourse. Of. Eng. and Am. Encyc. of Law, 
vol. 23, pp. 142, et. suiv. Cf. “ Lawson on Contracts,” §288. Bishop on 
Contracts (Large Ed.), Chicago, 1887, §529-535, inciu. 
4 Finanzwissenschaft,” 2 Aufl., Bd. II, pp. 574-575. For the advisability 
of a tax to reduce speculation, p. 577, fine print. With regard to the 
methods of taxation which may be employed, p. 583, fine print. 
