Free agent

“ These, again, were instructed to watch each other carefully, and thus, not even at the very head and fountain of supreme authority, could any single individual consider himself a free agent, even in the most trifling matters of dress, deportment, or daily conversation. ”

“ Because you could not put a barrier between our two souls, which have felt the need so terribly one of another. We are free agents, Gladys, you and I; either of us by our acts could—can—break the union by which they are still bound. ”

“ You see, they've never had a really broad-gauge man directing their underwriting before you took charge. Nice people, but narrow, you understand—not a company that an agent would feel drawn to. O'Connor never had no nerve—or if he did, Wintermuth never let him show it. Now, no really progressive agent can do business with a petty piker. To get the best results you've got to let your agent run his field. Take your time, make the best appointment you can, and then give your agent a free hand—that's the only way to get a liberal income and make money too. ”

“ It postulates a free agent confronted with a choice between doing right and doing wrong and choosing freely to do wrong.' Pound, Introduction to Sayre, Cases on Criminal Law (1927) .↑ In Williams v. People of State of New York, 337 U.S. 241, 248, 69 S.Ct. ”

“ It is that of an agent constituted for the very point and purpose of possession. A bailee may be an agent for some other purpose. A free servant may be made a bailee. But the bailee holds in his own as we say, following the Roman idiom, and the servant or agent holding as such does not. ”

“ Well, I made a mental note to pass the script around a bit before I signed the contract myself. After all, he might have cribbed the whole thing somewhere.
He finished reading, signed the contract and handed it back to me with an air of expectancy. I stalled, "I, uh, will have the check for you in a few days. Meanwhile, you'd better get yourself an agent and an attorney and fix up that affidavit of authorship. Normally, I don't deal with free-lance playwrights, you see."
"But I don't need any agent," he protested. "You be my agent, Mr. ”

“ Even in free agents, most of what is in them, and much that proceeds from them, is of necessity, and beyond the control of their will. Of necessary action, whether material or mental, we shall have nothing further to say. ”

“ I would only say, that it seems to me, that every body of men, who cannot appear in person, where business relating to them may be transacted, should have a right to appear by an agent. The concurrence of the governor does not seem to me necessary. It is the business of the people, that is to be done ; he is not one of them ; he is himself an agent.
L. H. (Hastily.) Whose agent is he? B. F. The King's, my Lord.
L. H. No such matter. He is one of the corporation by the province charter. No agent can be appointed but by an act, nor any act pass without his assent. ”

“ Should one or more of those contracting parties, sovereignties in themselves, hold it to their interest to transact their business without the assistance of an agent, I cannot perceive that the right can be denied by any provision of the contract. ”

“ The very definition of an agent, given by Bouvier, as 'one who undertakes to transact some business, or manage some affair, for another, by the authority and on account of the latter, and to render an account of it' presupposes that the acts done by the agent shall be done in the interest of the principal, and that he shall receive his instructions from him. In this case the agent received his instructions from the Supreme Lodge, and his actions were, at least, as much for the convenience of the lodge as for that of the insured. ”

“ Neither can it doubted, that, where an agent has power to employ a sub-agent, the acts of sub-agent, or notice given to him in the transaction of the business, have the same effect as if done or received by the principal. ”

“ You must replace me just as much if your freedman drove me away, though he was not appointed to manage any of your business, as if your agent did it; not that every one is an agent who transacts any of our business, but because it is of no importance to the matter to inquire into that point. ”

“ Where an instrument shows on its face the names of the contracting parties, the agent may sign his own name first, and add to it, as in the present case, agent for his principal, or he may sign the name of his principal first, and add, by himself as agent. ”

“ If any such agent shall be removed, resign, die, become insane, or otherwise incapable of acting, it shall be the duty of such corporation, company, association, person, or partnership, to appoint another agent in his place, as prescribed by the preceding section. ”

“ This is a free country, and any man has a right to go into any legitimate business if he thinks there’s money in it. Neither the National League nor the American League have a mortgage on the game. But the trouble is that there aren’t enough good players to go round. ”

“ Within the sphere of the authority conferred, the act of the agent is as binding upon the principal as if it were done by the principal himself. But it is an elementary principle, applicable alike to all kinds of agency, that whatever an agent does can be done only in the way usual in the line of business in which he is acting. ”

“ Hickman. That gentleman is an advocate for education and the spread of knowledge. Now if an agent were as much devoted to the interests of the people as he is and ought to be to those of the landlord, this principle might pass; but as I take it, that the sole duty of an agent is to extend the interest of his employer exclusively, so am I opposed to any plan or practice by which the people may be taught to think too clearly. For let me ask, my Lord, what class of persons, at the approach of an election, for instance, or during its continuance, are most available for our interests? ”

“ But, as I see it, the minute you gave up your profession you lost the right to expect or demand any other treatment than that of an outsider. As for the service which you claim to have rendered us in grappling with the agent, I, for my part, fail to acknowledge any obligation—unless it be on the part of the agent, whose life you assuredly saved. ”

“ It’s the duty of an agent to save his principal trouble. I wouldn’t keep an agent who bothered me with all the twopenny-halfpenny transactions of the estate—dom’d if I would,” said Sir Moses, resuming his eye-glass reading. ”

“ It is difficult to state concisely what will constitute such an interest that the principal cannot terminate the relation, but it may be said to be some ownership or right in the matter dealt with, such that the agent may deal with it in his own name, and not a mere benefit to be obtained from the performance of the contract of agency, as a commission to be realized from sales. ”

“ Even in the domain of contract, we find the striking doctrine that an undisclosed principal has the rights as well as the obligations of a known contractor,—that he can be sued, and, more remarkable, can sue on his agent's contract. The first precedent cited for the proposition that a promise to an agent may be laid as a promise to the principal, is a case of master and servant. ”

“ Some maintain that they have made all their good engagements independently, others tell you that you are safe only in the hands of a reputable agent. I have closed contracts in both ways. The agent is not omnipotent. It is his business to watch the operatic field and notify you when there is a vacancy that he thinks would suit you. ”

“ A partner, indeed, virtually embraces the character both of a principal and of an agent. So far as he acts for himself and his own interest in the common concerns of the partnership, he may properly be deemed a principal; and so far as he acts for his partners, he may as properly be deemed an agent. The principal distinction between him and a mere agent is that he has a community of interest with the other partners in the whole property and business and responsibilities of the partnership; whereas an agent, as such, has no interest in either. ”

“ The principle asserted in the decision of that point, and applied to the case was, that whatever an agent does, or says, in reference to the business in which he is at the time employed, and within the scope of his authority, is done or said by the principal ”

“ The amount for which the policy is issued; but he is merely the agent. He exercises his best judgment, but the home office underwriter is the court of last resort. Generally speaking, the agent secures the business and offers it to the company for its acceptance. If, when it comes, the underwriter feels that the rate of premium is not commensurate with the hazard, he writes the agent, 'Rate too low: please cancel.' And there is where his diplomacy comes in. ”

“ Woodlief, 20 How. 221, 15 L. ed. 884, it was laid down that in order to be entitled to commission 'the broker must complete to sale; that is, he must find a purchaser in a situation and ready and willing to complete the purchase on the terms agreed on.' But this rule is inapplicable when the owner refuses, without sufficient reasons, to fulfil the agreement which the agent has made. ”

“ A principal who has authorized his agent to make a contract for him may revoke or restrict the agency before any contract is made, but he is bound by a contract made during the continuance of the agent's powers, if those powers were not transgressed in making it. ”

“ With the qualification that the agent is at liberty to communicate his knowledge to his principal, it appears to us to be a sound view of the subject. The general rule that a principal is bound by the knowledge of his agent is based on the principle of law, that it is the agent's duty to communicate to his principal the knowledge which he has respecting the subject-matter of negotiation, and the presumption that he will perform that duty. ”

“ At last I thought I'd like to settle down, so I bought a partnership, and now, instead of being an agent, I send out agents."
"Isn't twenty dollars a day pretty large for an agent to make?" asked Walter.
"Yes, there are not many do it, but plenty make from five to ten right along. You look as if you would make a good agent." ”

“ So infants, married women, slaves, and even lunatics, may be agents or servants whose acts will bind their principals. It has been held that even a dog may be an agent. As to who may be a principal, the ordinary rules of contracts, as we have discussed them, may be relied upon as giving the correct rule.
AGENCY BY CONTRACT.—Concerning agency which arises by contract, little need be said. A contract of agency must possess all of the elements of the ordinary contract, such as mutual assent, consideration, competent parties, legality of object, and in some cases, a particular form. ”

“ All three persons represent the principal, or the master, or the employer, but the line of distinction lies here: An agent is employed to bring the principal into new contractual obligations; a servant represents his master in the performance of ministerial, or mechanical acts or services, with no thought of bringing his master into new contractual relations with third persons. ”

“ That if one man employs another to do a legal act, which, in the ordinary course of things will involve the agent in obligations pecuniary or otherwise, a contract on the part of the employer to indemnify his agent is implied by law ... ”

“ It is another general proposition, in respect to the relation between principal and agent, that a request to undertake an agency or employment, the proper execution of which does or may involve the loss or expenditure of money on the part of the agent, operates as an implied request on the part of the principal, not only to incur such expenditure, but also as a promise to repay it. ”

“ Many an agent, my Lord, has built himself a fortune out of the very necessities of his employer, and left to his children the honorable reflection that their independence originated from profligacy on the one hand and dishonesty on the other. ”

“ As to who is an agent lawfully authorized, it has been held, that a broker employed by one person to sell goods, who agrees with another person for the sale of them, and makes out and signs a sale-note (containing the substance of the contract) , and delivers one to each party, is a sufficient agent for both parties. ”

“ If an agent exceed the limits of his authority, he becomes personally responsible to the person with whom he deals, if the limitations of his authority are unknown to such person. He is in like mariner responsible, if he makes a contract in his own name ”

“ An agent induces a friend to have a policy written, for which the agent practically pays the premium out of his commission, and thereupon has advanced to him large sums against the future premiums which are to be paid by the policy-holder, who has no intention of paying them, and allows his policy to lapse. Heavens! What a vista of plundering opportunities the bare thought opens up! ”

“ Then there are the contractor and sub-contractor; the man who failed to get the contract he wanted, and the man who is planning to get the next contract. There is the ex-agent, who corresponds with the employés and Indians, and criticises his successor, and the man who wants to be agent, and watches for a lever to oust the incumbent. (There are always twenty of them!) There is the dissatisfied employé, who corresponds with outsiders about agency affairs, and the meddlesome clerk at Washington, who gives him private assistance. ”

“ The principal is entitled to demand that the agent, unless the contrary is agreed, shall make the employment or agency his sole interest in regard to that particular thing. Of course, in many agencies the agent is undertaking a great deal of outside business besides the particular agency in question, and he has a right so to do so long as the principal has not engaged his whole time, and so long as one agency does not interfere with another. ”

“ Under this doctrine, the exclusive agent's statutory authority to represent all members of a designated unit includes a statutory obligation to serve the interests of all members without hostility or discrimination toward any, to exercise its discretion with complete good faith and honesty, and to avoid arbitrary conduct. ”

“ If an agent exceeds his authority, or if he acts without authority, if the employer subsequently acquiesces in, or approves his conduct, he is bound by it; and a small matter will be evidence of such assent. And if, with a knowledge of all the circumstances, an employer adopts the acts of his agent, for a moment, he is bound by them. ”