Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 1.djvu/303

Rh A G E A G E 281 being in an unsatisfactory state, a statutory remedy was applied to it by an Act of 1825 (6 Geo. IV. c. 94), which required amendment in 1842 (5 and 6 Viet. c. 39). The general object of these measures, which appear to extend to Scotland, is to make transactions with an agent in possession of goods as safe as dealing with the owner, to all who treat with him, as purchasers or other wise, in good faith, and in ignorance of his want of owner ship. Thus, when an agent ships goods in his own name, the consignee is entitled to a lien on them for any advances to the agent, or liabilities on bills or notes, if he has not notice by the bill of lading or otherwise at or before the time of the advance or receipt that such person is not the actual and bond fide owner. The presumption in such cases is ownership; and the burden of disproving it, as well as of showing that the consignee was aware of the mere agency, falls on the person questioning the validity. By the statutes, the person entrusted with and in possession of a bill of lading, dock warrant, warehouse-keeper s certi ficate, wharfinger s certificate, or other delivery warrant, is held the owner of the goods it represents, so as to render valid any transaction for their sale or disposition of the goods, or the deposit or pledge thereof, or of any part thereof, to parties ignorant of the limited ownership. Be sides their effect in rendering valid, in this more compre hensive manner, operations conducted under the appearance and supposition of absolute ownership, the acts have separate provisions for the security of those who deal with agents, knowing them to be such. The acts, how ever, must be studied in their very words, which are not remarkable for clearness. The following brief descrip tion of their general effect, taken from Chitty s Collec tion of Statutes, may be useful: &quot;First, where goods or documents for the delivery of goods are pledged as a security for present or future advances, with the knowledge that they are not the property of the factor, but without notice that he is acting without authority, in such a case the pledgee acquires an absolute lien. Secondly, where goods are pledged by a factor without notice to the pledgee that they are the property of another, as a security for a pre-existing debt, in that case the pledgee acquires the same right as the factor had. Thirdly, where a contract to pledge is made in consideration of the delivery of other goods or documents of title, upon which the person deliver ing them up had a lien for a previous advance (which is deemed to be a contract for a present advance), in that case the pledgee acquires an absolute lien to the extent of the value of the goods given up.&quot; The statutes are applicable only to proper mercantile transactions, and not, for example, to advances upon the seciirity of furniture in a furnished house to the apparent owner. (See Smith s Leading Cases, vol. i. p. 759 sqq., 6th ed.) The obligations of the principal are to pay the agent s remuneration, or, as it is often called, commission, the amount of which is fixed by contract or the usage of trade ; to pay all advances made by the agent in the regular course of his employment; and to honour the obligations lawfully undertaken for him. The agent is responsible for the possession of the proper skill and means for carrying out the functions which he undertakes. He must devote to the interests of his employer such care and attention as a man of ordinary prudence bestows on his own a duty capable of no more certain definition, the application of it as a fixed rule being the function of a jury. He is bound to observe the strictest good faith ; and in some instances the law interposes to remove him from temptation to sacrifice his employer s interests to his own : thus, when he is employed to buy, he must not be the seller; and when employed to sell, he must not be the purchaser. He ought only to deal with persons in good credit, but he is not responsible for their absolute solvency unless he guarantee them. A mercantile agent guaranteeing the pay ments he treats for is said to hold a del credere commission. In Scotland the procurators or solicitors who act in. the preparation of cases in the various law-courts, and all who take out the attorney licence, are called agents. See ATTORNEY. In France, the Agents de Change were formerly the class generally licensed for conducting all negotiations, as they were termed, whether in commerce or the money market. Of late the term has been practically limited to those who conduct, like our stockbrokers, transactions in public stock ; and it is understood that it is rather as speculators than aa agents that the majority of them adopt the profession. The laws and regulations as to courtiers, or those whose functions were more distinctly confined to transactions in merchandise, have been mixed up with those applicable to agents de change. Down to the year 1572 both functions were free; but at that period, partly for financial reasons, a system of licensing was adopted at the suggestion of the Chancellor THopital. Among the other revolutionary measures of the year 1791, the professions of agent and courtier were again opened to the public. Many of the financial convulsions of the ensuing years, which were due to more serious causes, were attributed to this indiscrimi nate removal of restrictions, and they were reimposed in 1801. From that period regulations have been made from time to time as to the qualifications of agents, the security to be found by them, and the like. They are now regarded as public officers, appointed, with certain privileges and duties, by the government, to act as intermediaries in negotiating transfers of public funds and commercial stocks, and for dealing in metallic currency. AGESILAUS, king of the Lacedaemonians, the second of the name, son of Archidamus II., was, through the influence of Lysander, raised to the throne in 398 B.C., in opposition to the superior claim of his nephew Leoty- chides. Immediately on his accession he advised the Lacedaemonians to anticipate the king of Persia, who was making great preparations for war, and attack him in his own dominions. He was himself chosen for this expedition, and gained so many advantages over the enemy that, if the league which the Athenians and the Thebans formed against the Lacedaemonians had not obliged him to return home, it seems probable that he would have carried his victorious arms into the very heart of the Persian empire. But he readily gave up all these triumphs to come to the succour of his country, which he happily relieved by his victory over the allies at Chgeronea, in Boeotia, 394 B.c. He obtained another near Corinth ; but, to his great mor tification, the Thebans afterwards gained several victories over the Lacedaemonians. This at first raised a clamour against him. He had been ill when the course of victory turned in favour of the enemy ; but as soon as he was able to act in person his valour and prudence prevented the Thebans from reaping the advantages of their successes ; so that it was generally believed that, had he been in health at the beginning, the Lacedaemonians would have sustained no losses, and that without him all would have been lost. It cannot be denied, however, that his fond ness for war occasioned many losses to his countrymen, and led them into enterprises which in the end con tributed much to weaken their power. He died in the third year of the 103d Olympiad, being the 84th year of his age and 38th of his reign, and was succeeded by his son Archidamus. Agesilaus, though a vigorous ruler and great general, was of small stature, and lame from his birth. His accession to the throne was, indeed, opposed on this ground, an oracle having foretold evils to Sparta under a lame sovereignty. As we have seen, the oracle was I. - - 36