Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-12T22:03:28.589Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

3 - Agents, ‘Agents’ and Agency

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 May 2021

Ross Cranston
Affiliation:
London School of Economics and Political Science
Get access

Summary

Agents were crucial to the practice of international trade during the period covered by the book. They facilitated the import and export of goods, fixed shipping contracts, arranged insurance and conducted financial services for banks abroad. Agency patterns for goods changed and by about the middle of the nineteenth century sending goods to merchants abroad for sale on consignment was no longer as common as previously. For marketing reasons distributors of manufactured goods like motor vehicles were described as the ‘agents’ of manufacturers, but they were not true agents in law. Agents also came into their own in various parts of the world as so-called managing agents of plantations, mines and factories, and in the result became the fulcrum of powerful business groups. Through doctrines such as undisclosed principal and reasonable compliance with a principal’s instructions, and through devices such as the commission, del credere and confirming agent, the law went further in meeting commercial need. English law recognised that an agent should not always ‘drop out’ of the picture but should bear some responsibility for the underlying principal–third party contract if a transaction went wrong. The courts glossed over doctrinal difficulties to meet commercial need.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • Agents, ‘Agents’ and Agency
  • Ross Cranston, London School of Economics and Political Science
  • Book: Making Commercial Law Through Practice 1830–1970
  • Online publication: 14 May 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108182836.004
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Agents, ‘Agents’ and Agency
  • Ross Cranston, London School of Economics and Political Science
  • Book: Making Commercial Law Through Practice 1830–1970
  • Online publication: 14 May 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108182836.004
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Agents, ‘Agents’ and Agency
  • Ross Cranston, London School of Economics and Political Science
  • Book: Making Commercial Law Through Practice 1830–1970
  • Online publication: 14 May 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108182836.004
Available formats
×