White v. Lee
White v. Lee
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
Lee brought this suit against White and Sheely for the purpose of recovering the sum of $200. While the suit is nominally against both, it is really a suit against White. The substantial facts are as follows:
White owned a life interest in a certain tract of’ land located in Alabama, near which place Lee lived. It is claimed by Lee that White authorized Sheely to act for him as his agent in negotiating a sale of his interest in this property, and it is claimed by Lee that Sheely did act as agent, and contracted to sell the property to him for a certain price and on certain terms, agreed upon and consented to and ratified by
The testimony in the case is'conflicting, and the jury might have found a verdict in favor of either party. In this condition of the testimony, the court gave the seventh instruction, which is as follows, viz.: “The court charges the jury that every-agent is impliedly authorized to do all acts that are usual and customary to effectuate the real purpose of the agency; and if the jury believe from the evidence that White desired and requested Sheely to fix the trade so Lee could not back out, and that in collecting the $200 and receipting for it Sheely was-acting in good faith, for and on behalf of White, with a view of binding the trade, and that the collection of the $200 was a reasonable precaution on the part of Sheely in the interest of White, then Sheely was authorized to collect it, in law, whether expressly authorized by White or not.”
This instruction does not correctly announce the law. If it be conceded as a matter of fact that 'White had employed Sheely to act as his agent, the record conclusively shows that no power of attorney had been given Sheely to make any con
The seventh instruction is totally wrong in its announcement of the law, even if White did desire Sheely to make a binding trade, and so instructed. Sheely. This instruction and desire was no warrant for Shoely’s act in collecting any part of the purchase money. The instruction practically tells the jury that it does not make any difference whether White had authorized Sheely to collect this money or not, yet if Sheely did exceed his authority and collect it anyway, believing that such course was necessary in order to make a binding trade, then
Reversed and remanded.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Jasper M. White v. Jehu H. Lee
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- 1. Pbincipal and Agent. Unauthorized acts. An agent cannot enlarge his authority hy unauthorized acts. 2. Same. Brokers. Authority to collect. Price. An agent empowered to negotiate a sale of land, to whom power to-Convey is not given, is not authorized to collect any part of the price, although instructed by his principal “to fix the trade so that the purchaser cannot back out.”