What agency must be re must notify without delay if they refuse to accept the agency. SECTION II. KINDS OF AGENTS. BRITISH LAW. The following kinds of agents are recognised by custom and law, and each kind possesses incidental authorities and rights with reference to the peculiar occupation: A broker is one that contrives and concludes bargains and Brokers. contracts for fee and reward (b). Under the general denomination of brokers are included those especially who make contracts between merchants and traders, but there are other kinds of brokers, who take their names from the special business in which they are engaged. No one can practise as broker in the City of London unless admitted by the Lord Mayor and Aldermen (c). (a) Prussian Civil Code, §§ 5 to 37. (b) Milford v. Hughes, 16 M. & W. 177; Jansen v. Green, 4 Burr. 2103. (c) 6 Anne, c. 16, s. 4. Brokers acting within the City of London must obtain a licence from the mayor and aldermen of the City, and every person acting without such licence forfeits 251. for every of fence. The regulations imposed for the admission of brokers within the City of London are as follows:-Every person applying to be admitted into the office and employment of a broker must produce and show to the satisfaction of the Court a certificate of his having competent skill and knowledge in the particular trade or business wherein he seeks to be admitted and act as broker, which certificate shall also recite the nature of his former servitude, or otherwise the line of business, &c., he has been brought up in and has lately used; such certificate to be signed by respect- Stock brokers. A stock broker is one who, for brokerage and hire, concludes bargains for stock, and buys and sells in the public funds or in the funds of joint-stock companies. He is a broker within the statute, and must be admitted by the Lord Mayor and Aldermen, and is liable to pay forty shillings per annum for the benefit of the Corporation of the City of London (a). his licence to act as a broker ceases and determines, and he is not afterwards permitted to exercise the office and employ of a broker unless he be readmitted upon the application to the Court. Every broker must enter every bargain or contract he makes in a book, to be kept in his office, entitled, "The Broker's Book," on the day of making such bargain or contract, with the christian and surname at full length of both the buyer and seller, the quantity, and quality of the articles sold or bought, and the price of the same, and the term of credit agreed upon, and deliver a contract note to both buyer and seller, or either of them, upon being requested so to do within twentyfour hours after such request respectively, containing therein a true copy of such entry. No broker is to take or receive double brokerage, that is to say from both buyer and seller of the same article, but from the buyer or seller only, whichever it may happen to be that shall employ him; and no broker can be employed for both buyer and seller in the same transaction, except only in regard to purchases made by brokers at public sales, and then always in such cases that the said purchases be made bond fide, and that the name of the principal be entered in the broker's book immediately after the conclusion of the day's sale, or the space of twenty-four hours next after every such transaction. Every broker must keep by him an authentic copy of his admission, and must produce the same and also the silver medal delivered to him at the time of his admission, for his authority and the satisfaction of all persons concerned to know the same upon being required to do so by any such person. (a) Clarke v. Powell, 4 B. & Ad. 846 ; Rex v. London Court of Request Commissioners, 7 East, 292. The following regulations for the admissions and re-elections of stock brokers are made by the committee of the Stock Exchange :- The committee for general purposes shall admit and re-elect such persons as they shall deem eligible to be members of the Stock Exchange, for one year, to be computed from the 25th of March then instant, or last preceding the admission of such subscriber, at the amount fixed by the trustees and managers for such admission. Every new applicant for admission must be recommended by three persons who have been members of the Stock Exchange not less than two years immediately preceding, and who have fulfilled all their engagements therein. Each recommender much enter into an engagement to pay three hundred pounds to the creditors of the applicant, in case the latter shall be publicly declared a defaulter within two years from the date of his admission. In all cases where either of the parties is indemnified, the liability of all the recommenders shall continue for three years; but no applicant shall be eligible, unless one at least of his securities be not indemnified. EXCEPTIONS. If the applicant be a foreigner he shall not be admissible, unless he shall have been a constant resident in this country during the five years immediately preceding his application for admission. If the applicant has been a clerk in the Stock Exchange for four years previously to his applica A ship broker is one who undertakes to procure on commis- Ship brokers. sion freight and passengers for vessels, and who is employed in tion he shall be required to provide two recommenders only, who must each enter into a similar engagement for two hundred and fifty pounds. A notice of each application, with the names of the recommenders, stating whether they are, or expect to be, indemnified for the engagements they enter into, shall be affixed in the Stock Exchange at least eight days before the applicant can be balloted for. Members who recommend applicants for admission are expected to have such personal knowledge of their past and present circumstances as may enable them to give a satisfactory account of the same to the committee. Any recommender of a new member who at the time of such member's admission shall have avowed that he was not indemnified, nor expected to be so, and who shall subsequently receive any indemnity, shall, in the event of the new member failing within the time of his liability, be compelled to pay to the creditors any sum So received, in addition to the amount for which he had originally become security. The recommendation of a firm, or of one member only of a firm, shall be allowed; but two members, one of whom is authorised clerk to the other, cannot recommend the same applicant, nor can a member be allowed to recommend any person who is to become, or to continue, his authorised clerk. If a member shall enter into partnership with, or become authorised clerk to, either of his sureties, a new surety shall be found for such portion of the time as shall remain unexpired; as, likewise, should either of his sureties cease to be a member during his liability; and until this substitution is provided the committee have the power of prohibiting his entrance to the Stock Exchange. No applicant is admissible if he be a bill or discount broker, or engaged in any business not connected with the Stock Exchange, or if his wife be en- Rules of the gaged in business, or if he be a member Stock of, or subscriber to, any other institu- Exchange. tion where dealings in stocks or shares are carried on; and if subsequently to his admission he shall render himself subject to either of those objections he shall thereby cease to be a member. But the privileges granted to certain members of the foreign house on their admission to the Stock Exchange, in 1835, by which the strict enforcement of this rule was waived, shall be allowed to extend to their immediate descendants, provided such descendants were members of or had applied for admission to the Stock Exchange previously to March, 1857. No applicant shall be eligible for admission if he be a clerk in any public or private establishment unconnected with the Stock Exchange. A member intending to object to the admission of an applicant, or to the reelection of a member, is required to communicate the grounds of his objec tion, by letter, to the committee previously to the ballot. If any applicant for admission, or re-election, shall on ballot be rejected, such rejection shall be conclusive for the year ending the 25th of March then next ensuing. No applicant for admission who has been a bankrupt, or has passed through the Insolvent Court, or has compounded with his creditors, shall be eligible, unless he shall have paid 6s. 8d. in the pound on his estate; nor then until two years after he shall have obtained his certificate, or fulfilled the conditions of his deed of composition, unless he shall have paid his debts in full; and no applicant having been more than once a bankrupt, or having passed more than once through the Insolvent Court, or having more than once compounded with his creditors, This rule docs not apply to the readmission of Members of the Stock Exchange, Rules of the buying and selling ships, and in adjusting the terms of charter shall be eligible for admission until he shall have paid in full. The re-election shall commence, in every year, on the first Monday in March. Every member desirous of being reelected shall, on or before the 4th of March in each year, address a letter, of the form inserted in the Appendix, to the secretary of the committee. Each individual of a partnership is required to sign a separate application. Any former member who, not having been a defaulter, bankrupt, or insolvent, shall have discontinued his subscription for one year, must be recommended for re-election by two members, but without security. If he shall have discontinued his subscription for two years he will be considered in all respects a new applicant, and must apply for admission in the usual way. A notice of every defaulter, bankrupt or insolvent applying for readmission shall be affixed, without recommenders, in a conspicuous part of the Stock Exchange at least twentyone days previously to his application being considered by the committee, and the committee shall take the application into consideration upon the report of the sub-committee, appointed according to rule 163. On the days on which the re-admission of defaulters is to be considered no other business shall be previously brought before the committee. The chairman of the committee, in addition to any other questions that may appear to be necessary, shall, to each of the recommenders of a new applicant, put the following:-Has the applicant ever been a bankrupt, or has he ever compounded with his creditors? and if so, within what time, and what amount of dividend has been paid? Would you take his cheque for three thousand pounds in the ordinary way of business? Would you deal with him in 5,000l. or 10,0007. consols for time? The chairman, in addition to any other questions that may be deemed necessary, shall, if he think fit, put the following to every new applicant :- Is this your signature? Have you read the resolution at the back of the letter? Are you a British-born subject? Are you of age? Are you married, and is your wife engaged in business? Have you read the book of rules and regulations of the Stock Exchange? PARTNERSHIPS.-In every year, as soon as possible after the general election, a list of all partnerships shall be made out, and affixed in some conspicuous part of the Stock Exchange. And in case of any new, or alteration in any old, partnership within the year, the same shall be communicated by the parties to the committee; and no partnership shall be considered as altered or dissolved until such communication be made. All notices relative to partnerships must be signed by the parties, countersigned by the secretary, and posted in the Stock Exchange. No member of the Stock Exchange shall be allowed to enter into partnership with any person who is not a member. Nor shall any member form a partnership until the liability of his recommenders shall have ceased, unless with the written consent of his sureties, such consent to be communicated to the committee. Members dealing generally together in any particular stock or shares, and participating in the result, shall be held responsible to the Stock Exchange for the liabilities of each other, not only in the shares or stock in which they are jointly interested, but also in any other description of securities in which either of them may transact business, unless they forward a written notice to the secretary of the Committee for General Purposes, specifying the particular stock or shares in which they deal on joint account. This rule to be applicable also to members allowing others to deal with their stock, shares, or capital, and participating in the result. party and bills of lading. He is not within the statutes regulating the admission of brokers in the City of London (a). brokers. An insurance broker is one who effects insurances on Insurance ships and goods, selects proper underwriters, arranges the terms and premiums of the policy, and keeps an account with the assured and underwriter for premiums and losses. A Custom-house broker is one who transacts business at Custom-house broker. the custom-house in the port of London relating to the entry or clearance of any ships or of any goods or baggage of passengers (b). Factors are general agents, acting for others, with limited or Factors. general authority. A factor differs from a broker. The broker is not trusted with the possession of the goods, nor ought he to sell in his own name; but the factor, from its being usual for him to make advances upon the goods, has a special property in as well as a general lien upon them, and may sell in his own name (c). Auctioneers are those who sell by public sale to the highest Auctioneers. bidder. An auctioneer is not a broker. A broker is one who buys and sells, and the auctioneer sells only. ships. Masters of ships are agents for the equipment, repair, man- Masters of agement, and navigation of the ships committed to their charges; and bands. Ship's Husbands are persons delegated by the owners of ships Ship's husto superintend the repairs, equipment, arrangement and other concerns of the ship. Form of notice to be affixed in the Stock Exchange, countersigned by the secretary. (NOTICE.) We, the undersigned, beg to inform the Committee for General Purposes that, from this day until further notice, we hold ourselves jointly responsible to the Stock Exchange for all transactions entered into by either of us in We are, sir, &c. In the event of a member doing a private bargain, either for money or The committee will not sanction (a) Gibbons v. Rule, 4 Bing. 301. |