AGE-PRAYER, AGE-PRIER, oetatis precatio. English law, practise. Wnen an action is brought against an infant for lands which he hath by descent, he may show this to the court, and pray quod loquela remaneat until he shall become of age; which is called his age-prayer. Upon this being ascertained1, the proceedings2 are stayed accordingly. When the lands did not descend3, he is not allowed this privilege. 1 Lilly's Reg. 54.
AGED4 WITNESS. When a deposition5 is wanted to be taken on account of the age of a witness, he must be at least seventy years old to be considered an aged witness. Coop. Eq. PI. 57; Amb. R. 65; 13 Ves. 56, 261.
AGENCY, contracts. An agreement, express , or implied, by which one of the parties, called the principal, confides7 to the other, denominated the agent, the management of some business; to be transacted8 in his name, or on his account, and by which the agent assumes to do the business and to render an account of it. As a general rule, whatever a man do by himself, except in virtue9 of a delegated authority, he may do by an agent. Combee's Case, 9 Co. 75. Hence the maxim10 qui facit per alium facit per se.
2. When the agency express, it is created either by deed, or in writing not by deed, or verbally without writing. 3 Chit. Com. Law 104; 9 Ves. 250; 11 Mass. Rep. 27; Ib. 97, 288; 1 Binn. R. 450. When the agency is not express, it may be inferred from the relation of the parties and the nature of the employment, without any proof of any express appointment. 1 Wash. R. 19; 16 East, R. 400; 5 Day's R. 556.
3. The agency must be antecedently given, or subsequently adopted; and in the latter case there must be an act of recognition, or an acquiescence11 in the act of the agent, from which a recognition may be fairly implied. 9 Cranch, 153, 161; 26 Wend. 193, 226; 6 Man. & Gr. 236, 242; 1 Hare & Wall. Sel. Dec. 420; 2 Kent, Com. 478; Paley on Agency; Livermore on Agency.
4. An agency may be dissolved in two ways – 1, by the act of the principal or the agent; 2, by operation of law.
5. – 1. The agency may be dissolved by the aet of one of the parties. 1st. As a general rule, it may be laid down that the principal has a right to revoke12 the powers which he has given; but this is subject to some exception, of which the following are examples. When the principal has expressly stipulated13 that the authority shall be irrevocable, and the agent has an interest in its execution; it is to be observed, however, that although there may be an express agreement not to revoke, yet if the agent has no interest in its execution, and there is no consideration for the agreement, it will be considered a nude14 pact15, and the authority may be revoked16. But when an authority or power is coupled with an interest, or when it is given for a valuable consideration, or when it is a part of a security, then, unless there is an express stipulation17 that it shall be revocable, it cannot be revoked, whether it be expressed on the face of the instrument giving the authority, that it be so, or not. Story on Ag. 477; Smith on Merc. L. 71; 2 Liv. on Ag. 308; Paley on Ag. by Lloyd, 184; 3 Chit. Com. f. 223; 2 Mason's R. 244; Id. 342; 8 Wheat. R. 170; 1 Pet. R. 1; 2 Kent, Com. 643, 3d edit.; Story on Bailm. 209; 2 Esp. R. 665; 3 Barnw. & Cressw. 842; 10 Barnw. & Cressw. 731; 2 Story, Eq. Jur. 1041, 1042, 1043
6. – 2. The ageacy may be determined18 by the renunciation of the agent. If the renunciation be made after it has been partly executed, the agent by renouncing19 it, becomes liable for the damages which may thereby20 be sustained by his principal. Story on Ag. 478; Story on Bailm. 436; Jones on Bailm. 101; 4 John r. 84.
7. – 2 The agency is revoked by operation of law in the following cases: 1st. When the agency terminates by the expiration21 of the period, during which it was to exist, and to have effect; as, if an agency be created to endure a year, or till the happening of a contingency22, it becomes extinct at the end or on the happening of the contingency.
8. – 2. When a change of condition, or of state, produces an incapacity in either party; as, if the principal, being a woman, marry, this would be a revocation23, because the power of creating an agent is founded on the right of the principal to do the business himself, and a married woman has no such power. For the same reason, when the principal becomes insane, the agency is ipso facto revoked. 8 Wheat. R. 174, 201 to @04; Story on Ag. 481; Story on Bailm. 206. 2 Liv. on Ag. 307. The incapacity of the agent also amounts to a revocation in law, as in case of insanity24, and the like, which renders an agent altogether incompetent25, but the rule does not reciprocally apply in its full extent. For instance, an infant or a married woman may in some cases be agents, althouah they cannot act for themselves. Co. Litt. 52a.
9. – 3. The death of either principal or agent revokes26 the agency, unless in cases where the agent has an interest in the thing actually vested in the agent. 8 Wheat. R. 174; Story on Ag. 486 to 499; 2 Greenl. R. 14, 18; but see 4 W. & S. 282; 1 Hare & Wall. Sel. Dec. 415.
10. – 4. The agency is revoked in law, by the extinction27 of the subject-matter of the agency, or of the principal's power over it, or by the complete execution of the trust. Story on Bailm. 207, Vide generally, 1 Hare & Wall. Sel. Dec. 384, 422; Pal6. on Ag.; Story on Ag.; Liv. on Ag.; 2 Bouv. Inst. n. 1269-1382.
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