Adams Express Co. v. Schlessinger

CourtUnited States State Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Citation75 Pa. 246
PartiesAdams Express Company <I>versus</I> Schlessinger.
Decision Date11 May 1874

Before AGNEW, C. J., MERCUR and GORDON, JJ. SHARSWOOD, J., at Nisi Prius

Error to the District Court of Philadelphia: No. 27, to July Term 1872.

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D. Webster and T. Cuyler, for plaintiffs in error.—Granger, the agent of the company, was not acting within the scope of his authority: Story on Agency, sects. 126-132, 302-307, 73; Paley on Agency, 198, 199; Howard v. Brattewaite, 1 Ves. & B. 209; Whitehead v. Tuckett, 15 East. 400; Rosseter v. Rosseter, 8 Wend. 494; Beals v. Allen, 18 Johns. 367; Allen v. Ogden, 1 W. C. C. R. 174; Smith's Mercantile Law, 59; Jordon v. Norton, 4 Mees. & Wels. 155; Condit v. Baldwin, 7 Smith (N. Y.) 219; Story on Eq. Juris., sects. 344-394; Williams v. Getty, 7 Casey 461; Saving Fund Society v. Saving Bank, 12 Id. 503; Moore v. Patterson, 4 Id. 505; Wilson v. Wilson, 2 Id. 393; Stevenson v. Hoy, 7 Wright 191 M. H. Todd and W. L. Hirst, for defendant in error, cited Tanner v. Oil Creek R. R. Co., 3 P. F. Smith 411.

The opinion of the court was delivered, May 11th 1874, by MERCUR, J.

The argument in this case has taken a wide range. The great antiquity of some of the property, as well as the diversified character and alleged value of many of the articles, have given ample grounds for discussion.

The legal questions to be determined are few. The jury passed upon the value of the property, under a careful and restraining charge of the court. They were properly instructed as to the discharge of their duties; under the conflicting evidence, the measure of damages was properly submitted to them. We discover no error in the admission of the evidence; it bore directly upon the value of the articles, and the probability of their being in the trunks at the time of the sale by the plaintiff in error.

Much of the argument relating to the question of negligence does not bear very directly upon the controlling questions in the case. The right to recover does not rest upon the careless and negligent manner in which the property was kept, but on the unlawful and irregular manner in which it was sold. Hence the omission of the defendant in error to inform the company in regard to the value of the property, worked no injury to the latter. The company did keep it carefully and securely against all injury and loss.

The count in trover strikes at the invalidity of the sale, at the time when, and the manner and circumstances under which, it was made.

The court was entirely correct in holding the company responsible for the agreement of its agent to keep the goods for one year. The act was within the general scope of the agent's authority. It was a representation made in the course of the business intrusted to his particular care. Corporations act through agents. The public is not informed as to the specific and private instructions which may be given to them, limiting their ostensible powers. A just protection to persons dealing with corporations imperatively requires that the act of the agent, within the general scope of the business with which he is intrusted, shall bind the company, although the specific act may be in excess of his private instructions: Tanner v. Oil Creek R. R. Co., 3 P. F. Smith 411. If the testimony of the defendant in error was believed, the right of sale did not exist at that time.

The first and second sections of the Act of 14th December 1863, Pur. Dig. 220, pl. 6 and 7, under which the plaintiff in error proposed to sell the property, authorized the company to "expose" it to sale at public auction. The fair meaning of "expose" ...

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    ...Trust Company, 263 Pa. 72, 77, 78, 106 A. 88; Parker v. Citizens' Insurance Co., 129 Pa. 583, 587, 18 A. 524; Adams Express Co. v. Schlessinger, 75 Pa. 246, 256; Dodge v. Williams, 47 Pa.Super. 302, 306, 307; Restatement, Agency (1933) §§ 8, 27. The appellants failing to show that they acte......
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    ......435; Plant v. Edwards, 85 Ind. 588; Ruddell v. Tyner, 87 Ind. 529; Adams v. Slate, 87 Ind. 573; Ruff v. Ruff, . 85 Ind. 431; Reynolds v. Baldwin, 93 Ind. 57; ... . .          Without. extending this opinion to express our approval or disapproval. of the reasoning in the case upon the question of delivery,. it is ...Evans Agency,. 594, 606; Adams Ex. Co. v. Schlessinger, 75. Pa. 246. The principal is bound by all the acts of his agent. within the scope of the ......
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