Articles of agreement entered into in New York City this.......day of.... 190-by and between A, hereinafter designated as the first party, and B, hereinafter designated as the second party.
Whereas, the first party is a wholesale dry goods merchant having a place of business in New York City, and is desirous of employing a traveling salesman, and whereas, the second party is a traveling salesman having had ten years' experience in the dry goods business, now, therefore in consideration of the promises hereinafter made by the second party the first party agrees,
| First. | To pay the second party the sum of $2400 in installments of $200 payable each month for a period of 12 months. |
| Second. | To pay the second party's traveling expenses not to exceed $ 50.00 per week, to be mailed weekly as ordered by second party. |
| Third. | To furnish second party a full line of samples. |
In consideration of the promises of the first party the second party agrees,
| First. | To devote his entire time and attention to the business of selling goods of the first party. |
| Second. | To furnish lists of customers called upon each day, said lists to be mailed to said first party, New York address, each evening. |
| Third. | To waive his right to any salary in excess of his traveling expenses if his sales do not average $5000 per week. |
In witness whereof the parties have affixed their names and seals in duplicate the day and year above written.
.............First Party.
.............Second Party.
PRINCIPAL AND AGENT
39. In General. Agency is the term applied to the legal relation existing between persons who transact business or perform duties through representatives. Few duties are performed, and few business transactions are completed solely through the personal efforts of the interested parties. Most business dealings are completed in part, at least, by representatives or agents. Much important business is transacted by corporations. Corporations must act through agents. They have no identity apart from officers and agents. Individuals, as well as the smaller business concerns, perform many of their duties and make many of their contracts through representatives or agents. The law relating to agency, next to the law of contracts is probably the broadest as well as the most important branch of commercial law. Its application is almost universal. A distinction is sometimes drawn between representatives appointed to make contracts with third persons, and representatives appointed to perform menial or mechanical work, by calling the one class, agents, and the other servants. There is little reason for any such distinction. The same rules of law apply to both agents and servants. The principal distinction is in the nature of the service, which need not be considered in discussing the general legal principles.
The party appointing another to represent him in his relation to third persons is called the principal. The person appointed to act as a representative is called the agent. The legal relationship existing between the principal and the agent, and the principal, agent and third person, constitutes the law of agency. If a dry goods merchant, A, employs B, a traveling salesman, to sell his goods, and B sells goods to C, A is the principal, B the agent, and C, the third person contracting with A, through A's agent B.