IV. PERSONS NOT ABLE TO CONTRACT.

1. A minor has HIS CHOICE, which the other party must abide by, to consider the contract binding or void.

2. Where a minor buys things NECESSARY or appropriate for him in his way of life, when they are not supplied by a parent, the minor is bound to pay for them.

3. If after becoming of age the minor RATIFIES a contract made before, it is binding.

4. The contracts of a LUNATIC or an idiot cannot be enforced against him.

V. CONSIDERATION.

1. The object of the law is to PREVENT INJURY. 2. Any consideration is sufficient which is either of BENEFIT to the party promising, OR of LOSS to the other. 3. The VALUE of the consideration is unimportant.

VI. FRAUD AND DECEIT.

1. ONE DEFRAUDED in the making of a contract need not carry it out.

2. The DISHONEST PARTY must carry out his contract, if the other party wishes to treat it as valid.

VII. WRITTEN CONTRACTS.

1. A SALE OF PERSONAL PROPERTY or an agreement to buy or sell, if over a certain amount in price, must be in writing and signed.

2. If any part of the goods are DELIVERED to the pur

chaser and accepted by him the whole contract is binding without writing.

3. If any part of the price is PAID and received the whole contract is binding without writing.

4. A GUARANTY must be in writing.

5. A contract which cannot be performed within a YEAR must be in writing.

REVIEW QUESTIONS.

Introduction.

1. What is law? Why is it necessary? Do all nations have laws?
2. Do the laws of one country have any effect in another? Upon

whom? Do they have any effect upon foreigners who are
traveling in that country? What force have the laws of one
State in another?

3. Name the five sources of law in any State, and their relative
authority. By which one of these are ordinary commercial
transactions mostly governed?

4. Is commercial law uniform throughout the U. S.? Why?
5. What effect has ignorance of the law in any case? Why?
6. State the several parts and divisions into which the book is
divided, and the general subject of each.

General Principles of Contracts.

7. What is a contract? The differences between a contract and a promise?

8. Explain why the law of contracts is important.

9. Explain the difference between forbidding everything except what is allowed, and allowing everything except what is forbidden. Upon which theory is our law based? What principle flows from that theory, as to contracts?

10. What is the fundamental rule of contracts? Its reason? Are

11. Define and distinguish written, oral, express, and implied con

tracts.

12. When must gratuitous services be paid for, and when not? Why? 13. Name the seven requisites of a binding contract. Into what two classes are they divided?

14. Name the three kinds of impossibility. In which is the contract binding, and in which not? Why, in each case?

15. Of the different kinds of commercial agreements, are the greater part legal or illegal?

16. Which party to an illegal contract may claim that it is void? Why?

17. Name some kinds of illegal contracts. State the reason in each

case.

18. Who are persons "not able to contract"? Who are minors? 19. Is a minor's contract binding? Why? Is a promise made to a minor binding? Why? Is a contract with a minor illegal? 20. What is the rule as to "necessaries"? What are "necessaries"? 21. What is the effect of ratification? When must it be made? State the two ways in which it may be made.

22. State the effect of a lunatic's contract.

23. What contracts can an unmarried woman make? A widow? A married woman?

24. If an adult makes a contract as the agent of a minor, is the minor bound by it? If a minor makes a contract as the agent of an adult, is the adult bound by it?

25. What will change an offer into a contract?

26. In what ways may assent be given?

27. When may an offer be withdrawn? Can it be accepted after withdrawal? Can it be withdrawn after being accepted? If made and accepted by letter at what moment is the contract complete?

28. State the effect of an unconditional acceptance.

ditional.

Of a con

29. If an agreement is signed by one party is anything more necessary to make the contract complete? If signed by both parties? 30. Is a contract binding upon one, which he made in mistake? 31. What effect do customs in trade have upon contracts? Why? 32. What is consideration? Why necessary? State the difference between what the law demands and what morality demands in this respect.

33. Must the consideration be of benefit to the party promising?

34. Is an inadequate consideration sufficient? Why?

35. Is an illegal promise a good consideration for a legal promise? Why?

36. What commercial contracts require no consideration, and when? 37. Does a written contract require a consideration?

38. State the two ways in which a contract may be fraudulent? 39. What is the effect of a contract by two parties, where one practices fraud upon the other? What may the defrauded party do? State the two ways of practicing fraud.

40. If a man transfers his property to his wife to keep it out of the hands of his creditors, may the creditors claim that it is still his, and that the transfer is void? If they do not, may any one else? If they do not, to whom will the property belong, to the wife or the husband?

41. Why does the law require some contracts to be in writing? State

two reasons.

42. Name the three kinds which must be written.

43. State the three cases in which an oral sale of goods is binding. 44. Is an unsigned paper a written contract? Is it, when signed in pencil? With initials only? When signed by an agent? 45. When only one party signs a contract, which must be written, is he bound to fulfill it? Is the other party?

46. State how a letter may become a written contract.

47. When one party fails to perform his part of a contract is the other released?

48. What is a remedy? A civil remedy? A criminal remedy? Name and describe the two kinds of civil remedy. What are damages?

49. How is payment of a judgment for money enforced?

50. What is an injunction?

51. What kind of remedy is usually the only one applicable to breaches

of commercial contracts?

AGENCY.

CHAPTER X.

AGENCY IN GENERAL.

1. Definition.-An agent is a person authorized to act for another with third parties. The principal is the one for whom he acts. The principal is in law the one who does the act; the agent is only the instrument or means by which he does it. The greatest importance here of the law of agency is in its relation to the making of contracts through agents. Thus, every sale made by a clerk in a store is a contract made by the proprietor.

2. Importance of Subject.-Agency is one of the most common and necessary relations of life, and it exists with regard to all kinds of subjects, commercial and otherwise. Nearly every one acts every day as the agent of some one else. Thus, every clerk in a store is the agent of the proprietor in everything that he does connected with the business. Almost all the business of brokers, commission merchants, lawyers, auctioneers, masters of ships, and many others, is some sort of agency. Corporations act wholly by means of agents; viz., their officers, clerks, etc. Therefore agency is one of the most important subjects in the law. Note to Teacher.-A graphic picture could easily be drawn of the result to commerce and civilization were agency totally abolished, and every one did for himself all that he wished done.