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Instrument, though there are cases wherein a principal,

who has confided to an agent a bond or deed containing

blanks to be filled and then delivered, will be held

bound to innocent parties, although the agent has filled

the blanks in an unauthorized manner.

See Phelps v. Sullivan, 140 Mass. 36, 54 Am. Rep. 442, Cas. Ag.

101; White V. Duggan, 140 Mass. 18, 54 Am. Rep. 437; Humphreys V.

Finch, supra; Cribben v. Deal, 21 Oreg. 211, 28 Am. St. Rep. 746.

But much less significance is now attached to seals

than formerly, and there is a marked tendency in many

States either to abolish the old distinctions by statute,

or to disregard them as no longer suited to the times.

And even at common law, if the instrument to be exe-

cuted was unnecessarily under seal, and the authority

x

§§ 61-63.] APPOINTMENT OF AGENTS. 37

was sufficient for an unsealed instrument, the superflu-

ous seal would be disregarded and the authority held

sufficient.

See Heath v. Nutter, CO Me. 378, Agency Cases 91; Long v. Hart-

well, 34 N. J. L. 116, Cas. Ag. 92; Nichols v. Haines, 98 Fed. Rep.

692, 39 C. C. A. 235. Compare, in passing, Thomas r. Joslin, 30

Minn. 388, Cas. Ag. 427; Drury v. Foster. 2 Wall. 24, Cas. Ag. 120.

В§ 62. How when instrument executed in

presence of principal. — So even though the instrument

to be executed were necessarily under seal, yet if the

instrument were executed in the presence of the prin-

cipal and by his express direction mere verbal author-

ity was sufficient. This rule still prevails.

See Gardner v. Gardner, 5 Cush. 483, 52 Am. Dec. 741, Cas. Ag.

100; Bigler v. Baker, (1894) 40 Neb. 325, 58 N. W. Rep. 1026, 24

L. R. A. 255.

The reason given for this rule is that "if the grantor's name is

written by the hand of another, in his presence and by his direc-

tion, it is his act, and the signature, in point of principle, is as

actually his as though he had performed the physical act of making

it." Mutual Benefit L. Ins. Co. v. Brown, 30 N. J. Eq. 193.

§ G3. Kcw corporation may appoint. — It was

also the rule of the common law that a corporation

could contract only by deed under its corporate seal,

and that its appointment of an agent could be made

only in the same manner, but this rule has been quite

generally abandoned, and a corporation may now ap-

point agents in substantially the same manner that an

individual may employ them.

"A great deal of the difficulty," it is said in one case, "originally

felt in holding corporations liable for the acts of their agents within

the scope of their authority, arose from the supposition that it was

necessary that their appointment should be under the seal of their

principals. The decisions, both in England and America, have satis-

factorily disposed of this technical doubt, and it is now clearly the

law, particularly with regard to what are called trading corpora-

tions, that no such evidence of authority is required. A private

corporation is liable for the acts of its agents within the scope of

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