105 Mo. App. 672 | Mo. Ct. App. | 1904
Prior to her death, Rachael S. Gaff was the owner of a farm containing 660 acres in Henry county, Missouri, which she was desirous of selling. Mrs. Gaff did not transact business herself but always acted through her agent, James D. Parker, who
A jury was waived, the cause was tried by the court and finding and judgment were for the defendants.
The court tried the case on the theory that the authority of plaintiff to sell the land devised from Mrs. Gaff terminated upon her death. There can be no doubt that the court was right in so holding, as it is elementary law that the authority of the agent terminates upon the death of his principal, unless it be specified that such authority is to continue longer. The declarations of law given by the court are to the effect that after the death of Mrs. Gaff all authority of plaintiff under his
Knowledge of an agent is not always to be attributed to the principal. If Chisman was an agent he was in no sense a general one. The defendants were only bound by such knowledge as he obtained within the scope of his employment. Hickman v. Green, 123 Mo. 165. It would not do to say that knowledge, obtained by Chisman that plaintiff, who had no authority as an agent (and it must be conceded he had none, for the court so found) was engaged in procuring purchasers, must be imputed to defendants. To do so would be in effect clothing him with the power of an agent with full authority over the whole business. The knowledge he obtained in the course of his own employment, and not with reference to what others were doing, alone can be imputed to his principal.
It follows therefore that plaintiff’s participation in the sale of the land had no probative legal force, and the finding of the court that defendants had no notice of plaintiff’s agency as the procuring cause of the sale was justified under the law governing the case.
And it also follows that the information that Parker'had, while he was the agent of Mrs. Gaff, can not be imputed to defendants because he was not then their
It does not appear that there was any error whatever in the trial of the cause and it is therefore affirmed,.