is often used instead of lease. The landlord, or person leasing the estate, is called lessor; and the tenant, or person to whom the land is leased, is called lessee. Leases for a longer term than three years, must be sealed and recorded as deeds and mortgages. (For leases running a shorter period, see Contracts.)

CHAPTER XXX.

Of Fraudulent Conveyances; and of Contracts in general.

1. PROPERTY is sometimes fraudulently conveyed from one person to another. Debtors often put their property into. the hands of others, to be kept from being taken to pay those whom they owe. With the same intent, property is frequently assigned to others, by way of mortgage, with the false pretence that the assignment is made for the security of a debt, when no such debt is honestly due; and when the property mortgaged is to remain in possession of the person conveying it, with the understanding that the mortgagee is never to take it.

2. To prevent such fraudulent conveyances and sales of property, the law declares, that all deeds of gift, and all transfers of goods and chattels, made by any person to secure them for his future use, shall be void, and shall not prevent them from being taken and sold, to pay his debts. And to protect creditors against losses, the law also prescribes the manner in which sales and conveyances of property must be made, to be considered honestly done.

3. Now, as a sale or an assignment is more likely to be fraudulent, when the property remains with the seller or assignor, than when the assignee takes it into his own possession, it is a general principle of law, that if property assigned or sold continues with the person pledging or selling it, the transaction is to be deemed fraudulent, and the prop

meaning of lease? demise? lessor? lessee? What is required concerning leases running over three years?

1. How is property sometimes fraudulently conveyed? 2. What general provision of law has been made to prevent this? 3. What is to

erty may be taken by creditors. It has however been held by courts in some states, and it has also been enacted in some, that where the transaction can be shown to be honest and fair, the person to whom the sale or assignment is made may hold the property.

4. Goods and chattels loaned to a person, and remaining in his possession for five years, are to be deemed his property, unless the lender shall have reserved his right to such property, and shall have had the writing recorded in the recorder's office in the county in which one or both of the parties resided.

5. A contract for the lease of land for a term longer than one year, must be in writing and sealed, or it is not binding: and if for a term longer than three years, the writing must also be recorded as deeds and mortgages. But for a term not exceeding one year, a contract for leasing is good, though not written; which is sometimes called a parol lease; the word parol signifying a promise or assurance given by word.

6. Much that relates to the nature of contracts in general, is to be learned from the common law. To render a contract or bargain binding, there must be a legal consideration. By consideration is here meant the price, or any thing that is the cause or reason for which a person enters into an agreement. Thus the money paid or to be paid for a farm, is the consideration for which the seller grants it to the purchaser. There must also be a mutual promise of both parties, to make a bargain binding; but the consideration may be something else than money or property; it is sufficient if it is any thing that is either a benefit to the party promising, or some loss or trouble to the party to whom the promise is made.

7. A says to B, if you will deliver to me twenty bushels of wheat to-morrow, I will pay you twenty dollars for it. Now if B brings the wheat, A is not obliged to take it and pay the price offered, because B did not on his part promise to deliver it. But if B had so promised, A would be bound

be presumed if property sold remains with the seller? 4. Whose is borrowed property to be deemed after five years? 5. What is necessary to make leases valid? 6. What things are here mentioned as necessary to make a contract binding? What is a consideration? 7. Give an

to fulfil, because B has fulfilled on his part. The consideration in the case is the promise of each; and the party that fails to fulfil, is liable to the other for the damage sustained.

8. If you buy a horse to-day to be delivered to you tomorrow, and the horse should die before delivery, the loss is yours. The risk of accident to property is, in such cases, with the buyer. A buyer becomes the owner of property as soon as the contract is completed; but he is not entitled to take it into his possession till he pays or tenders the price, unless he has bought on a credit.

9. An agreement to do what is impossible to be done, or what is unlawful; or an agreement that is made under some threat or fear, is not binding. Idiots are not bound by their contracts; nor are lunatics bound by any agreement made while they are insane.

The

10. A person cannot give to another a title to what he does not himself own. A man buying a stolen horse cannot hold him, but must give him up to the owner. thief, having no lawful title to the horse, could give no title. And if the horse should be sold ever so often, the owner has a right to take him wherever he finds him, by proving him to be his.

11. Frauds are often committed in selling articles that are faulty or unsound. It is the general rule of law, that if the seller does not expressly warrant an article, or if there is no fraud on his part, the buyer must abide the loss if the article proves defective. But if the seller conceals the defect knowing it to exist, he is liable to make good the damage.

12. There is much written in the books concerning contracts; but it is not easy to find a law to apply to every contract that may be made. Many lawsuits are caused by the failure of persons to fulfil their engagements. If all would practise honest dealing, and endeavor to be faithful in discharging their obligations, there would be little need of

example of the necessity of a mutual promise. 8. Which party runs the risk of accident to property? 9. What agreements are never binding? 10. Can a man give a title to what is not lawfully his own? State a case. 11. What is the law about warranting property? 12. What is said about the law of contracts?

studying the law of contracts; much money now spent in lawsuits would be saved; and many unkind feelings between men would be prevented.

CHAPTER XXXI.

Of Principal and Factor, or Agent; and of Lien.

1. A principal is one who employs another, as agent, to transact his business. A factor is an agent; but the word factor is generally understood to mean a commercial agent; that is, one who is employed by merchants residing in a distant place, to buy and sell, and transact business for them. Thus, country merchants send their wheat, pork, pot-ashes, and other country produce, and millers send their flour, to their agents in the city of New York, to be disposed of. The owners of the property are called principals; their agents are factors, or, as they are perhaps more frequently called, commission merchants. As receivers of property consigned to them, they are also called consignees, and the persons who consign or commit to them their property, are consignors.

2. For the accommodation of the principal, the factor sometimes pays him a part of the value of the produce before it is sold. This is called advancing money. But factors would seldom advance money without security. They have, therefore, by law, a claim on the property on which they advance the money; and they can hold it till they shall have been paid their charges against the owner. And as a factor does not always know who is the actual owner, the person in whose name the goods are shipped, is to be considered the owner.

3. This claim which a factor has upon goods intrusted to him for sale, is called lien; and the factor may sell the goods, and retain out of the proceeds of the sale, what is due him; and the remainder he must pay to the principal,

1. Define principal and factor. Who are consignees? Consignors? 2. What is advancing money? How is a factor secured? 3. What is

or owner. But a person cannot sell or pledge property committed to him for transportation or storage only; nor can a factor pledge goods intrusted to him for sale, as security for his own debts.

4. How far, in ordinary business, a principal is bound by the acts of an agent, is not easy to determine. As a general rule, however, a general agent, that is, one who transacts either all kinds of business for his employer, or business relating to some particular department, binds his employer or principal, by his acts, so long as he keeps within the general scope of his authority, even though he were expressly instructed not to do a particular act.

5. But if an agent is employed for a special purpose, the principal is not bound by the act of the agent, if he passes the limits of his power. If I employ a man to go out and purchase a horse for me, without giving him authority to do any thing else, and if he buys a horse and a wagon, I am not bound to pay for the wagon, because the agent had power only to buy the horse.

6. If an agent buys in his own name, he is himself liable; and although he does not disclose the name of the principal, the principal also is bound, if the goods come to his use, but not otherwise.

7. A lien, as has been stated, is the claim of a factor or agent, upon property in his possession, as security for the payment of his charges. This right of lien extends to others than factors. It is intended also for the benefit of manufacturers and mechanics, and other persons carrying on business for the accommodation of the public.

8. A merchant has a lien upon goods sold till the price is paid, if no credit has been stipulated for; and even when he agrees to give a credit, if the purchaser practises fraud in obtaining the goods, the seller may take them. These cases differ, however, from ordinary cases of lien, as the purchaser has not, in reality, acquired any lawful right to

this claim of a factor called? 4. In what cases cannot a factor sell or pledge property? In what cases, generally, is a principal bound by the acts of his agent? 5. How is it in case of a special agency? 6. How if an agent buys in his own name? 7 Have others than factors the right of lien? 8. What is here said of a merchant's right of lien?