Schaff v. Stripling

265 S.W. 264, 1924 Tex. App. LEXIS 1008
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided July 17, 1924·No. No. 2939. [fn*]·Published·Cited by 4 cases

Opinion

WILLSON, C. J.

(after stating the facts as above). Appellant insists the judgment was not warranted because, he says, “there was no evidence showing or tending to show” that he was authorized by the order of the court appointing him receiver to make the contract in question. But we think the trial court had a right to presume that appellant, because he was receiver, had authority to contract with appellee to watch or guard the bridge forming a part of the roadbed of the line of railway he was operating, and that it was of no importance, therefore, that there was no direct testimony showing that he possessed such authority. There is no doubt about the railway company having a right to employ such a watchman or guard, had its property not been in the hands of the receiver, and there is no doubt, if it would have had such a right, that appellant, having charge of its property as receiver, also had such a right. 1 Elliott, on Railroads, §§ 566, 576; Jones v. Roach, 21 Tex. Civ. App. 301, 51 S. W. 549; Trust Co. v. Ry. Co., 120 Fed. 875, 57 C. C. A. 533. It was appellant’s duty as receiver to preserve the property of the railway company “that the value *266 of the railroad as a whole,” quoting from section 566 of the work cited above—

“may not be impaired, and that the rights of the public to have it kept in operation as a public highway may not be infringed. To this end he is empowered to hire and pay workmen, agents, and all necessary assistants, to make contracts for the carriage of passengers and freight, and to do such other acts as are necessary in maintaining the railroad as a going concern. In the management of such a complicated business as the operation of a railroad a large discretion is necessarily given to a receiver.”

And, said the authors of the work in section 576:

“It accords with sound principle and reason that a receiver exercising the franchise of a railroad company shall be held amenable, in his official capacity, to substantially the same rules of liability that are applicable to the company while it exercises the same powers of operating the road.”

It appeared without dispute in the testimony that Hooks was appellant’s agent to employ persons to go to Denison and guard property under appellant’s control as receiver. But appellant insists it did not appear, as it must to warrant the recovery had against him, that in employing such persons Hooks had authority to bind him (appellant) by a promise that he would provide protection for them against assaults by his striking employes. The contention seems to be predicated on the fact that Hooks was a special agent (2 O. J. 659), and the view that appellee therefore was bound to prove, and did not, that he (Hooks) was expressly authorized by appellant to make such a i>romise.

While it is true, as appellant insists it is, that “a special agent is only authorized to do specific acts in pursuance of particular instructions, or with restrictions necessarily implied from the act to be done,” it is also true that such an agent, like a general agent, by implication has “all such powers as are necessary and proper as a means of effectuating the purposes for which the agency was created.” 21 R. O. D. 853.

“As a general rule of law,” said Mr. Skyles, the author of the article on “Agency” in 2 0. J , at page 57S, “every grant of power implies and carries with it, as an incident, authority to do whatever acts, or use whatever means are reasonably necessary and proper to the accomplishment of the purpose for which the agency was created, unless the inference of such power is expressly excluded by the instrument creating the agency or by circumstances of the business to which the agency relates. Such incidental authority includes all acts and things which are connected with and essential to the business in hand; it is measured by the nature and necessities of the purpose to be accomplished and is prima facie coextensive with the business entrusted to the agent’s care. The means adopted, however, should be such as are most usual, such means indeed as are ordinarily used by prudent persons in doing similar business. This rule applies’ both to general and special agents, unless the manner of doing the particular act is prescribed by the power.”

And the same writer says, at page 586 of the same volume of Corpus Juris:

“A special authority, like a general authority, confers by implication all powers necessary for or incident to its proper execution, and acts done by a special agent while acting within the scope of his authority are as binding on the principal as those of a general agent.”

And see 1 Clark & Skyles on Agency, pp. 476, 495, 498, 526 and 665; McAlpin v. Cassidy, 17 Tex. 449; Birge-Forbes Co. v. Ry, Co., 53 Tex. Civ. App. 55, 115 S. W. 333.

In support of his contention appellant argues that the promise attributed to Hooks was an “extraordinary and unusual” one, which the court did not have a right to treat' as within the power of Hooks to make. As we understand appellant, the argu? ment is on the assumption that the promise was “to guard a guard.” We do not so understand appellee’s testimony as a witness. His account of what passed between him and Hooks was as follows:

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Schaff v. Stripling, 265 S.W. 264, 1924 Tex. App. LEXIS 1008 (Tex. Ct. App. 1924).

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