AGENT (from Lat. agere, to act)

This article appears in Volume V01, Page 374 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

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AGENT (from Lat. agere, to act) , a name applied generally to any person who acts for another. It has probably been adopted from France, as its

function

FUNCTION

in modern civil law was otherwise expressed in Roman jurisprudence. Ducange (s.v. Agentes) tells us that in the later Roman empire the officers who collected the grain in the provinces for the troops and the household, and afterwards extended their functions so as to include those of government postmasters or spies, came to be called agentes in rebus, their earlier name having been frumentarii. In law an agent is a person authorized, expressedly or impliedly, to act for another, who is thence called the principal, and who is, in consequence of, and to the extent of, the authority delegated by him, bound by the acts of his agent. (See PRINCIPAL AND AGENT; FACTOR, &C.)
In

Scotland

the procurators or solicitors who act in the preparation of cases in the various law-courts are called agents. (See SOLICITOR.)
In France the agents de

change

CHANGE (derived through the Fr. from the Late Lat. cambium, cambiare, to barter; the ultimate derivation is probably from the root which appears in the Gr. «a urmu', to bend)

were formerly the class generally'licensed for conducting all negotiations, as they were termed, whether in commerce or the money market. The term has, however, become practically limited to those who conduct transactions in public stock. The

laws

LAWS

and regulations as to
courtiers, or those whose functions were more distinctly confined to transactions in merchandise, haveebeen mixed up with those applicable to agents de

change

CHANGE (derived through the Fr. from the Late Lat. cambium, cambiare, to barter; the ultimate derivation is probably from the root which appears in the Gr. «a urmu', to bend)

. Down to the year 1572 both functions were free; but at that period, partly for

financial

FINANCIAL

reasons, a system of licensing was adopted at the suggestion of the chancellor, 1'H6pital. Among the other revolutionary

measures

MEASURES

of the year 1791, the professions of agent and courtier were again opened to the public. Many of the

financial

FINANCIAL

convulsions of the ensuing years, which were due to more serious causes, were attributed to this indiscriminate removal of restrictions, and they were reimposed in 18or. From that period regulations have been made from time to time as to the qualifications of agents, the security to be found by them and the like. They are now regarded as public officers, appointed, with certain privileges and duties, by the government to act as intermediaries in negotiating transfers of public funds and commercial stocks and for dealing in metallic currency. (See STOCK EXCHANGE: France.)
In diplomacy the term " agent " was originally applied to all " diplomatic agents," including ambassadors. With the evolution of the diplomatic hierarchy, however, the term gradually sank until it was technically applied only to the lowest class of " diplomatic agents," without a 'representative character and of a status and character so dubious that, by the regulation of the congress of Vienna, they were wholly excluded from the immunities of the diplomatic service. (See DIPLOMACY.)
AGENT-GENERAL, the term given to a representative in England of one of the self-governing British colonies. Agents-general may be said to hold a position mid-way between agents of provinces and ambassadors of foreign countries. They are appointed, and their expenses and salaries provided, by the governments of the colonies they represent, viz. Cape of Good

Hope

HOPE, ANTHONY
HOPE, THOMAS (c. 1770-1831)

Natal

NATAL

, the Transvaal, New

South

SOUTH
SOUTH, ROBERT (1634–1716)

Wales, Queensland,

South

SOUTH
SOUTH, ROBERT (1634–1716)

Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia, New Zealand and Canada (whose representatives are termed high commissioners). Their duties are to look after the political and economic interests of their colonies in London, to assist in all financial and commercial matters in which their colonies may be concerned, such as shipping arrangements and rates of freight, cable communications and rates, tenders for public works, &c., and to make known the products of their colonies. Those colonies which are not under responsible government are represented in London by crown agents.

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