A perfon
commiflioned
to receive a
debt, is entitled
to receive
it, although
the
debtor plead
his having
already .paid
it.
The feller -of
an article
cannot be
compelled to
take back the
article ft otn
the purcha-
fer’s agent, on
a plea o f defeat,
until the
purchafer
iwears to
the defeâ.
are not valid, with regard to the eftablilhment of proof of the fale on
the part of the proprietor.
If a perfon appoint an agent for the receipt of a debt due to him,
and the debtor plead that he had acquitted himfelf of the debt to the
proprietor, yet it is incumbent on him to pay the debt to the agent;
becaufe the agency is here clearly eftabliihed; but the debtor s acquittance
is not eftabliftied by his afl'ertion: he is therefore not permitted
to delay the payment ;—but after he has made the payment, he has a
claim upon the creditor, and may exact an oath from him; but
an oath cannot be exacted from the agent, lines he is only a fub-
Jlitute.
If a perfon purchafe a female flave, and afterwards plead a defedt
in her, and appoint an agent to manage the litigation with the feller,
on this account, and then difappear,—and the agent accordingly in-
ftitute a fuit againft the feller for the defedt, and the feller plead that
the purchafer had knowingly acquiefced in that defedt,—in this cafe
the flave is not to be returned to the feller; but a fufpenfion muft take
' place until the appearance of the purchafer, who will then be required
to declare upon oath'that he did not acquiefce in the defedt.—It is
otherwife in the cafe of a debt, (as before recited;) for there the debt
muft be paid to the agent for feizin, in behalf of the Creditor, not-
withftanding the debtor may plead his having previoufly acquitted
himfelf of it; becaufe it is there pradticable to make a reparation, by
enjoining reftitution from the agent of the amount he may have received,
on the error being made apparent by the conftituent refuting
to fwear; whereas, in the cafe in queftion, if an annulment of the
fale were decreed in confequence of the defedt, it cannot afterwards
be revoked, fince a decree for diflblving a- fale takes full effedt, and
continues in force, although an error fiiould afterwards appear with
refpedt to the defedt pleaded.—This is the dodtrine of Haneefa: according
to whom, alfo, an oath cannot be tendered to the purchafer,
after
after the annulment of the fale, and the return of the fubjedt of it,
fince it is then to no purpofe.—In the opinion of the two dif-
ciples, alfo, the fale ought in this cafe to be annulled, and the fubjedt
of it returned, without a fufpenfion of it on the oath of the purchafer,
fince (according to them) a reparation is pradticable, even in
this cafe, becaufe, if an error fhould appear in the decree of the
Kdzee, in confequence of the eonftituent’s refufal to fwear, then the
decree becomes null, and the fubjedt of the fale is returned to the
purchafer.—Some have faid that, according to Aboo Toofaf, the moft
authentic dodtrine is that in both cafes a fufpenfion fhould take place;—
that is to fay, in the cafe of the debt, the payment to the agent ought
to be deferred, and in the cafe in queftion the return of the fubjedt of
the fale to the agent of the buyer ought alfo to be deferred;—becaufe
he diredts his attention to the intereft of the feller; (whence it is that
if the purchafer fhould afterwards appear,, an oath is exadted from him.
without the neceflity of the feller’s preferring a formal plea for it
the return, therefore,, of the article fold, by the purchafer’s agent, is-
fufpended, until the purchafer himfelf appear and make oath,—out. of.
tendernefs to the right of the feller~
If a perfon give another ten dirmss, in order that he may give them
to the family of this perfon for their maintenance,, and the agent, in-
fteadofthe fpecific dirms he had received, give ten dirms of hrs own,
this is not a gratuitous payment; on, the contrary, he is entitled to
retain' the fpecific dirms he received in lieu of thofe he gave; becaufe
an agent for the delivery of maintenance is like an agent for purchafe;
and fuch is the law, as has been already related, in treating of an agent,
for purchafe.
A perfon re*
ceiving
money, to appropriate
to a/
particular
purpofe, may
pay his own
money in liein
o f it.
C H A P .