BROKEN
HILL — BROKERS
diplomatic career at Madrid and Rome, the revolution of 1848 caused him to withdraw from public life and devote himself to literature. He had already published a translation of the religious system of Leibnitz (1846). He now at once made his mark by his contributions to the Revue des Deux Mondes, and the Orleanist and clerical organ Le Correspondant, which were afterwards collected under the titles of Etudes morales et litteraires (1853), and Questions de religion et d’histoire (1860). These were supplemented in 1869 by a volume of Nouvelles etudes de litterature et de morale. His L’Eglise et VEmpire romain an IVe siecle (1856-66) brought him the succession to Lacordaire’s seat in the Academy in 1862. In 1870 he succeeded his father in the dukedom, having previously been known as the prince de Broglie. In the following year he was elected to the National Assembly for the department of the Eure, and a few days later (19th February) was appointed ambassador to the Court of St James’s; but in March 1872, in consequence of criticisms upon his negotiations concerning the commercial treaties between England and France, he resigned his post and took his seat in the National Assembly, where he became the leading spirit of the monarchical campaign against Thiers. On the replacement of the latter by Marshal MacMahon, the due de Broglie became president of the Council and minister for Foreign Affairs (May 1873), but in the reconstruction of the ministry on 26th November, after the passing of the septennate, transferred himself to the ministry of the Interior. His tenure of office was marked by an extreme Clericalism and Conservatism, which roused the bitter hatred of the Republicans, while he alienated the Legitimist party by his friendly relations with the Bonapartists, and the Bonapartists by an attempt to effect a compromise between the rival claimants to the monarchy. The result was a coalition, which overthrew the Cabinet on 16th May 1874. Three years later (16th May 1877) he was entrusted with the formation of a new Cabinet, with the object of appealing to the country and securing a new Chamber more favourable to the reactionaries than its predecessor had been. The result, however, was a decisive Republican majority. The due de Broglie was defeated in his own district, and resigned office on 20th November. From this time he gradually dropped out of politics and reverted to his former historical studies. Besides editing the Souvenirs of his father (1886, &c.), the Memoires of Talleyrand (1891, Ac.) and the letters of the Duchess Albertine de Broglie (1896), he published Le secret du Roi. Gorrespondance secrete de Louis X V. avec ses agents diplomatiques, 1752-7Jf. (1878); Frederic II. et Marie Therese (1883) ; Frederic II. et Louis XV. (1885) ; Marie Therese Imperatrice (1888); Histoire et diplomatie (1889) ; Le pere Lacordaire (1889) ; Maurice de Saxe et le marquis d'Argenson (1891); La Paix d'Aix- la - Chapelle (1892); Le Concordat (1893); IJAlliance Autrichienne (1895); La Mission de M. de Gontaut-Biron a Berlin (1896); Histoire et politique (1897); La Journee de Fontenoy (printed for private circulation, 1897); Malherbe, in the series of “ Les grands Ecrivains Fran§ais” (1897) ; Voltaire avant et pendant la Guerre de Sept Ans (1898); Saint Ambroise, translated by Margaret Maitland in the series of “The Saints” (1899). He died in Paris on 19th January 1901. (h. Sy.) Broken Hill, a silver-mining town in New South Wales, Australia, about 925 miles W. of Sydney. One of the neighbouring mines is the most prolific in the world. Gold is associated with the silver, and fairly good copper lodes are found. The problem of the profitable treatment of the sulphide ores has been practically solved here. The Barrier mines employ over 7000 men, and
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claim 27 per cent, of the lead production of the world. Population (1901), 27,518. Brokers.—In the primary sense of the word a broker is a mercantile agent, of the class known as general agents, whose office is to bring together intending buyers and sellers and make a contract between them, for a remuneration called brokerage or commission; e.g., cotton brokers, wool brokers, or produce brokers. Originally the only contracts negotiated by brokers were for the sale or purchase of commodities; but the word in its present use includes other classes of mercantile agents, such as stockbrokers, insurance-brokers, ship-brokers, or bill-brokers. Pawnbrokers are not brokers in any proper sense of the word; they deal as principals and do not act as agents. In discussing the chief questions of modern legal interest in connexion with brokers we shall deal with them, firstly, in the original sense. 1. Relations between Broker and Principal.—A broker has not, like a factor, possession of his principal’s goods, and cannot buy or sell in his own name; his business is to bring into privity of contract his principal and the third party. When the contract is made ordinarily he drops out altogether. Brokers very frequently act as factors also, but, when they do so, their rights and duties as factors must be distinguished from their rights and duties as brokers. It is a broker’s duty to carry out his principal’s instructions with diligence, skill, and perfect good faith. He must see that the terms of the bargain accord with his principal’s orders from a commercial point of view, e.g, as to quality, quantity, and price; he must ensure that the contract of sale effected by him be legally enforceable by his principal against the third party; and he must not accept any commission from the third party, or put himself in any position, in which his own interest may become opposed to his principal’s. As soon as he has made the contract which he was employed to make, ordinarily his duty to, and his authority from, his principal alike cease; and consequently the law of brokers relates principally to the formation of contracts by them. The most important formality in making contracts for the sale of goods, with which a broker must comply, is contained in section 4 of the Sale of Goods Act, 1893, which (in substance re-enacting section 17 of the Statute of Frauds) provides as follows :—“ A contract for the sale of any goods of the value of ten pounds or upwards shall not be enforceable by action unless the buyer shall accept part of the goods as sold, and actually receive the same, or give something in earnest to bind the contract, or in part payment, or unless some note or memorandum in writing of the contract be made and signed by the party to be charged or his agent in that behalf.” From the reign of James I. till 1884 brokers in London "were admitted and licensed by the Corporation, and regulated by statute ; and it was common to employ one broker only, who acted as intermediary between, and was the agent of both buyer and seller. When the Statute of Frauds was passed in the reign of Charles II., it became the practice for the broker, acting for both parties, to insert in a formal book kept for the purpose a memorandum of each contract effected by him, and to sign such memorandum on behalf of both parties, in order that there might be a written memorandum of the contract of sale, signed by the agent of the parties as required by the statute. He would then send to the buyer a copy of this memorandum, called the “bought note,” and to the seller a “ sold note,” which would run as follows :— “ I have this day bought for you from A B [or “my principal ”] ” [signed] “M, Broker.” “I have this day sold for you to A B [or “my principal”] [signed] “M, Broker.” There was in the earlier part of the 19th century considerable discussion in the courts as to whether the entry in a broker’s book, or the bought and sold notes (singly or together), constituted the statutory memorandum ; and judicial opinion was not unanimous on the point. But at the present day brokers are no longer regulated by statute, either in London or elsewhere, and keep no formal book ; and as an entry made in a private book kept by the brokers for another purpose, even if signed, would probably not be regarded as a memorandum signed by the agent of the parties in that behalf, the old discussion is now of little practical interest.
