An agent is someone who has the legal power to affect the legal rights and liabilities of another, the principal. The agent can bind the principal to a contract as if the principal had made it himself. Considering the more commercial sphere, it should be remembered that every contract made by a company must be made through an agent. A company is a legal person but, not being a real person, it can only act through agents. Negotiable instruments also impinge on daily life as well as the commercial world.
Cheques are one form of negotiable instrument.
However, the law relating to negotiable instruments developed from the practices of merchants who wished to avoid the hazards and difficulties of transporting money from place to place. The common law then adopted what had become part of the lex Mercatoria. The Bill of Exchange is still an important means of paying the contract price and may even provide a means of securing credit and financing the transaction. However, electronic payment methods have become increasingly popular and these are studied in detail. At the conclusion of the module students will have acquired a working knowledge of those particular aspects of commercial law selected for detailed study in the semester.