"  Document  of  title  "  includes,  inter  alia,  bill  of
lading,  dock-warrant,  or  "  any  document  used  in  the
ordinary  course  of  business  as  jiroof  of  possession  or
control  of  goods,  or  authorizing  or  purporting  to
authorize,  either  by  endorsement  or  by  delivery,  the
possessor  of  the  document  to  transfer  or  receive  goods
thereby  represented  "  (a).
The  Act  saves  the  right  of  the  true  owner  as
between  himself  and  the  agent,  and  also  the  com-
mon law  powers  of  the  agent  [h).
Several  provisions  of  the  Factors  Act  apply  to  a
class  much  wider  than  is  included  in  the  term  "  mer-
cantile agents,"  e.  (/.,  the  8th  and  9th  sections  of  the
Act  (c).  Their  general  scope  is  to  enable  parties  to
deal  freely  in  the  market  with  those  who  apparently
are  possessed  of  the  goods,  or  of  the  indicia  to  them.
Brokers. — A  broker  is  defined  by  Story  [d)  to  be
''  an  agent  employed  to  make  bargains  and  contracts
in  matters  of  trade,  commerce,  or  navigation,  between

{z)  Sect.  7.
(a)  Sect.  1  (4j.
(*)  Sects.  12,  13.
(e)  See  ante,  p.  81.
(d)  §  28 ;  and  see  Brett,  J.,  in  Foiiier  v.  ITollins,  L.  E.  7  Q.  B.
61G,


158         RULES  RELATING  TO  PARTICULAR  CONTRACTS.
other  parties,  for  a  compensation  commonly  called
brokerage."  He  is  an  agent  of  a  mercantile  cha-
racter, and  one  who  makes  a  merely  personal  contract
for  another  is  not  strictly  a  broker;  e.  g.,  A.  makes  an
agreement  on  behalf  of  B.  to  sing  at  a  concert ;  A,
would  not  be  a  broker  {e).
