Section

If the agent sells for less than the current market price1 or for less than the amount2 his principal had stipulated, or if he buys for more than the ceiling the principal had set, the contract remains valid, but the agent is liable for the entire shortfall in a sale and for the entire excess in a purchase. Should the principal instruct him, “Sell it to Zayd,” and he sells it to someone else, the sale is invalid.

If a person is told to hand an item to a specified craftsman so that he may work on it and he does so but then forgets about it, he is not liable; yet if the owner gave him no specific instructions and he delivered it to someone whose reliability he does not know, he is liable.3

An agent is a trustee: he is not liable for any loss that occurs in his possession without negligence. His statement—backed by an oath—is accepted regarding the loss itself, his freedom from negligence, and that he had been authorized to sell on deferred terms or for a medium other than the local currency. If, however, he claims—whether in general terms or specifically—to have returned the property to the principal’s heirs, or to the principal himself, and the agency was for a fee, his claim is not accepted.

When someone is in debt and a man claims to be the creditor’s agent authorized to collect it, the debtor is not bound to pay him, even if he believes the claim. If the claimant says the creditor has died and that he is his heir, the debtor must pay him; but if the debtor denies the claim, he may swear that he does not know him4 to be the heir5 and withhold payment.