History of the Mexican Trains Ferrocarriles Research Paper

History of the Mexican Trains Ferrocarriles - Research Paper Example The transportation network has had a major part to play in the economic progression of every nation on the planet. A well constructed and collaborative transportation network is the only guarantee that goods, people and services can be located from one part of the country to another with speed, flexibility and at little cost. Transportation can be seen as having a direct link to economic expansion and sustenance. It is unrealistic to expect that one region or nation has the ability to produce all that it consumes. In a similar manner, it is unrealistic to assume that a region can consume all that it produces. In order to strike the balance between demand and supply of various kinds of goods and service it is essential to have a well planned and integrated transportation network to rely on. Only such a transport network could allow the impeccable coordination required between various sectors of the economy such as agriculture, mining, manufacturing, retailing etc. While the provision of a transport network is highly relevant to the modern economic system, but this was not always the case. Instead, a well integrated transportation network was required by nearly all great nations for keeping up with their military ambitions. Economic priorities remained secondary when the creation of a well integrated transportation network was taken into account during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Given the need to move economic goods as well as military goods, the preferential method of enhancing the transport network was to use railway links. This also coincided with the fact that road based automobiles were neither common nor highly appreciated in the nineteenth century. Instead, the railway networks of the era were highly preferred given the technical expertise in manufacturing and operating railway linkages. Another major factor that contributed to the growth of the railways in the era related to disposable incomes and the cost of early automobiles. Early automobi les were not only expensive to buy but were equally fiscally demanding in terms of operating and maintenance costs. The problem was compounded by the fact that the majority of people did not have the kinds of disposable incomes to buy and use road based vehicles as yet. In this scenario, it made far greater sense to set up railway linkages in order to enhance the overall transport infrastructure rather than concentrating on roads and automobiles. Vehement development of the railway networks continued throughout the nineteenth century and through the early to mid parts of the twentieth century around the world. Contemporary super powers and countries looking for economic development all looked towards large railway networks in order to support and sustain their economic growth. It is from this era that the British railway networks emerged and spanned nearly half the globe ranging from Africa to the Tibet plateau. In a similar manner, the United States was bent upon enlarging the exis ting railway network to connect the East Coast to the West Coast. A number of different strategies were adopted in order to provide impetus for the expansion of the existing railway network. Conditions in Germany and France were similar with Germany attempting to bridge the Middle East and Europe using a railway link

Financial Planning Master Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Financial Planning Master - Essay Example This is done keeping in view the non deductible outcome regarding the superannuation funds at the age of sixty. They are advised to take Total permanent disability insurance that covers both life and disability insurance. In case of disability it will provide minimum possible income and the lump sum of amount mentioned as life cover. Along with the insurance cover, they are advised to opt for income protection scheme that replaces the 75 percent of the income and 15 percent of superannuation funds. The advice for Gavin and Joanne was given keeping their aggressive nature of investing. As they have enough cash after expenses including school fees they have enough opportunities to invest. Nevertheless, they are advised to invest with the equity of their immovable property and a limited investment in income protections and insurance schemes. This is due to the fact to keep the cash for the next next financial year for new government decisions regarding superannuation and income protecti on scheme policies. After two years of superannuation changes there is a chance of bringing changes in them and the surplus of cash in the hand can help in utilizing the new opportunities put forward by the government. 2.1 Mode of planning: The holistic approach to plan the financial future is known as financial planning. Setting short and long term goals are involved in it. Strategies are planned to achieve these goals. Financial back ground, current financial position, insurance position and the financial goals and aims. The planning should be done by developing a strategy taking into account all the factors that outline the work towards the financial goals. The investment plan will be with relevant investment vehicles and asset mixes that are been identified with the client. The financial planning depends on the following1. Setting life style goals 2. Budgeting cash flow planning 3. Structural advice 4. Wealth protection and contingency planning 5. Retirement planning and savings 6. Investment planning 7. Retirement planning and income streams 8. Estate planning 9. Product recommendations 1 2.2 Needs of the client: The needs of any client are about setting life style goals. To set a goal better than now and to sustain it. Clients Gavin and Joanne have a kid going to school and soon enter college. They have two homes one for each and a loan to repay. This makes them compulsory to plan the regular income to pay for the college of their kid in the future and to pay the bank loan on the home they own without disturbing the superannuation outcomes. This requires contingency planning with the available income. For this purpose, the incomes of Gavin and Joanne should be taken into consideration. This requires new investment in the superannuation, income protection and insurance schemes. It is better to have returns by the time of their son entering college to make him enable to study without working part time. 2.3 Superannuation ending at June 2007: They are trying to contribute superannuation to escape tax paying. By the year ending with June

Elements of Reading Essay Example for Free

Elements of Reading Essay Reading is the process of making sense from print; comprehension is the goal of all reading. Comprehension is constructed by the reader, so no one understanding will match another’s, but how readers apply strategies as they process text influences the depth of understanding. There are four elements of reading: word identification, fluency, comprehension, vocabulary. We will begin with word identification, since it is the foundation of the reading process. Word Identification  Several terms are associated with the identification of words: word attack, word analysis, word recognition, decoding. These are often used interchangeably and suggest the act of translating print into speech through the analysis of letter-sound relationships. Each term is connected with what is commonly called â€Å"phonics†Ã¢â‚¬â€a tool to analyze or attack words—which focuses attention on words parts and builds on phonemic awareness. â€Å"Word recognition† suggests a process of immediate word identification i. e. words retrieved from memory. It includes the concept of sight words (or sight vocabulary) and suggests a reader’s ability to recognize words rapidly/automatically by making an association between a particular spelling/pronunciation/meaning by applying an internalized knowledge of letter-sound relationships. Word recognition together with word attack skills leads to word identification. Many children develop knowledge about print before entering school through purely visual cues. These children enter first grade fully ready to analyze words, but others do not. They rely on your explicitly-planned lessons. Ehri’s study (as cited in Vacca, Vacca, Gove, Burkey, Lenhart, McKeon, 2003) claimed that there were developmental phases in word identification, whose characteristics could be readily identified, as children progressed. †¢The pre-alphabetic stage includes visual clues, such as those found on cereal boxes, traffic signs, and restaurant logos (stop sign, Burger King, KFC, McDonald’s). †¢The partial alphabetic stage, emerging during kindergarten and grade 1, includes some knowledge about letter-sound relationships (â€Å"S† looks and sounds like â€Å"Sammy, the snake†). †¢The full alphabetic stage includes enough knowledge about segmenting sounds (/c-l-o-ck/) to unlock the pronunciation of unknown words. †¢The consolidated alphabetic stage includes the ability to analyze multisyllabic words, using onsets and rimes. Fluency Fluency is the ability to read text in a normal speaking voice with normal intonation (the rise and fall of the human voice) and inflection (the pitch, stress and pauses). In the context of literacy, one is â€Å"fluent,† who can read with expression and comprehension. Students who are fluent have automaticity. They do not devote attention to decoding, but focus on the construction of meaning. Problems in fluency are a major contributing factor to students’ lagging achievement. They often arise due to the lack of early contact with literacy or diverse linguistic background. Repetition is key to increasing fluency. A mixture of six methods helps to increase fluency. †¢Predictable text: Children can rely on their intuitive knowledge of language and sense to read with less and less assistance. Ex. Max’s Pet †¢Repeated readings: Children can practice reading aloud alone, with a classmate or parents, and to the principal. †¢Automated reading: Children can listen and read along with a tape, a CD, or a computer program. They can also record themselves, listen, and repeat until fluent. †¢Choral reading: Children need to hear mature readers with expression. The oral reading of poetry with various voice combinations builds on a natural interest in rhythms and highlights the beauty of tonal qualities in spoken English. In choral reading, all fluency levels can participate in unison, take parts, or read refrains without embarrassment. †¢Readers’ Theater: This oral presentation of drama, prose or poetry involves children of all ages reading literature to audiences of children. With a few props, perhaps, but no costumes and no memorized lines, the emphasis is on what the audience hears. †¢Sustained Silent Reading (SSR): Classes and sometimes entire schools establish a daily, fixed time period for silent reading of self-selected material. Teachers also read, and there are no content-related questions asked. Stories (or a copy of them) can be sent home for rereading, after students have become very familiar with them by rereading during class. The goal is to increase the â€Å"pleasure principle† and enable children to become lifelong readers. Comprehension To understand text, a reader actively searches for meaning and responds to text as s/he decodes. Readers learn to monitor their own comprehension through metacognition. The dimensions of active reading comprehension involve specific questioning skills that require readers to â€Å"grapple with text† in order to organize their background knowledge, clarify ideas and support opinion. †¢Question/Answer Strategy †¢Ask questions that elicit questions in return. Such questions stimulate interest/arouse curiosity; they draw students into the story. Ex. Not â€Å"What is this picture about? † but â€Å"What would you like to know about this picture? † †¢Question/Author Strategy †¢Students engage in dialog with the author: What is the author trying to say? What does the author mean? Is x consistent with what the author told us before? †¢Think-Aloud Strategy †¢Teachers model the think-aloud process initially in order to help students learn to make inferences, using clues from the text and background knowledge to make logical guesses about meaning. K-W-L (What do I Know? What do I Want to learn? What I Learned) is one kind of graphic organizer, which is a visual to help students summarize and organize expository information. Building an awareness of underlying story structure enables students to organize information from narratives, so that they can better anticipate and make sense of what they read! †¢Simple structure: †¢Setting (Where? When? ) †¢Characters (Who? ) †¢Plot (Problem for which characters take action) †¢Complex structure: †¢Setting (Maybe more than one) †¢Characters †¢Plot (Two or more episodes with a chain of events; flashbacks, sometimes! ) Organizers are available commercially, but most teachers have a collection they may be happy to share. Vocabulary English has the largest vocabulary in the world: 600,000one million words. Students learn about 88,000 words by ninth grade in order to process text. It’s been estimated that children learn about three-four thousand words per year, which averages 16-22 words per day. Do we teach every single word? No; students acquire vocabulary on their own through usage, not via systematic instruction. What are words? They are labels for concepts, mental images of something. Ex. The word â€Å"picnic† will call to mind different ideas for everyone. We organize concepts into hierarchies by common features or similar criteria in order to make sense of complexity in our environment. Ex. The concept of â€Å"dog† has common characteristics, despite different breeds and behaviors. We have five vocabularies: listening, speaking, writing, reading, and body-language. The listening vocabulary develops first and is the largest until middle school, when the reading vocabulary becomes and ultimately remains the largest vocabulary. Our job as teachers is to promote students’ conceptual understanding of key vocabulary words, because learning words and expanding vocabulary has a strong influence on comprehension. What is the best means to teach vocabulary? Through multiple, varied encounters with words. Six principles to guide vocabulary instruction include featuring key words: †¢that convey major ideas in literature and content areas; †¢in relation to other words to develop shades of meaning; †¢in relation to students’ background knowledge; †¢in pre- and post-reading activities; †¢taught systematically, in depth, and reinforced; †¢that interest you: telling stories about the origin and derivation of words helps to create student interest in words. We organize knowledge into conceptual hierarchies, and vocabulary study is a key factor.

Psychology of Altruism and Morality :: essays papers

Psychology of Altruism and Morality The two competing theoretical frameworks that attempt to explain the development of morality are cognitive-behavioral and cognitive-developmental. The cognitive-behavioral approach is taken by Liebert, and the cognitive-developmental approach is taken by Kohlberg. Both sides have strong arguments that support their own theories and try to tear apart the opposing theory. The cognitive-developmental approach has been studied extensively by Lawrence Kohlberg. Through his studies using moral dilemmas, Kohlberg developed his six stages of moral development. In these stages, Kohlberg concentrates on the reasons why people act the way they do; not the way they think about their actions or what action they take, but the reasoning behind their actions. The six stages that Kohlberg defines are grouped into three levels, with two levels at each stage. They are grouped as follows: Level 1 - Preconventional / Pre Moral *Stage 1: Punishment & Obedience - Actions that are punished are wrong. *Stage 2: Instrumental Relativist Orientation - focus is on the self. How will my actions reward me? Level 2 - Conventional *Stage 3: People at stage three begin to value the respect of the opinion and values of other. *Stage 4: Law and Order - Appreciation for rules, laws, and regulations of society. Level 3 - Post Conventional *Stage 5: Social Contrast Legalistic Orientation *Stage 6: Universal Ethical Principle These stages are important to Kohlberg’s four most general beliefs. One of Kohlberg’s first assertions is that people advance through these stages in an invariant sequence. Advancement through these stages occurs in order from 1 - 6, with no stages skipped, and there is no regression. Kohlberg’s second assertion is that people cannot comprehend reasoning more than one stage ahead of their current stage. Kohlberg also believes that people are attracted to higher stage reasoning because it is more adequate, and finally, stage movement is motivated by cognitive disequilibrium. The cognitive-developmental approach is supported by research done by Kohlberg and other researchers who have attempted to replicate Kohlberg’s findings. One study conducted by John Snarey and Joseph Reimer attempted to prove the cultural universality of Kohlberg’s stages. The study, conducted in Turkey, was a longitudinal study using ninety-two kibbutz-born Israeli’s. The results were consistent with Kohlberg’s studies done in both the United States and Turkey, making the cultural universality argument stronger. Contradicting the cognitive-developmental approach is the cognitive-

Judaism religion and practices Essay

Judaism is a religion that is practiced mostly by the residents of the Jewish country, all followers of Judaism whether they are born in the Jewish country or not are called Jews. Judaism is the Jews monotheistic religion which traces its genesis to Abraham, its ethical and spiritual principles are engulfed mainly in the Talmud and the scriptures of the Hebrews. This religion is mostly characterized with the traditional rites and ceremonies of the Jewish people and religion. Its practices are also deeply rooted in the religious, social, and cultural practices of the Jewish people who consider themselves as one community or people (Steinberg, 1965). Judaism religion and practices Judaism is based on the premises of monotheism, the belief of a special covenant with the almighty God that makes the Jews to claim that they are the God’s chosen people. It is also based on the territorial and ethnic identity, whereby the territory of the Jews is known as the Promised Land. This religion has specific laws and practices. The origin of Judaism finds its roots either from the formulation of monotheism by Moses or God’s covenant with Abraham, the religion recognizes that the laws attributed to Moses incorporated the Pentateuch. However, the political part of Judaism is much related to King David, the king who had Judah as his capital and who planned the Jerusalem temple, which was later built by Solomon who was his son. During the period of the Jewish captivity in Babylon the Judaism religion was much consolidated, the Mosaic was also written during this period (Grabbe, 2000). The Jews believe that the difference between civil and divine law is not clear at all. They believe that the supreme power comes from God and thus the command of God is law, whether it is civil or religious. The Mosaic Law dates back to the 5th BC. This law was then interpreted by Midrash and the Talmud. The Talmud incorporates civil and religious laws that are not in the Torah as proper and thus goes ahead to explain them (Steinberg, 1965). The Jews firmly believe that they are the God’s chosen people who have the duty of shedding light to all other nations around the world. God made a covenant with the Jews through Abraham and later renewed the same covenant with Moses, Isaac and Jacob. The worship of Yahweh was mainly centralized in Jerusalem ever since the time of King David. The demolition of the 1st Jerusalem temple by the people of Babylon which was later followed by the Jews exile ushered in a new hope of national reinstallation under messiah leadership. The Persians later freed them from exile, but the rebellion failed against the Romans made the second temple to be destroyed and the subsequent dispersal of the Jews around the world (Grabbe, 2000). Judaism religion emerged to substitute the practices and beliefs linked with the Jerusalem temple, this was mainly because the Jews carried with them their religion and culture through their strict observance and via a scholarship of tradition. The greatest part of the commentaries and oral law were written down by the Mishna and Talmud. Judaism religion continued despite that it experienced very harsh persecutions by several nations around the world (Steinberg, 1965). The Judaism religion regards itself as a widespread religion; this is due to the fact that it views is laws to be appropriate for all mankind. It has a distinction between the non Jews and the Jews. The traditional Judaism requires all the Jews to follow all the commandments found in the Bible. On the other hand the non Jews should only follow seven laws out of the six hundred and thirteen laws. These seven laws demand that everyone whether a Jew or a non Jew to believe in only one God, they forbid murder, blasphemy, sexual immorality and theft. They also prevent anyone from feeding on a living creature’s limb. The seven laws also mandate the setting up of law courts. The Jews believe that, a non Jew who follows all the seven laws to be righteous, and is therefore, just like a Jew who follows all the six hundred and thirteen laws that are upon him (Fine, 2001). The fundamental orientation of Judaism is practical. It has no body of doctrine that is officially recognized, but it has various beliefs that are quite essential to all the Jews. The Jewish belief is rooted in the Jewish law and not in any systematic Theology. The issue about punishment and reward in life after death is a new development in this religion. Pre occupation and asceticism with life after death are discouraged. Redemption is obtained via good conduct and not through faith. Judaism believes that everyone has a duty to contribute towards perfecting this world (Steinberg, 1965). The practice of this religion of Judaism has never been restricted to only the people who were born of the Jewish community. However, the attitudes towards one being converted to Judaism have varied significantly in various localities and periods. It has always been doable for the non Jews to join Judaism. In fact, some of the greatest individuals of Judaism were either people who had been converted into Judaism or their descendants. A good example is King David; he was one of Ruth’s descendants. Since people hood and religion are quite inseparable in the religion of Judaism, acceptance of the beliefs of Judaism makes one to eventually become one of the Jewish people (Grabbe, 2000). Judaism emphasizes that each and every Jew should be responsible for the other and they should therefore live like one big community, this has made the Jews to develop a great sense of unity. No Jew should look at another Jew nonchalantly when he or she is suffering. They are required to do all that is possible to make sure that they alleviate such Jews from the suffering they are going through. Hebrew does not have charity, but it uses tsedakah which means justice. It means that it is only proper and just for those Jews who are blessed with more to share them with the less fortunate Jews in the society. The Jews mutual responsibility for each other stretches to include even violation of law cases: if a Jew finds another Jew violating the law, he or she is supposed to rebuke the Jew who is violating the law (Fine, 2001). Judaism religion also emphasizes on the need to elevate profane to the holiness state. Thus, most of what would have been considered ordinary includes ritual components which are intended to sanctify. For example, while eating there has to be benedictions before starting to eat the food and after eating it. This makes the table to be similar to the altar. Judaism has a lot of laws which are meant to regulate the daily life of the Jews; the aim of this regulation is to modify the actions of man into God’s service. Judaism also regards the restrictions of Torah myriad upon the conduct of a Jew as ones that elevates him. It views the uncontrolled expression of mankind’s appetite similar to that of the animals and the control measures placed upon mankind serves him by raising him higher. Thus, before a Jew eats any food, he has to first consider whether the food in question meets all the dietary law requirements. If it fails in any then he cannot proceed to eat it as he will consider doing so as violating the law (Fine, 2001). Asceticism is not considered as a virtue in Judaism. The Midrash provides that when everyone accounts for herself or him self following his or her death, such a person has to account for all the allowed pleasures of the world which he restricted himself from doing while on earth (Grabbe, 2000). Conclusion Judaism religion is mainly found in among the people of the Jewish nation but has never been restricted among these people only as it also accepts people from other origins to join them and thus practice the doctrines of the religion. The Jews, who are the members of Judaism, consider themselves to be the people who have been chosen by God and thus all other tribes in the world should follow them. The laws of the Jews, according to Judaism are applicable in all circumstances to all nations around the world which makes the Jews to claim that their religion is universal. Reference: Fine, L. (2001): Judaism in practice: from the middle Ages through the early modern period; ISBN 0691057877, Princeton University Press. Grabbe, L. L. (2000): Judaic Religion in the Second Temple Period: Belief and Practice from the Exile to Yavneh; ISBN 0415212502, Routledge. Steinberg, M. (1965): Basic Judaism; ISBN 0156106981, Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich.

Judicial Activism Essay

It is perhaps unsurprising that the liberal court led by Chief Justice Earl Warren from 1953 to 1969 invalidated federal, state and local laws at almost twice the rate of the Roberts court. But the more conservative court that followed, led by Chief Justice Warren E. Burger from 1969 to 1986, was even more activist, striking down laws in almost 9 percent of its cases, compared with just over 7 percent in the Warren court and just 4 percent in the Roberts court. The court led by Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist from 1986 to 2005 was also more activist than the current one, at 6.4 percent. In a new book, â€Å"Terms of Engagement,† Clark M. Neily III of the Institute for Justice, a libertarian group, calculated that the Supreme Court struck down just 103 of the 15,817 laws enacted by Congress in the half-century ending in 2002. â€Å"It is implausible,† he wrote, â€Å"to suppose the federal government hits the constitutional strike zone 99.5 percent of the time.† Mr. Neily urged the Supreme Court to be more active but rejected the phrase â€Å"judicial activism.† After the Supreme Court argument in the case in the spring of 2012, with things looking grim for the fate of his law, Mr. Obama tried to shift the terms of the discussion back to activism. â€Å"I’d just remind conservative commentators,† he said, â€Å"that for years what we’ve heard is the biggest problem on the bench was judicial activism or a lack of judicial restraint — that an unelected group of people would somehow overturn a duly constituted and passed law.† Three months after Mr. Obama’s remarks, Chief Justice Roberts broke with his usual conservative allies and voted with the court’s four liberals to uphold the law. In a joint dissent, the four conservatives said the majority was wrong to portray its ruling as â€Å"judicial modesty† when â€Å"it amounts instead to a vast judicial overreaching.† In a recent essay, â€Å"Why We Need More Judicial Activism,† Suzanna Sherry, a law professor at Vanderbilt University, said the Supreme Court had erred more often in sustaining laws than in striking them down. â€Å"Too much of a good thing can be bad,† she wrote, â€Å"and democracy is no exception.† The article’s central claim is based upon political science research showing that the Roberts Court has been more likely to reach â€Å"conservative† decisions than its predecessors. Liptak reports: In its first five years, the Roberts court issued conservative decisions 58 percent of the time. And  in the term ending a year ago, the rate rose to 65 percent, the highest number in any year since at least 1953. The recent shift to the right is modest. And the court’s decisions have hardly been uniformly conservative. The justices have, for instance, limited the use of the death penalty and rejected broad claims of executive power in the government’s efforts to combat terrorism. But scholars who look at overall trends rather than individual decisions say that widely accepted political science data tell an unmistakable story about a notably conservative court. This distinction is important because the data presented by Liptak suggests that the Roberts Court is such a â€Å"conservative minimalist† court. Indeed, it appears to be the most restrained – or least â€Å"activist† (if â€Å"activism† is defined as willingness to overturn federal statutes or prior precedents) – Court since World War II. According to the data presented with the article in this chart, the Warren, Burger and Rehnquist Courts overturned precedents at an average rate of 2.7, 2.8 and 2.4 per term, respectively. The Roberts Court, on the other hand, has only overturned an average of 1.6 precedents per term. The record on striking down laws shows a similar pattern. The Warren, Burger, and Rehnquist Courts struck down an average of 7.9, 12.5, and 8.2 laws per term, whereas the Roberts Court has only invalidated an average of 3 laws per term. Liptak acknowledges this data at the close of his article, but downplays it with his description: â€Å"The Roberts court is finding laws unconstitutional and reversing precedent — two measures of activism — no more often than earlier courts.† So, while the majority of the Roberts Court’s decisions are â€Å"conservative,† the data Liptak summarizes does not appear to have resulted in a more â€Å"conservative† legal regime, as the Roberts Court has done relatively little to change the law (at least thus far) compared to its predecessors. This is important, because it effectively refutes claims that there is anything particularly radical or â€Å"activist† about the Roberts Court, even if one accepts that it is notably â€Å"conservative.† There is no evidence as yet that the Roberts Court is as willing to challenge federal power as the Court was under Burger (National League of Cities v. Usery) or Rehnquist (Lopez, Morrison, Boerne). There are exceptions, such as some of the Court’s Miranda decisions – which have certainly made the law less protective of criminal suspects and defendants – and Citizens United, but these exceptions are balanced by aggressive liberal opinions in areas like executive power and the death penalty. In sum, even if most of the Roberts Court’s decisions are â€Å"conservative† a substantive analysis of the Roberts Court’s decisions does not reveal a significant rightward shift in the law.

Smc V Akhter Essays

Smc V Akhter Essays Smc V Akhter Essay Smc V Akhter Essay SMC Electronics Limited v. Akhter Computers Limited Others Court of Appeal (Civil Division) Lord Justice Henry Lord Justice Latham and Sir Murray Stuart-Smith Lord Justice Henry: Introduction 1 The Claimant, SMC Electronics Ltd, (SMC), and the Defendants (all part of the Akhter Group of companies (Akhter)), both sell power supply units (PSUs). PSUs are printed circuit boards with capacitors and other components soldered on to them. This is Akhters appeal from the decision of HHJ Green dated 31st March 1999, sitting in the Central London County Court, allowing SMCs claim and declaring that SMC was entitled to 50% of the profits that Akhter had made on sales of certain PSUs to Pitney Bowes Plc (Pitney Bowes). This entitlement is said to arise under a commission agreement made on 26th July 1993, under which Akhter promised to share their profits with SMC, in consideration for the introduction to a major new customer for PSUs, Pitney Bowes. This is a case about the authority of the third party to these proceedings, David Bennett, to enter that commission agreement on behalf of Akhter, his employers, who now seek to avoid having to pay any commission by challenging his authority to make the contract. The background facts 3 In July 1993, David Bennett was employed by Skynet, a division of Akhter, as Director PSU Sales. In fact, he was not a director of any company in the Akhter Group. He worked from a small sales office in Basingstoke with two other people, his assistant, Andy Wall, and a secretary. David Bennetts primary duty was to promote sales and he was paid large commissions when he was successful. The judge found that he was given a very high degree of autonomy. He even had the habit, known to and permitted by his employers, of writing on Skynet notepaper and describing himself as director. This Skynet notepaper, in breach of s. 351 of the Companies Act 1985, omitted to contain the registered name, company number and address of Akhter, leaving the reader no indication as to whom David Bennett might answer. In July 1993, Pitney Bowes, a large UK manufacturer, was interested in buying large quantities of PSUs and approached, among others, SMC in order to get a quote. SMC thought the job was too big for them, and so Merhzad Koranki of SMC approached David Bennett to suggest that Skynet quote for the business. Merhzad Koranki suggested that, if Skynets tender was successful, it should share the profits of the Pitney Bowes deal equally with SMC under a commission agreement, in return for the introduction. Having checked with Andy Wall that Skynet did not already know about the invitation to quote, David Bennett agreed with the proposal. At a meeting with SMC, David Bennett brought with him a letter containing draft terms of contract. After some negotiations, Merhzad Koranki then handed him the contract document, addressed to David Bennett at Skynet. This became the commission agreement. It provided: Dear Dave, (1) Further to our telephone conversation this morning, I would like to confirm what we discussed and agreed with regard to customer projects. 2) SMC Electronics Ltd will do its utmost to sell and distribute Skynet products as part of our range, however on the occasions where we would have to pass on the project to Skynet Electronics, we agree to do so based on our agreement that the total profit will be shared equally (50% SMC Electronics, 50% Skynet Electronics) (3) This will not only apply to the current project, but any future projects and orders generated from the customer identified. 4) We anticipate a lifetime of customer designs to be in the region of five years plus, therefore any agreements made would have to cover at least the running period as well as the lifetime of the products. (5) Could you please make a record of the following customer for which the project is passed on to yourselves in order to complete for the order. (6) Of course, SMC Electronics will work along with you to help with the housekeeping with regard to costing. Mr P J Dewey Pitney Bowes 5 After a lengthy process of development, Pitney Bowes awarded the project to Skynet and the Akhter Group now supply Pitney Bowes with a large quantity of PSUs. The questions on appeal 6 There were four questions on this appeal: (1) What was David Bennetts actual authority under his contract of employment with Akhter, and did it give him express authority to enter the commission agreement, or, on the other hand, was he expressly prohibited from entering the commission agreement? (2) Did David Bennett have the implied authority, under his contract of employment, to enter the commission agreement? (3) If David Bennett did not have actual authority, express or implied, did he have ostensible authority to enter into the commission agreement? 4) Finally, if Akhter are liable to SMC, on which projects is SMC entitled to a share of the profits, on a proper construction of the commission agreement? Actual authority the terms of David Bennetts contract of employment 7 The judge found that David Bennett had no actual authority to make the commission agreement, saying there was simply no evidence of actual authority. I am unable to agree with th is, having regard to the express terms of David Bennetts contract of employment. Clause 3 of David Bennetts Terms of Employment with the Akhter Group (Holdings) Plc provided: Job Title: Director PSU Sales You must perform such duties as may be reasonably associated with your job title 8 That clause therefore delimited the scope of duties that were within David Bennetts express authority. However, in order to try and establish an express prohibition on entering commission agreements, Mr Norris relied on a document entitled Akhter Group Purchase of Goods and Services, said to be incorporated into David Bennetts contract of employment. That document stated, at clause 3: Purchase Requisition. A purchase requisition is required for any item not normally held in stock or for any Service of Capital equipment required by the company. .. Purchase requisitions for capital items and services must be signed by the Managing Director. 9 Mr Norris submitted that the commission agreement was in truth a purchase of information, that Skynet were buying the introduction from SMC, and that therefore, if it was to be authorised, a purchase requisition was required to be signed by the Managing Director, Mr Mughal. 10 Reading the provisions of his employment contract together, David Bennett had the express authority to perform duties reasonably associated with being Director PSU Sales, but was not allowed to make purchase requisitions without the signature of Mr Mughal. In my judgment, the commission agreement was clearly a deal made in the discharge of the duties reasonably associated with being Director PSU Sales. It is ingenious, but highly artificial and quite unreal, to classify the commission agreement as a purchase requisition for capital items and services and I reject Mr Norris submission to that effect. 11 The purpose of David Bennett in entering into the commission agreement was to make more sales for Akhter ( 50% of something is better than 100% of nothing. ). The commission agreement was reasonably associated with that purpose. Therefore, in my opinion, the proper and clear construction of the employment contract is that David Bennett had the actual authority of his employers to enter the commission agreement, and accordingly his employers, Akhter, are bound by it. Even if clause 3 of the Terms of Employment were to be considered ambiguous, which I think it is not, the act of entering the commission agreement, if done in good faith by David Bennett, and if justified by any possible construction, would be authorised by the ambiguous clause (see Bowstead Reynolds on Agency, 16th Ed. , 1996, Article 26). 2 The finding that David Bennett had express authority is enough to dismiss the appeal on liability. Nonetheless, in deference to the careful arguments of counsel, I continue to consider briefly implied authority and ostensible authority, both of which would also merit the dismissal of this appeal. Implied authority to enter the commission agreement 13 Mr Norris, submitted that, the contract being otherwise c omplete, the court can only imply a term on the basis of the well-known tests laid down in The Moorcock (1889) 14 PD 64 and Liverpool CC v Irwin [1977] AC 235. Furthermore, he says that the term to be implied is not capable of precise formulation, which militates against any implication. 14 Implied actual authority of agents is dealt with in Bowstead Reynolds on Agency, 16th Ed. , 1996, Articles 27-32. Articles 27 and 30 set out the test for implication in this context, and also provide the answer to Mr Norris argument that the implied term cannot be formulated with reasonable precision, by doing just that: Article 27 provides: An agent has implied authority to do whatever is necessary for, or ordinarily incidental to, the effective execution of his express authority in the usual way. Article 30 provides: An agent who is authorised to do any act in the course of his trade, profession or business as an agent has implied authority to do whatever is normally incidental, in the ordinary course of such trade, profession or business, to the execution of his express authority, but not to do anything which is unusual in such trade, profession or b usiness, or which is neither necessary for nor incidental to the execution of his express authority. 15 So the implied authority arises from the nature of the general occupation of David Bennett. Indeed, there is a striking similarity between the implied terms as formulated by Bowstead Reynolds and the express term contained in Clause 3 of David Bennetts Terms of Employment with Akhter, which supports my opinion that David Bennett had express actual authority to enter the commission agreement. 16 In finding that David Bennett had implied authority to make the commission agreement, the judge correctly relied on several matters, which all show that the making of the commission agreement was ordinarily incidental to David Bennetts activities. The judge found support in the facts that David Bennett was allowed to the use the grandiloquent title Director PSU Sales and was allowed to describe himself as simply director. He further relied on the facts that David Bennett took an important part in making the annual budget estimate for Skynet and that Pat Swabey, an employee of Skynet, said that if anyone asked her who Skynet was she would have said David Bennett. The judge added, with some hesitation, that the use of Skynet notepaper, which infringed s. 51 of the Companies Act 1985, led SMC to believe that there was no-one more senior than David Bennett at Skynet. 17 Two further factors were relied on heavily by SMC to establish David Bennetts implied authority, first, the fact that denial of his authority was not the first reaction of Mr Mughal, David Bennetts employer, and secondly, that David Bennett had previously negotiated an allegedly similar deal with Lion Cabinets, the so-called Lion deal. They both support a finding o f either express or implied authority. 8 When SMC first approached David Bennett for their share of the profits, they were told there were no profits yet and thereafter SMC were met with a prolonged campaign of evasion, misleading and procrastination. At a meeting on 26th July 1996 and subsequently, Mr Mughal, managing director and major shareholder of Akhter, failed to make the objection that David Bennett lacked the authority to enter the commission agreement, instead relying on previous business that had been done with Pitney Bowes to try and show that the introduction had not been of any value. Mr Mughal then offered ? 5,000 to ? 0,000, because David Bennett was my employee. I agree with the judge that this was travelling a long way from a mere denial of authority and that Mr Mughals failure to challenge David Bennetts authority, when he first learned of the claim, is indicative of the latters implied authority. I do not think, as Mr Norris suggests, that Mr Mughal would have be en deterred from raising an objection by any assertion of David Bennett, who sought to renege on the deal, that the commission agreement was not a real agreement. 19 In the Lion deal, Lion Cabinets had been buying PSUs from Skynet, who sourced them from Skynet Taiwan. David Bennett arranged for Skynet Taiwan to sell directly to Lion Cabinets, with Skynet receiving 4% of Skynet Taiwans turnover on these sales. David Bennett thus cut out the problems for the intermediary, Skynet. While Mr Norris is correct that the Lion deal was different from the commission agreement, being a rearrangement of an existing sales contract, rather than a new contract granting commission to an introducer, I agree with the judge that it shows the wide degree of authority and responsibility which David Bennett was given. 0 Therefore, I agree that the commission agreement was normally incidental to the execution by David Bennett of his duties as Director PSU Sales. This is the same as saying that it was reasonably associated with his duties, under the express authority given to him. One way or another, David Bennett was employed to promote sales, and if this necessitated offering commission to an introducer or fixer in return for a lucrative contract, then that was a step that David Bennett was authorised to take. As indicated above, I do not find that the implied term is incapable of precise formulation. The term has been formulated expressly in Clause 3 of David Bennetts Terms of Employment, and is formulated with reasonable precision in the Articles from Bowstead Reynolds quoted above. A certain spectrum of authorised acts must always be inevitable in such cases as this anyway, and so I do not think that the courts should strive to find unrealistic precision in such implied terms. It is not necessary to ask whether David Bennett had the authority to enter the exact terms of this commission agreement, which with hindsight may seem foolhardy, but whether he had the authority to enter commission agreements generally, in the furtherance of his duty to promote sales. The answer is plainly yes. Did David Bennett have ostensible authority? 21 As the judge did, I have considered the ground of ostensible authority, even though it is not necessary to dispose of the appeal. 2 The judge correctly explained that ostensible authority is a form of estoppel by implied representation (see Freeman Lockyer v Buckhurst Park Properties (Mangal) Limited [1964] 2 QB 480 per Pearson LJ at 498 and per Diplock LJ at 503). The judge relied on five representations. He repeated that David Bennett was described as both Director PSU Sales and simply director, and again relied on the fact that his name and number were on all Skynet adverts, that he was known to be in charge of the Skynet sa les office and, again hesitatingly, that he was allowed to write on Skynet paper without the information required by s. 51 23 I do not agree that the judge was wrong to find that David Bennett could also have had ostensible authority. In the absence of full argument, it is not appropriate for me to elaborate on the precision required to find an implied representation amounting to an estoppel, in order to give rise to a finding of ostensible authority. I do not gain assistance from the fact that SMC initially issued against David Bennett personally, which, so Mr Norris says, shows that SMC were aware of his lack of authority to enter into the commission agreement and therefore shows that SMC cannot have relied on any representation to the contrary. Issuing against David Bennett personally was merely an attempt by SMC to flush out the true defendant and principal to the commission agreement, upon which David Bennett was being sued. Had SMC sued David Bennett for breach of warranty of authority, then it would be arguable that they had always doubted his authority, but they did not, instead basing their claim on the very commission agreement that they sought to enforce. The extent of SMCs entitlement to an account of profits 24 The judge ordered that the account extended to cover he B900 project and any other projects in which P Dewey of Pitney Bowes has ordered goods from them. This question of the construction of the contract determines whether SMC can recover for other projects in addition to the B900 PSU, which Akhter supply to Pitney Bowes. 25 Mr Norris says that the only project falling within the terms of the commission agreement, if they are liable thereunder, was the B900 project, and the account of profits should be lim ited accordingly, and I agree. 6 In my opinion, construing the agreement as a whole, it is necessary to read the words of paragraphs 2 and 3 of the commission agreement together. Paragraph 2 envisages the occasions where SMC would have to pass on the project to Skynet. Paragraph 3 extends the ambit of the commission agreement, saying this will not only apply to the current project, but any future projects and orders generated from the customer identified. The agreement clearly means that SMC may recover commission on future projects, but only where they have agreed to pass them on to Skynet. The word this in paragraph 3, refers to the occasions where an introduction has been made and a project passed on. The agreement does not mean that SMC can recover commission on any project which Skynet subsequently negotiate directly with Pitney Bowes or even Peter Dewey at Pitney Bowes, and which is not passed on by SMC. That would be an extraordinary construction, given the previous dealings that Akhter had already had with Pitney Bowes, and given that it would appear to make SMC money indefinitely, on deals to which they had contributed nothing. 7 Therefore, I would vary the terms of the judges order to hold that SMC are entitled to an account by Akhter of all profits on the B900 project and any other projects with Peter Dewey of Pitney Bowes which SMC have passed on to Akhter, and that Akhter should make disclosure accordingly. There is evidence that Akhter supply Pitney Bowes with a project code-named F350, but there is no evidence that SMC introduced this or any other Pitney B owes project to Akhter, and so the effect of this judgment will be, we are told, to limit SMC to a share in the profits of the B900 project. David Bennett appearing as third party 8 David Bennett was originally a defendant to the action brought by SMC. After his employers, Akhter, were substituted for him, they then reinstated him in the action as a third party, so that if Akhter lost this action on the basis of ostensible authority alone, they could claim an indemnity against him for exceeding his authority in breach of his contract of employment. As the decision of the judge on authority has been upheld, primarily on the ground of actual authority, David Bennett cannot be liable to either Akhter or SMC. 29 I have read the judgment of Sir Murray Stuart-Smith, and am in total agreement with it. Conclusion 0 In my judgment, the answers to the four questions in this case, are as follows: (1) there was express authority, rather than any express prohibition, given to David Bennett to en ter the commission agreement, under the terms of his contract of employment, (2) there was, in any event, implied authority for David Bennett to enter the commission agreement, (3) therefore, it is not necessary to make any finding on ostensible authority, although there seems no reason to interfere with the reasoning of the judge that, if he was wrong on actual authority, then David Bennett had ostensible authority to enter the commission agreement, (4) the commission agreement only extended to cover those projects with Peter Dewey of Pitney Bowes which SMC had introduced to Akhter, and therefore it is for SMC to show that they had assisted in passing on projects for Pitney Bowes other than the B900 PSU to Akhter. 31 For those reasons, I would dismiss the appeal. Lord Justice Latham: 32 I agree that the appeal on the first issue fails, but succeeds on the second. Like Henry LJ and Sir Murray Stuart Smith I consider that Mr Bennett had, by reason of the terms of his employment contr act, express actual authority to enter into the commission agreement. It was intended to, and did, secure a sale for his employers. As far as the scope of the commission agreement was concerned, I again agree with Henry LJ and Sir Murray Stuart Smith that the meaning contended for by Mr Norris both accords with the natural meaning of the words used, and with commercial sense. Sir Murray Stuart-Smith: 33 Two issues arise on this appeal. The first is whether Mr Bennett had actual or ostensible authority to enter into the commission agreement of 26th July 1993. The second is what was the scope of that agreement, in particular to what extent it extended to further projects. The judges order is that the claimants are entitled to an account of profits not only on the B900 project but also on any other projects in which P Dewey of Pitney Bowes plc has ordered goods from them. The judge answered the first issue in favour of the claimants holding that Mr Bennett had implied actual authority. He also answered the second issue in their favour giving a wide interpretation to the contract. I agree that the appeal on the first issue fails, but succeeds on the second. I only add a few words of my own to the judgment Henry LJ, with which I agree, because I would uphold the judgment on the first issue on somewhat different grounds from those given by the judge, and because we are differing from him on the second issue. Authority 34 Actual authority can be express or implied. The judge held that it was not express; it was implied. I am not persuaded that he was right in this. When considering the scope of the agents authority one has to look in the first place at the express terms of the contract dated 30th November 1992. Mr Norris contended that Mr Bennett was expressly forbidden from entering into a contract such as the commission agreement by virtue of the attachment to the contact of employment called Purchase of goods and services. Under the heading Purchasing Procedures it is said: A purchase order must be issued to cover any expenditure incurred by the company. 35 This was not a purchase order; it is, with respect to Mr Norris, nonsense to describe the commission agreement as the purchase of information. 36 There is to my mind one provision of the employment contract which is of critical importance. It is in these terms: Job Title: Director PSU Sales You must perform such duties as may be reasonably associated with your job title 37 So far as I can see this is the only provision in the contract which amounts to a job description or specification; it also defines the scope of Mr Bennetts authority. The simple question is whether the entry into the commission agreement was reasonably associated with his job as Director of PSU Sales. To my mind there can only be one answer to this question, namely Yes. The commission agreement was necessary to secure what promised to be an extremely lucrative sale for Skynet Electronics. A similar answer would have been given to the Lion contract. 38 Mr Norris frequently referred to Mr Bennett as a salesman; he was not so described in the contract; he is described as Director which must have a wider connotation. But even if he was described as a salesman, it seems to me that the commission agreement was reasonably associated with his duties to sell Skynet Electronics products or merchandise. 39 I consider that Mr Bennett had actual express authority which was sufficiently clear. Even if it was ambiguous, it would not avail the defendants. Article 26 of Bowstead Reynolds on Agency, 16th Edition, p116, provides at paragraph 3-106: Where the authority of an agent is conferred in such ambiguous terms, or the instructions given to him are so uncertain, as to be fairly capable of more than one construction, an act reasonably done by him in good faith which is justified by any of those constructions is deemed to have been duly authorised, though the construction adopted and acted upon by him was not that intended by the principal. 40 It is clear that Mr Bennett thought he had authority; no-one has questioned his bona-fides at the time he entered into the contact, even if his subsequent conduct app ears to have been evasive. Scope of the Commission Agreement 41 In his judgment, Henry LJ sets out the relevant parts of the agreement. The question is what does the word this at the beginning of the third paragraph refer to. Mr Norris submits that it refers to the occasions where we would have to pass on the project to Skynet Electronics, we agree to do so based on an agreement etc. 42 Mr Alliott submits that it applies only to the words we agree to do so based on an agreement etc. 43 In my judgment, Mr Norris was clearly right about this. This fits the grammar of the two paragraphs. It also accords with the factual background of the agreement, namely that the claimants were asked to tender for a contract which was beyond their capability to perform by themselves. It is obvious that such a situation might occur in the future. Moreover this construction seems to me to make commercial sense, whereas that adopted by the judge would lead to a commercially unreasonable result. If the situation recurred where the claimants were asked to tender (and the defendants were not) they might well wish to enter into a similar arrangement in future and be confident they would do so on similar terms. On the other hand, if the defendants, having given satisfaction on the B900 project, were asked by Mr Dewey to tender for some new and unrelated project, they would be in difficulty in competing with other tenderers, since their profit margin would have to be shared with the claimants. Where there are two possible alternative constructions, the Court will prefer that which makes commercial sense in preference to one which is unreasonable. Order: Appeal dismissed on issues. Going to the authority of David Bennett, but allowed on single issue on the construction of the agreement; minute of order to be agreed; technology construction court most convenient