First Principles of Business Law

1. General concepts underlying agency

1.3. Discharging legal obligations

Another concept that is important to understanding the law of agency is that of a person discharging their legal obligations.  Consider the following facts and then answer the question.

A and B are both tenants in a building owned by C. They each have to pay C $250 a week as rent. In the first week of April, A is short of money. B decides to pay A's rent on his behalf and sends a cheque for $500 to C. B does not tell C that half of the money is for A's rent. C claims that A still owes him rent for the first week of April.

In these circumstances, does the payment to C of $500 by B discharge A's obligation to pay C his April rent?