Auction

Auction (Lat. auctio). The character of this convenient mode of offering property for sale is correctly indicated by the name, which means an arrangement for increasing the price by exciting competition amongst purchasers. In the Dutch Auction of the 'Cheap Jack,' the usual mode of proceeding is reversed, the property being offered at a higher price than that which the seller is willing to accept, and gradually lowered till a purchaser is found. The Scottish roup differs from the ordinary auction in having a judge of roup, and in sales of land an 'upset' price. In sales for redemption of land-tax in England, the bidding is often for the smallest quantity of land to be taken for a fixed sum. 'Conditions of Sale,' or 'Articles of Roup,' as they are called in Scotland, constitute the terms on which the seller offers his property, and form an integral part of the contract between seller and purchaser. The contract is completed by the offer or bid on the part of the purchaser, and the acceptance by the seller or his representative, which is formally declared by the fall of the auctioneer's or salesman's hammer, the running of a sandglass, the burning of an inch of candle (hence the term 'sale by the candle'), or any other means which may have been specified in the conditions of sale. Mere advertisement does not make a contract. These conditions or articles ought further to narrate honestly and fully the character of the object or the nature of the right to be transferred, to regulate the manner of bidding, prescribe the order in which offerers are to be preferred, and to name a person who shall be empowered to determine disputes between bidders, and in cases of doubt to declare which is the purchaser. Before the sale commences, these conditions, which are executed on stamped paper, are read over, or otherwise intimated to intending purchasers, but it is sufficient if they are posted up in the auction room. The conditions, thus published, cannot be controlled by any verbal declaration by the auctioneer. Even the statements in a catalogue, or particulars of an estate, cannot be varied by statements of auctioneer. It is understood that an auctioneer may puff his goods. The implied conditions, which, in addition to those thus expressed, are binding on the seller and purchaser in all auctions, are: (1) That the seller shall not attempt to raise the price by means of fictitious offers, but shall fairly expose his goods to the competition of purchasers; and (2) That the purchasers shall not combine to suppress competition. It is usual to stipulate for a deposit varying from 5 to 25 per cent. by the purchaser, either with the auctioneer or (in sales of land) with the seller's solicitor. Much doubt has arisen as to the lawfulness of biddings for the exposor, through the auctioneer or by others. The exposor may set a price below which the thing is not to be sold, which is best and most openly done by fixing an upset price, or he may expressly reserve to himself a power to offer. 'But if the sale is declared to be without reserve, or at the pleasure of the company, the plain meaning and effect of this, even in England, is held to be to bar all biddings in behalf of the seller.' 'In Scotland, the law condemns absolutely such interference.' 'It has been said, that if there be no upset price, and no agreement to sell at the pleasure of the company, the owner may bid, but that is not law, or is at least too broadly laid down.' Where an unlawful offer is made for seller, the remedy is to set aside this, and the contract holds with the last bona-fide offerer. Nearly all sales by order of court take place by auction, and the same course is directed by numerous statutes, as the Pawnbrokers' Act, the Summary Jurisdiction Act with regard to distresses, &c.