Valuation.—The Courts do not admit that any reversionary interest is incapable of valuation ; and if the contingency is very remote, no deduction should be made in respect thereof in estimating the value. There is no legal necessity to sell a reversion by auction only ; it is sufficient if the price is a fair one as calculated at the time of the sale. In calculating the value of a reversionary interest, the valuation should not be based solely upon actuarial tables, which are usually too general to be of value in isolated individual cases. The proper method is a valuation by a surveyor, or auctioneer, who not only has in view the results of average mortality tables, but also pays particular attention to the nature, position, and other characteristic incidents of the property the subject of the reversion. Reference should be made to Lord Selbotne's Act (31 & 32 Viet. c. 4). See REVERSIONS.
of cattle are required to be landed at a foreign animals wharf. Before such cattle can be landed a request in the prescribed form, is required to be made by the importer or his agent, setting forth the number of animals of each kind it is intended to land. Upon this the animals may be landed, and having been inspected by the officers the latter will, the same evening, send the request and a certificate to the authorities. Any animals shipped in a compartment of a vessel which has not been duly cleansed and disinfected, after having been used for the importation of foreign animals, are liable to forfeiture. Animals brought from certain countries, scheduled from time to time by the authorities, may not be landed. At present only cattle from North America may be imported alive, and such cattle when imported must be killed within ten days. Other importation of meat is in the shape of chilled and frozen carcases, chiefly from the Argentine. The fol lowing are the conditions to which is subject the landing of foreign animals : (1) That the vessel in which they are imported has not, within twenty eight days before taking them on board, hem sin board any animal exported or carried coastwise from a port or place in any scheduled country. (2) That the vessel has not, within twenty-one days before taking on board any animal imported or at any time since taking them on board, entered or been in any port or place in any scheduled country. (3) That the animals imported have not, while on board the vessel, been in contact with any animal exported or carried coastwise from any port or place in any scheduled country.
After the landing of such animals, the vessels, movable gangways,' and other apparatus are required to be disinfected. If it appears to a principal officer of customs that any disease may be introduced through any foreign animal, horse, ass, mule, or carcase, the same may be seized and detained ; and if the circumstances require it, be slaughtered or destroyed, or delivered to the owner upon any conditions the authorities may think fit to impose.
In case of such a detention, the owner may be required to pay the expenses thereof. To contravene any of the regulations made in respect of the im portation of foreign animals is to commit a punishable offence.
Salesmen are persons who make it their business to sell cattle on behalf of others, either as factors, commission agents, or auctioneers ; they are mercantile agents within the meaning of the Factors Acts, and as such have an implied authority to sell. An auctioneer may not sell cattle at a mart where cattle are habitually or periodically sold, unless such mart has all the weighing facilities usually provided at a regular market or fair. He must make the same returns when selling at a mart as he is required to make when selling at a market or fair. These provisions are contained in the Markets and Fairs (Weighing of Cattle) Act, 1891, and their breach subjects the auctioneer to a penalty of £20. Except for use by themselves and family, cattle salesmen are prohibited by statute from buying on their own account in London or on the road to London, or selling in London on their own account any live cattle, sheep, or swine. See also ANIMALS ; BUTCHERS ; CONTAGIOUS DISEASES.
CAVEAT the sale and purchase of goods the ordinary rule of law has always been that conditions and warranties are not implied. If the buyer wants an express guarantee or warranty as to qUality or otherwise, he must ask for it, and see that it is duly given to him. The rule is, therefore, caveat cmptor—let the buyer beware. As in many other rules of law, there are iu this case many important exceptions which have developed during many years of litigation, but are now digested in the Sale of Goods Act, 1893.
Title to goods.—In a contract of sale there are the following implied condition and warranties, unless the circumstances of the contract are such as to show a different intention. (1) A condition on the part of the seller : (a) in the case of a sale that he has a right to sell the goods; (b) in the case of an agreement to sell, that he will have a right to sell the goods at the time when the property is to pass. (2) A warranty that the buyer shall have and enjoy quiet possession of the goods. (3) A warranty that the goods are free from any charge or encumbrance in favour of any third party, not declared or known to the buyer before or at the time when the contract is made.