AUCTION, a method employed for the sale of various descriptions of pro perty. This practice originated with the Romans, who gave it the descriptive name of auctio, an increase, because the property was publicly sold to him who would offer most for it. In more modern times a different method of sale has been sometimes adopted, to which the name of auction is equally, although not so cor rectly applied. This latter method, which is called a Dutch auction, thus indicating the local origin of the practice, consists in the public offer of property at a price beyond its value, and then gra dually lowering or diminishing that price until some one consents to become the purchaser. An auction is defined by 19 Geo. III. c. 56, § 3, and 42 Geo. III. c. 93, § 3, to be " a sale of any estate, goods, or effects whatever, by outcry, knocking down of hammer, by candle, by lot, by parcel, or by any other mode of sale at auction, or whereby the highest bidder is deemed to be the purchaser." According to the revenue laws, every auction at which property is put up and bidden for is a "sale," so as to raise the charge of duty, without regard to the subsequent completion of the purchase by the delivering possession or actual trans fer of the thing sold. There must, how ever, be an actual competition as to price, or biddings, or an invitation made to a competition of biddings, and if a single bidding is made the liability to pay auction duty is incurred.
The sale by auction was used by the Romans for the disposal of military spoils, and was conducted sub hand, that is, under a spear, which was stuck into the ground upon the occasion. This expres. sion was continued, and sales were de clared to be conducted sub hasty in cases where other property was sold by auction, and probably after the spear was dis pensed with. The phrase " asta pubblica" is still used by the Italians to signify a public sale or auction : the expression is, vendere all' seta pubblica," or " vendere per subasta." The auctio transferred to the purchaser the Quiritarian ownership of the thing that he bought.
At the present day persons are some times invited to a " sale by the candle," or "by the inch of candle." The origin of this expression arose from the employ ment of candles as the means of measuring time, it being declared that no one lot of goods should continue to be offered to the biddings of the persons who were present for a longer time than would suffice for the burning of me inch of candle ; as soon as the candle had wasted to that extent, the then highest bidder was de clared to be the purchaser.
In sales by auction, the assent of the buyer is given by his bidding, while the assent of the seller is signified by the fall of the auctioneer's hammer ; and until this declaration has been made, the bidder is at liberty to withdraw his biddins.
It is a common practice for the owner of property offered for sale by auction to reserve to himself the pri vilege of bidding, and, as it is termed, buying in his goods, if the price offered by others should not suit him. As late as the time of Lord Mansfield, private biddings at auctions were considered to be illegal. In the present day, how ever, they are not only allowed by the law, but the legislature has so far recog nised the propriety of the practice, that in cases where the property has been bought in either by the proprietor or by his declared agent, who is in general the auctioneer, no auction duty is chargeable ; but if bought in by the owner personally, he must do so openly, and if bought in by an anent, he must do so by authority of a written notice. When a buyer-in after wards becomes a purchaser, the trans action is narrowly looked after by the of ficers of the revenue, and the auctioneer's bond is liable to be put in suit if the auc tion duty has been fraudulently evaded.
It has been laid down that the buyer of goods at an auction cannot be held to the performance of his contract in cases where he was the only bond fide bidder at the sale, and where public notice was not given of the intention of the owner of the goods to hid, even though his agent was authorized to bid only to a cer tain sum. This rule is intended to act as a protection to purchasers against the practice commonly resorted to by dis reputable auctioneers, of employing per sons to make mock biddings with the view of raisins the price by their ap parent competition : the persons thus em ployed are aptly called In many large towns, and more especially in Lon don, many persons make a trade of holding auctions of inferior and ill-made goods ; persons called barkers are generally placed iy them at the door to invite strangers to enter, and puffers are always employed, who bid more for the articles than they are worth, and thus entice the unwary. Many ineffectual attempts have been made to put a stop to these practices.