If an auctioneer declines or omits at the time of sale to disclose the name of nis employer, he makes himself respon sible toward the buyers for all matters in regard to which the responsibility would otherwise lie with the owner of the pro perty sold. He is also responsible to his employer for any loss or damage that may be sustained through his carelessness or want of attention to the instructions given ; and if by his gross negligence the sale becomes nugatory, he can recover no remuneration for his services from his employer. If he receives money as a deposit on the sale of an estate, and, know ing that there is a defect in the title, pays that deposit over to his employer, he is answerable for the amount to the pur chaser; and if he pay over the produce of a sale to his employer after receiving notice that the goods belong to another, the real owner may recover the value from the auctioneer.
The number of auctioneers' licences issued in England in 1840 was 3101; in Scotland, 394; and in Ireland, 303: total 3828 ; which cost 20,0801. 15s. A uni form payment of 101. has proved more
productive, but it presses more hardly on auctioneers in many parts of the country.
The word Auctioneer is the English form of the Latin " auctionarius," which signified anything pertaining to an auc tion : the " atria auctionaria" were the rooms in which auctions took place. The " tabular auctionariss" contained the par ticulars of sale. Roman sales of public pro perty were conducted by the magistrates, as the censors, tediles, qutestors, according to circumstances. Private auctions, such as sales of a man's property, either in his lifetime or on his decease, were conducted by bankers (argeutarii), or by a person who was called " magister auctions." Notice of the sale and other particulars were given by notices (tabulte, album) or by a crier (prteco). The prteco or crier seems to have acted the part of the modern auctioneer so far as calling out the biddings and other matters that required bawling. The argentarius or magister entered the sales in a book. On the whole, a Roman auction was very like an English auction.