Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 3.djvu/701

 69e TEDBBAli BEFOBTEB. �the influence of unîversal condemnation, the American courts have generally refused to foUow it, and adopted in its stead the rule that there must be, besides an advance of priee, some circumstance of unfairness in the sale, growing out of fraud, accident, mistake, or trust relation of the parties, suf- ficient to avoid a sale between private parties. 4 Kent, (12th Ed.) 192; 1 Sug. Vend. (7th Ed.) Perkins' Notes, 93; Wil- liams V. Dale, 3 J. C. 390; Ditncan v. Dodd, 2 Paige, 99; Am. Ins. Co. V. Oakley, 9 Paige, 259. This is the doctrine which most commends itself to my judgment as being just and fair to ail concerned, but I think this court must follow the Eng- lish practice, particularly as the "local circumstances and conveniences" mentioned in the ninetieth equity rule favor it, and we have no power to resort to the method of rese'rved bids established in England since the equity rules were pro- mulgated. �Perhaps the court should not lose entire control of these sales in ail cases where inadequacy of priee appears as the only ground of objection to its confirmation ; and, until the practice is in some way satisfactorily regulated, the best solution of the subject seems to be to hold closely to the pub- lic policy which protects the sales against instability by refus- ing to set them aside, unless the price offered in advance is Bo great, in proportion to the bid already made, that it àiïorda substantial evidence that for some, perhaps unknown, reason the property has been greatly undersold; so much so that the purchaser has not simply a bargain, with a fair margin for profit, but an unconsoionable advantage of the parties for whose benefit the sale has been made. A similar principle Bometimes prevails to avoid a sale between private parties. Bisph. Eq. 275. I think this sale is of that character, looking solely to the priees now offered as a criterion, in connection with the seemingly speculative character of the property itself; and it may be fairly inf erable from the circumstances that on a resale it will bring a much larger sum even than is now offered. �But it is insisted that this practice of opening the biddings for a mere advance of price does not apply to personal prop- ����