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Part IV.

Conduct of the Sale.

509

Sect. 3. or anyone on his behalf (?•) to make a bid, or for the auctioneer knowingly to take such a bid, and as against a purchaser the sale Sales subject to a will be treated as fraudulent and invalid (s). Where the vendor reserves a right to bid, he or any one person, and Reserve etc. no more, may bid at the auction (t) and the conditions announced Extent of right to bid. as governing his right must be strictly complied with (u). Fictitious bids made by a third person without the privity of the vendor or the auctioneer do not invalidate the sale, nor do they affect the vendor's right to specific performance (x). If two or more persons take part in a mock auction, by means of Mock sham bidders and bidding, to induce persons to buy at excessive ^^^tions. prices, they are guilty of a criminal conspiracy {a).

Sect. 4.

Advertisement of Auction,

1036. The advertisement of an auction is merely an intimation of an intention to sell, and therefore, in the absence of fraud, intending purchasers who attend an auction have no right of action if the property is not put up for sale (b). When, however, the advertisement amounts to a representation of fact that the auctioneer is authorised to sell, and this representation is fraudulent, persons incurring expense on the faith of it can sue the auctioneer in tort Sect.

5.

Property withdrawn.

Misrepresentation as to authority.

(c)

Particulars and Conditions of Sale.

1037. It is customary for an auctioneer to settle the particulars When settled and conditions of sale (d) on sales of goods, but not on sales of real by auctioneer. property

(e).

When

he undertakes to settle the conditions, he must do so wdth Omission of the skill and knowledge of a properly qualified auctioneer and if usual conditions. he sells without imposing conditions which are usual and prudent for the protection of the vendor, he may, even in the case of the sale of real property, be held liable for negligence by the vendor (/). The conditions of sale will generally be held to have been suffi- Communicaciently communicated to bidders if they are exhibited legibly in the tion to

auction

room

bidders. (g)

(r) See Parnell v. Tyler (1833), 2 L. J. (CH.) 195, where it was held that even the employment by a third person of the clerk to the vendor's solicitor invalidated

Sale of Goods Act, 1893 (56 & 57 Yict. c. 71), s. 58 (3). Sale of Land by Auction Act, 1867 (30 & 31 Yict. c. 48), s. 2 Sale of Goods .Act, 1893 (56 & 57 Vict. c. 71), s, 58. Fov form of appointment of person to bid on vendor's behalf, see Encyclopaedia of Forms, Yol. II., p. 460. {u) Parfitt V. Jepson (1877), 46 L. J. (c. P.) 529, where the vendor reserved a right to bid once, and the sale was set aside because the vendor bid three times. (x) Union Bank v. Munster (1887), 37 Ch. D. 51. (a) R. V. Lewis (1869), 11 Cox, 0. 0. 404; see title Criminal Law and (s)

[t)



Phocedtjue Harris v. Nicktrson (1873), L. E. 8 Q. B. 286. Richardson v. Silvester (1873), L. E. 9 Q. B. 34. d) See titles Sale of Land Sale of Goods. For forms of conditions on a sale of goods by auction, see Encyclopaedia of Forms, Vol. XL, pp. 575 et seq.; for forms on sale of land, see ibid., Vol. XII. (e) Pike v. Wilson (1854), 1 Jur. (n. s.) 59. (/) Deneiu v. Daverell (1813), 3 Camp, 451. Bytuater v. Richardson (1834), 1 {g) Mesnard v. Aldridge (1801), 3 Esp. 271 Ad. & E. 508 Freme v. Wright (1819), 4 Madd. 364; and compare Torrance v. Bolton (1872), 8 Ch. App. 118. (6)

(c)