Page:Halsbury Laws of England v1 1907.pdf/739

 — Part VII. right of



Auctioneer's Rights and Duties to Vendor.

revocation

employment

——

.

is

not expressly given

by the terms

of

517 ^^

his

Remunera-

(/).

tion.

Sect.

Lien.

7.

1058. Auctioneers have a lien, by the custom of their business, on goods intrusted to them for sale and on the deposit and purchase-money, for their charges and remuneration (^). This lien attaches to goods whether they are sold at the auctioneer's premises or at those of the vendor (h). It is a charge on the proceeds of sale in priority to any assignment by the vendor, and the auctioneer cannot be compelled to marshal the proceeds of several sales in order to give effect to the rights of an assignee of the purchase-money of certain of the sales (i). Sect.

8.

Extent

of

l^^^-

Indemnity.

1059. The vendor is bound to indemnify the auctioneer ( j) for any Extent of expenses incurred or damages sustained by the auctioneer in the ^^^^ ^* ordinary course of his employment, and as the natural consequence of the contract of agency {k) This duty extends to a case where property for sale has been Claim of person received by an auctioneer in good faith from a principal who was Property, not the true owner, and the auctioneer has been held liable for conversion (/), but it does not extend to cases where the auctioneer has been sued and damages recovered from him for some act which is not a wrongful act done in pursuance of his employment, unless the auctioneer defends with the express or implied authority The judgment against the auctioneer creates of the principal {in). no estoppel against the principal unless he had such authority (n). (/) There is no express authority for this proposition; but it is submitted that the employment of an auctioneer is a contract to allow the auctioneer to carry out the sale, and differs from such agencies as those of house agents, in whicb the principal may revoke the authority at any time without giving the agent any right to compensation. See Simpson v. Lamb (1856), 17 0. B. 603, where the two classes of agency are differentiated as general and qualified

employment. ((/)

Williams

v.

Millington (1788),

1

Hy.

Bl. 81. See title

Agency,

pp. 197—199,

ante. (h)

Ibid.

Webb V. Smith (1885), 30 Ch. D. 192. agent's right of indemnity in general, see title Agency, Ij) For an For the form of an express indemnity, see Encyclopaedia pp. 196, 197, ante. of Forms, Vol. II., p. 462. (i)

(k) Amongst the expenses properly incurred are moneys paid to protect the goods from a distress as long as the goods remain the property of the vendor but moneys paid after the sale, and when the property has passed, are not chargeable against the vendor {Sweeting v. Turner (1872), L. E. 7 Q. B. 310). (Z) Spurrier v. Elderton (1803), 5 Esp. 1 Adamson v. Jarvis (1827), 4Bing. 66. On a sale on behalf of the sheriff an auctioneer is not entitled to indemnity against the sheriff {Farebr other v. Ansley (1808), 1 Camp. 343). {m) Halbronn v. International Horse Agency and Exchange, Ltd., [1903] 1 K. B. 270; Frixione v. Tagliaferro (1856), 10 Moo. P. C. 0. 175, 200.

{n) Ibid.