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AUCTION. nor should he be allowed to bid unless he has stipulated for that right in the conditions of the auction, or the right is accorded to him by statute, or by an order of court having control of the sale. On the other hand, any concerted action by bidders for stifling the sale is illegal, and may warrant the auctioneer in refusing to accept bids; it may even entitle the seller to avoid a sale.

The conduct of auctions is regulated, with a good deal of care, by modern statutes, in England and in many of our States. Not infrequently sham auctions are declared to be criminal offenses. As a rule, an auctioneer must have a license, either from the State or the municipal authorities. While engaged in bringing the property to a sale, he is the agent of the seller only. His power to bind the principal, and the principal's authority over him, as well as their respective duties to each other, are determined by the general principles of agency. As soon as the sale is made, he becomes an agent of the purchaser, as well as of the seller, for the purpose of making a memorandum of the sale which will satisfy the statute of frauds. This agency does not continue, however, beyond a reasonable time for the performance of that duty. The auctioneer has a lien on his principal's goods in his possession, and on the proceeds from their sale, to the extent of his commissions and expenses. Because of this interest in the property, he may sue in his own name for the purchase price, or for the wrongful conversion of the property by a third person. If he sells without disclosing his principal, he may be sued by the purchaser for any breach of the contract. Even though he names his principal, he will not always escape liability, though he follows strictly the principal's directions. If, for example, he in good faith sells property as that of the principal and turns the proceeds over to the latter, he will be liable for a conversion to a third party who owned and was entitled to possession of the property.

In a 'Dutch auction,' the property is offered at a high price, which the auctioneer lowers gradually, until a price is named which is accepted by the bidder. Here the offer is by the auctioneer and the acceptance by the bidder. An auction sale 'by inch of candle' is when the biddings are to be kept open only while a stipulated length of candle burns. These two forms of auction are practically obsolete in England and the United States. See Bateman, Treatise on the Law of Auctions (first American edition, Boston, 1883); seventh English edition, London, 1895); also the works referred to under.

AUCTIONEER. See.

AUCUBA, ii'ku-ba (Jap. aoi, aoka, green + ba, leaf). A genus of plants of the natural order Cornaceæ. The only known species is Aucuba Japonica, an evergreen shrub resembling a laurel. The leaves, however, are pale green, curiously mottled with yellow. It is diœcious, produces its small purple flowers in summer, and ripens its bright scarlet berries in March. It is a native of China and Japan, and is grown in Europe and America as an ornamental shrub. It is propagated by cuttings of half-ripened wood or by seed. A number of varieties, mostly with variegated leaves, are in cultivation. The plant is tolerant of smoke and dust.

AUDÆ’US, (or, according to his native Syriac name. ). The founder of an anthropomorphic religious sect in Mesopotamia, called the Audians, which flourished during the Fourth and Fifth centuries. He commenced by accusing the regular clergy of worldliness, impure morals, etc., and is said to have opposed to their manner of life a strict asceticism, until his conduct seemed dangerous to the welfare of the Church, when he was excommunicated. His disciples, who were very numerous, now clung more closely to him, and he was elected their bishop. In A.D. 338 he was banished to Scythia, where he instituted a kind of rival church, and where he died about A.D. 370. He is said to have held that the language of the Old Testament — e.g. Gen. i. 27, literally interpreted — justifies the belief that God has a sensible form.

AUDE, od. A southeastern maritime department of France (Map: France, J 8). It comprises a portion of the old Province of Languedoc. Area, 2438 square miles. Population, in 1896, 308,718; in 1901, 311,386. The southern part of Aude is mountainous, but the greater portion of it belongs to the valley of the lower Aude and the canal of Languedoc. The climate is warm but variable. The mountains are composed of granite, while the soil of the plains is chiefly calcareous, and about the coast — where salt and soda are procured — is extremely fertile, producing cereals, olives, fruits, and wines. Aude is rich in iron and coal, and has mineral springs. Capital, Carcassonne.

AUDE (anciently, Lat. Atax). A river in the south of France, rising in the East Pyrenees, in the Department of Pyrénées-Orientales (Map: France, K 8). It flows north as far as Carcassonne, where it turns east, and enters the Mediterranean near Narbonne. It is about 130 miles long.

AUDEBERT, od'bar', (1759-1800). A French naturalist and painter, born in Rochefort. In Paris he soon won success as a miniature painter. His love of natural history and his skill in painting birds and animals secured him employment in this field. For the purpose of making sketches he visited Holland and England in 1800. That year he produced his Histoire naturelle des singes (Natural History of Monkeys), a large folio, with 63 colored plates, remarkable for their truth and beauty. After his death two more volumes appeared, which were even more excellent than the first. They were his books on humming-birds (1802), and on woodpeckers and birds of paradise (1803).

AUDHUMLA, ou-niinoni'la. According to the myths of the Scandinavian cosmogony, the name of the cow upon whose milk the giant Ymir subsisted. She licked the frost of the icy abyss, Ginnungagap, and forth sprang Buri, the progenitor of Odin.

AUDIFFRET-PASQUIER, o'de'frS'pas'kyii', , Duc d' (1823—). A French statesman, born in Paris. In 1862 he inherited the title of Duc de Pasquier from a granduncle. During the reign of Napoleon III.