11346. Consignments.-The goods of a hawker, or any other person, if formally consigned into possession and control of a householder in any town, may be sold by auction in that town under the instructions of such householder.

11347. Mock Auctions.-Hawkers are in the habit of holding public sales, and are permitted to evade the law of auctions by going through a rigmarole which professes to sell to the lowest bidder.

THE AUCTIONEER.

11348. The person who conducts an auction is legally desig nated an auctioneer.

WITHOUT LICENCE.

11349. Any person may act as an auctioneer in several exceptional circumstances expressly provided, namely ;—

11350. In a sale by order of the Court of Chancery; or, 11351. In a sale under process of any County Court; or, 11352. In a sale under a distress for rent not exceeding £20; or, 11353. In a sale under a distress for tithes not exceeding £20; but, 11354. Penalty.-In the absence of any of the few exceptional circumstances expressly provided (11349), every person who acts as an auctioneer without a licence is liable to a penalty; and

11355. 100. The penalty for acting as an auctioneer without a licence is £100.

WITH LICENCE.

11356. Various Orders.-Previously to 1845 auction licences were of various orders, and were separately issued to authorize the auctioneer to sell particular classes of property only; and

11357. Farming Stock.-Auctioneers of farming stock were formerly exempt from the obligation to take out a licence; but,

11358. Distinctions Abolished.-All distinctions of class or kind, between one auctioneer and another, or between one kind of property and another, as regards auction licences, are now abolished; so that,

11359. Uniform.-Auction licences are issued at a uniform charge of £10; and

11360. Appraisement Licence Included.-Every duly licensed auctioneer is authorized to act as an appraiser without taking out a special licence as such (11516).

11361. Excise Officers. The local Excise officers, in their respective districts, are authorized to grant auction licences to all applicants.

11362. Application.—Application for an auction licence may be effectually made either verbally or by means of an ordinary letter addressed to the collector of Excise of the district where the applicant resides.

11363. Any Time.-An auction licence may be procured by complying with the necessary forms (11366) at any time of the year; but,

11364. July 5.-No matter when an auction licence is issued, its authority expires on the next ensuing 5th of July; and

11365. Renewal.—Any person having once duly held an auction licence, who fails to get it renewed on or after the 5th of the next ensuing July, and wilfully or inadvertently engages in a sale after such date, and previously to such renewal, is liable to the like penalty as if he had never had a licence (11355); and

11366. Ten Days' Notice.-The rule of the Excise offices is to require ten days' notice, at the least, previously to the 5th of July, of an intention to renew an auctioneer's licence; otherwise there may be a difficulty about the renewal.

11367. Anywhere.-An auction licence, during the year for which it is issued, authorizes the lawful holder to exercise the office of auctioneer anywhere within the United Kingdom; but,

11368. Not Transferable.--An auction licence cannot be transferred or lawfully used by any person except him to whom it was originally issued.

11369. Production of Licence.-Every duly licensed auctioneer who refuses to produce his licence when lawfully required to do so by an Excise officer, is liable to a penalty of £20 for such refusal ; but,

11370. Payment of £10.-If a duly licensed auctioneer is lawfully challenged to produce his licence, and he has not got it about him, upon payment of £10 down to the Excise officer making the requisition, he is exonerated for the time from the obligation of complying with the requisition; and

11371. Re-imbursement.—When an auctioneer has deposited £10 in lieu of showing his licence, he is entitled, upon producing his licence at the office whence it was issued, to his £10 back again; but,

11372. Stoppage of Sale.-If an auctioneer, upon being challenged by an Excise officer to produce his licence, fails to produce

his licence or to pay £10 down, the Excise officer is legally empowered and required by his office to stop any sale which the auctioneer may be at the time conducting, and to arrest the auctioneer there and then, and to employ police force to enable him to do such duties; and

11373. Full Penalty.—If an auctioneer, having paid £10 in lieu of producing his licence, is afterwards unable to produce such licence, or to prove that one was current in his favour, he is liable to the full penalty of 100 (11355).

DEPUTY.

11374. An unlicensed person cannot legally act as auctioneer by deputy; therefore,

11375. Partners or Clerks.—If the partner, clerk, or other servant or representative of an auctioneer sells on his behalf, such other person must be fully licensed, and is liable to the Excise authorities in all respects as the auctioneer in chief; but,

11376. Liability.-As between an auctioneer and other parties, any person employed by the former to sell is only his servant or agent in the transaction, for whose acts or defaults the auctioneer in chief is liable both to his client and to purchasers.

AUTHORITY TO SELL.

11377. In the interest of both vendors and auctioneers it is desirable that the authority for the latter to sell the property of the former should be very distinct; but,

11378. Verbal.-Verbal authority, if distinct, will fully entitle an auctioneer to proceed to the sale of property duly indicated to him; though,

11379. Written.-When practicable it is desirable that an instruction to an auctioneer to sell should be in writing.

11380. Form.-The following form may serve as a written authority to an auctioneer to sell :

SIR. I hereby authorize and request you to sell for me by auction the property described on the annexed catalogue [or particulars] (11545-7).

11381. Conditions.-A vendor who instructs an auctioneer to sell for him may stipulate for, and bind the auctioneer to, any conditions which are not essentially illegal (11383); for,

11382. Exact Conformity.—If an auctioneer receives instructions,

accompanied by written conditions, and he accepts the instructions and conditions, it is his duty to carry them out to the exact letter, if he possibly can, barring fraud upon third parties; because,

11383. Fraudulent Conditions.-Fraudulent conditions prescribed to an auctioneer, as to any one else, are void, and the auctioneer may legally pass them by and ignore them as if they had never existed.

11384. Exhibition of Name.-Every auctioneer, before proceeding to the practical business of a sale, is bound to fix or hang up, and during the whole sale to keep affixed or hung up, in a conspicuous position a ticket or board, with his name in full, designation (auctioneer), and complete address, in letters plain and large enough to be easily read across an ordinary public room; and

11385. Penalty.-If an auctioneer commences or proceeds with a sale without his name and address being properly exhibited, he is liable to a penalty of £20.

IMPLIED CONDITIONS OF SALE.

11386. Universal.—All auction sales are subject to certain implied conditions, universally recognized and enforced by law; and 11387. Read or Not.-If, in connection with an auction sale, no conditions are published or read, the ordinary conditions recognized by law are implied.

COMPETENCE OF BIDDERS.

11388. Every person who can claim to make an effectual bidding at an auction sale must be capable of effecting the purchase at the price he bids; for,

11389. Refusal of Bids.—An auctioneer is at liberty to refuse the bids of a person he thinks incapable of purchasing; and

11390. Evidence of Competency.-A person who insists upon his biddings being taken at an auction must be prepared with evidence that he can pay the amount he bids, or that the person for whom he bids as agent is capable of completing the purchase; consequently,

11391. Void Biddings.—The biddings at an auction of indigent or otherwise incapable persons are void, unless the auctioneer thinks proper to accept them; and

11392. Wives and Minors.—Incapacity to bid at an auction extends to married women and minors, except as duly qualified agents for others; and

11393. Mental Disqualification.-Persons who are intoxicated or of unsound mind cannot effectually bid or be bound at an auction; otherwise,

11394. Binding Biddings.—Every person present at a sale who is not expressly disqualified (11388-94), or successfully challenged (11390), is entitled to have his bids accepted and made binding upon the auctioneer; and

THE HAMMER.

11395. The acceptance of a bidding at an auction is effectually evidenced, as against the auctioneer, as well as against purchasers, by the striking of the auctioneer's hammer (11418-19).

HIGHEST BIDDER.

11396. The highest bidder is entitled to be accepted as the purchaser, if he is prepared to purchase; but,

11397. Immediate Payment.—In the absence of any countervailing condition, the auctioneer may require the immediate payment of the purchase-money, and may immediately re-sell the lot if the amount is not immediately forthcoming; though,

11398. Deposit.--When there is a condition of sale that a certain proportion of purchase-money is to be paid by purchasers as a deposit, the tender (5691) there and then of that proportion after the hammer has struck will bind the bargain.

EXPRESS CONDITIONS.

11399. In addition to the implied conditions (usually embodied in published conditions of sale) there are many express conditions which the necessities or peculiarities of the case may render necessary; though,

11400. Void Conditions.-Auctioneers are wont to indulge in prescribing some conditions which could not be enforced if insisted upon; and

11401. Public Misconception.—The public are sometimes deluded into supposing that they are bound to subinit to any conditions which an auctioneer thinks proper to make; on the contrary,

11402. Reasonable Interpretation.-Every condition of sale, in order to be binding, must be strictly in accordance with universally implied conditions (11386-97), or be susceptible of such a reasonable interpretation as a legal investigation would pronounce.

LAND SALES.

11403. The conditions concerning sales of land by auction are so variable, innumerable, and lengthy, that no reasonable space would be sufficient wherein to notice them comprehensively; but, 11404. Merits of Conditions.-It may answer the purpose of