44 



HOESEDEALERS, REPOSITORIES AND AtTCTIONS. 



Auctioneer 

 not disclosing 

 his principal. 



Liability for 

 non-deliTery. 



Puffing. 



made by himself or agent, is a sufficient warranty of the 

 ownership, and an assertion by an auctioneer that all the 

 horses in a sale are the bond fide property of the person 

 whose stud he has advertised as selling, would vitiate the 

 purchase of a horse belonging to another party, made on the 

 faith of that representation, such horse having been put 

 into the sale without notice ; because the purchaser would 

 probably give a much higher price for a horse belonging to 

 the stud in question, than for one without a character {q). 



Where an auctioneer sells a commodity without saying 

 on whose behalf he sells it, in such case the purchaser is 

 entitled to look to him personally for the completion of the 

 contract (r), and the same rule, according to the general 

 law of principal and agent, applies to purchasers (s). 



An auctioneer is not in the position of an ordinary agent, 

 but may be personally liable for non-delivery of goods, even 

 though he sells for a disclosed principal, and although a 

 condition of sale, by which goods are to be cleared out by 

 the purchaser within a given time, has not been complied 

 with, at all events where such condition is not a condition 

 precedent {t). 



When a horse is bid up by a puffer, the seller, in the 

 absence of any notification that the sale is subject to a right 

 to bid on his behalf, cannot recover the price, as the sale is 

 void ; and in such case it is immaterial whether the sale was 

 under the usual condition that the highest bidder shall be 

 the purchaser, or "without reserve," or subject to a 

 reserved price. 



The rule that a sale by auction is vitiated by the secret 

 employment of a puffer was fuUy recognized in a series of 

 decisions previously to the Sale of Goods Act, 1893 (m), 

 and by s. 68, sub-ss. (3), (4) of that Act is now declared 

 in the following terms : — 



{q) BexweJl v. Christie, Cowp. 

 397. See also Sill v. Gray, 1 Stark. 

 N". P. C. 434; 18 E. E. 802. 



(r) Hanson v. Eoberdeau, 1 Peake, 

 163 ; Franklin v. Zainond, 4 C. B. 

 637; 16 L. J., C. P. 221. 



(s) As to principal and agent, see 

 the rule in Thompson v . Davenport, 

 9 B. & C. 86. See also Williamson 

 Y. Barton, 7 H. & N. 899 ; 31 L. J., 

 Ex. 170; low. E. 321. 



[t) TFoolfe V. Some, 2 Q. B. D. 

 355 ; 46 L. J., Q. B. 634 ; 36 L. T., 

 N. S. 705 ; 25 W. E. 728. 



(m) See Bexwell v. Christie, Cowp. 

 396; Somard v. Castle, 6 T. R. 

 634 ; 3 E. E. 296 ; Crowder v. 

 Austin, 3 Bing. 368; 11 Moore, 

 283; White v. Colliei; M. & M. 

 126 ; Thornett v. Saines, 15 M. & 

 "W. 367; 15 L. J., E.\. 230 ; Green 

 T. Baverstock, 14 C. B., N. S. 204 ; 

 32 L. J., C. P. 181 ; Mortimer v. 

 Bell, L. E., 1 Ch. 10 ; 36 L. J., Ch. 

 25 ; Gilliat v. Gilliat, L. R., 9 Eq. 

 60 ; 39 L. J., Ch. 142 ; Parfitt v. 

 Jepson, 46 L. J., C. P. 629; 36 

 L. T. 251. 



