Opening biddings. Before 1867, where estates were sold, under the decree of a Court of Equity, the Court considered itself to have a greater power over the contract than if the contract were made between party and party; and as the aim of the Court was to obtain as great a price as possible for the estate, it would open the biddings after the estate was sold, and put up the estate for sale again.
But the Sale of (English) Land by Auction Act, 1867, has, by s. 7, abolished this inconvenient practice (under which biddings were opened even more than once), with an exception for cases of fraud or improper management of a sale, in which upon the application of any person interested in the land, 'the Court may either open the biddings, holding such bidder bound by his bidding, or discharge him from being the purchaser, and order the land to be resold', see Delves v. Delves, (1875) LR 20 Eq 77.