Auction, signifies generally an increasing, an enhancement, and hence is applied to a public sale of property usually conducted by biddings, which augment the price. A spear used to be raised by the Romans, at the sign of a public auction, Livy, xxiii. 37; Smith's Dict. of Antiq. The Sale of Land by Auction Act, 1867 (30 & 31 Vict. c. 48), by s. 5 enacts that the particulars of sale of land by auction 'shall state whether such land will be sold without reserve, or subject to a reserved price, or whether a right to bid is reserved,' and that 'if it is stated that such land will be sold without reserve, it shall not be lawful for the seller to employ any person to bid at such sale, or for the auctioneer to take knowingly any bidding from any such person.' As to auction without reserve, see Rainbow v. Howkins, 1904 (2) KB 322. See DUTCH AUCTION; KNOCK-OUTS.
The auctions (English) (Bidding Agreements) Act, 1927 (17 & 18 Geo. 5, c. 12), was designed to make it illegal for a dealer to give any consideration or reward to any person, whether a dealer or not, for abstaining or having abstained from bidding at an auction. Such an agreement was not illegal before the Act, see Cohen v. Roche, 1927 (1) KB 169. By s. 2 when such a transaction has been the subject of a prosecution and conviction, the sale may, as against a purchaser who has been party to the transaction, be treated by the vendor as a sale induced by fraud; provided that notice that the vendor intends to exercise such power in relation to any sale at the auction shall not affect the obligation of the auctioneer to deliver the goods to the purchaser. By s. 3 a copy of the Act must be exhibited at sale. See also (English) Sale of Goods Act, 1893, s. 58.