STATUTES
| Date | 01 May 1962 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2230.1962.tb02210.x |
| Published date | 01 May 1962 |
STATUTES
MOCK
AUCTIONS Am,
1961
Tms
Act is a surprising piece of legislation. Some people will be
surprised to discover that it was considered necessary to legislate
against mock auctions; others will be surprised, though grat.ified,
that after several unsuccessful attempts during the past thirty years
a Mock Auctions Bill of general application has received the Royal
Assent.2
The Act closes a chapter of more than thirty years of legislative
inaction.
In
1928,
after two abortive attempts to introduce legisla-
tion had been made
in
the House of Commons, a
Mock
Auctions
Bill
was introduced by Lord Gorell, and was referred
to
a Select
Committee which reported,
in
1929,
that the existing law was
sufficient to deal
with
the activities of mock auctioneers.a Oppo-
nents of the Bill suggested that it was difficult to secure convictions
because the victims were unwilling to advertise their gullihility.
Were
it
not
for
the fact that there has been
no
reluctance to give
evidence
on
the part
of
victims of other frauds, this could be
accepted
as
an explanation of the infrequency of prosecutions in
respect of mock auctions.' By
1961,
this was
no
longer thought
to
be the only obstacle to a successful prosecution. Many laymen and
lawyers considered mock auctions to be beyond the reach of the
criminal law. But
is
the law
so
defective
?
The difference between
a
mock auction and a genuine auction
is that
in
the first one is bidding against one's anxieties,
i.e.,
the
hope of getting something for nothing, or next to nothing, while
in the second one is bidding against the market. The mock
auctioneer exploits the expectations of his audience by means of
veiled promises and various dishonest tricks and devices.
At
the
end of the auction, he may
"
protect
"
himself by obtaining from
his customers assurances that they are satisfied with their purchases
and did not expect
to
get their money back. More detailed
descriptions may be found in the pages of
liansa~d,~
but the terse
and colourful description given by Lord Denham deserves to be
repeated
:
1
9
&
10
Eliz.
2,
c.
47.
2
Several
local
authorities have obtained Local Acts with provisions against
mock
auctions: Rrighton
(1954)
;
Leeds, Croydon and
Rhyl
U.D.C.
(1956)
;
Sunderland
(1957);
and Bootle
(1959).
3
H.L.Parl.Deb.,
Vol.
72,
cols.
67-79.
4
There
have
been seven
in
the past
100 years-1869,
1900,
1828
and
four
in
1960.
8
H.L.Parl.Deb., Vol.
72,
ools.
678-4579;
Vol.
214,
mlr.
1191-1188;
H.C.Parl.
Deb.,
Vol.
635,
cola.
1059-1068.
884
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