CHAPTER
376
AUCTION |
ARRANGEMENT OF
SECTIONS |
SECTION |
|
Illegal to act as auctioneer or vendue masters
without a licence and entering into bond. |
Form, duration and nature of licence. |
Bond to be taken by treasurer or commissioner
without fees. |
Auctioneers selling wrecked property liable for
all import duties thereon. |
Form of declaration to be appended to every
statement, etc. |
Penalty for acting as auctioneer without a licence. |
Penalty for neglecting to return necessary
documents or pay taxes. |
Persons not complying with conditions of sale
liable to pay interest on purchase money. |
Property not settled for in accordance with
conditions of sale may be taken possession of and sold by auctioneer. |
This act not to apply to sales by tender. |
|
Written statement may be demanded. |
Penalties, how recovered and applied. |
Act not to apply to Crown. |
CHAPTER 376 |
AUCTION |
An Act
relating to auctioneers. | 16 of 1872
14 of 1885
13 of 1897
27 of 1898
15 of 1932
8 of 1980
5 of 1987 |
[Commencement 23rd
May, 1872] |
1. This Act may be cited as the Auction Act. | Short title. |
2. It shall not be lawful for any person to act as an
auctioneer or vendue master within The Bahamas unless he shall have been first
duly licensed as such by the Treasurer, or if resident in an Out Island by the
commissioner, acting as collector of revenue for the district for which the
licence shall be required; and shall have entered into bond to Her Majesty, Her
Heirs and Successors, with two or more sufficient sureties in the penal sum of
two thousand dollars with the following conditions thereunder written, that is
to say- | Illegal to act as auctioneer or vendue master without
a licence and entering into bond. |
"The
condition of this obligation is such that if the above bounden (here insert name
of auctioneer) shall from time to time render true and faithful accounts of all
property sold by him at public auction to the Treasurer, or other proper
officer as required by law, and submit and deliver to the said Treasurer, or
other officer, for inspection and examination his vendue books, as is also
required by law, and shall well and faithfully pay to the said Treasurer or
other proper officer all sums of money which may be or become payable by the
said (here again insert name of auctioneer) as an auctioneer, in respect of
duties or taxes, which he is or may be liable by law to pay, then this
obligation to be void, otherwise to remain in full force and effect": | Bond and condition. |
Provided that
nothing herein contained shall extend to the sale of property under judicial
process or distraint for rent, by the proper officer or person duly authorised
to make such sale. |
3. (1) Licences granted under this Act shall be in such
form as the Treasurer shall from time to time sanction, shall continue in force
for the period mentioned therein and no longer, shall set forth the particular
district in which the party obtaining it intends to carry on his business, and
shall only have force and effect within the district for which the officer
granting it is authorised to act. Such licences may be for a year, or any part
thereof not less than a month, and shall be issued so as to expire on the
thirty-first day of December next succeeding the date of issue. | Form, duration and nature of licence. |
(2) Where a
licence to act as an auctioneer or vendue master is issued for a year the fee
shall be- | Fees for licences at Nassau and Out Islands. |
(a) for New
Providence, twenty dollars; and |
(b) for any Out
Islands, eight dollars, |
and every
such fee shall be paid before the delivery of the licence in respect of which
it is payable, and shall be passed by the officer receiving the same to the
credit of the general revenue. |
(3) Where a
licence is issued for a period less than a year, the person obtaining the same
shall pay therefor a sum equivalent to as many twelfths of the fee authorised
by subsection (2) of this section according to the district for which it is
issued as the said licence has months to run: | Proportionate part of fee payable for a licence issued
for less than a year. |
Provided that in
the case of a licence issued during any month the whole of such month shall be
included in calculating the amount to be paid for such licence. |
4. Every bond under this Act shall be taken by the
Treasurer or commissioner, as the case may be, without fees, and shall continue
in force during the period for which the person on whose behalf it was taken
shall act as an auctioneer: | Bond to be taken by Treasurer or commissioner without
fees. |
Provided that it
shall be lawful for the Treasurer or commissioner, as the case may be, if he
should at any time become dissatisfied with the sufficiency of the security, to
require other sureties to be given, and it shall also be competent for any
surety named in any such bond to withdraw from being a surety, by giving three
months' notice in writing to that effect to the Treasurer or commissioner of
the district within which the principal of any such bond is acting as an
auctioneer. |
5. Every auctioneer selling wrecked property at auction
shall be liable for all important duties payable thereon, and shall within ten
days after each day's sale make a true and correct account and return of the
property so sold to the Treasurer or collector of revenue, as the case may be,
and at the same time pay to the Treasurer or collector the full amount of all
such duties. | Auctioneers selling wrecked property liable for all
import duties thereon. |
6. To every statement, account or return rendered by an
auctioneer under section 5 of this Act, there shall be appended a declaration
in the following form- | Form of declaration to be appended to every statement,
etc. |
"I (here
insert name and address) do solemnly declare that the foregoing (statement,
account or return, describing the paper according to its nature) is in all
respects correct and true, and I hereby declare that this declaration is made
by me, subject to the provisions of the Acts for substituting declarations in
lieu of oaths, and providing for the punishment of persons who shall make false
declarations." |
All such
declarations shall be subscribed with the name of the party making the same,
written in his proper handwriting, in the presence of the Treasurer or cashier,
or when made at an Out Island in the presence of the commissioner, and shall be
attested by the officer so taking the same in the following words: | Declaration to be subscribed in presence of Treasurer,
cashier or commissioner. |
"Subscribed
and declared to in my presence, this day of A.D. 19 . |
Signed,
A.B., Treasurer, cashier or
commissioner as the case may be." |
7. Any person who shall act as an auctioneer without
having been first duly licensed as heretofore provided or who shall so act
after the expiration of any licence which may have been held by him, notice of
such expiration having been given to him as hereinafter provided for, or who
being so licensed shall act as an auctioneer without having first entered into
bond, as hereinbefore provided for, shall for every offence
forfeit and pay a sum of two hundred dollars. | Penalty for acting as auctioneer without a licence. |
8. Any auctioneer who shall neglect to make and return
or deliver to the proper officer any statement, account, return or book by this
Act required to be made, returned or delivered, or who shall neglect to pay the
taxes and duties by this Act required to be paid by him, shall forfeit and pay
for every day during which he shall make any such default the sum of forty
dollars; and any auctioneer who shall knowingly make or cause, or allow to be
made, any false entries in any such statements, accounts, returns or books,
shall, in addition to the penalties which may attach to him for having made a
false declaration, forfeit and pay the sum of two hundred dollars. | Penalty for neglecting to return necessary documents
and pay taxes and dues required by this Act. |
9. When any person shall become the highest bidder at
public auction for any property there exposed for sale, and shall not within
forty-eight hours (if no limited period be fixed for payment, or at the
expiration of the period fixed for payment, if sold at a credit), pay for the
same, then, and in every such case, it shall and may be lawful for the
auctioneer selling such property to charge against, receive and recover from
the person purchasing the same, interest at and after the rate of six per
centum per annum for such time as the purchase money of such property, or any
part of such purchase money shall be and remain in arrear and unpaid: | Persons not complying with conditions of sale liable
to pay interest on purchase-money. |
Provided that when
any property is exposed to sale at a credit, with any conditions annexed to
such credit, and the person becoming the highest bidder for the same, shall
refuse or neglect to comply with such conditions, then, and in every such case,
every such sale shall be taken and considered to be a cash sale, and interest
shall be chargeable and recoverable accordingly. |
10. When any person shall become the highest bidder at
public auction for any property there exposed to sale, and shall not within
forty-eight hours pay for the same, or settle with the auctioneer agreeably to
the conditions of the sale, in such case it shall be lawful for such auctioneer
to take possession of and expose the same property to sale at public auction,
at any time within six months after, while the property remains in possession
of the auctioneer or of the purchaser, and if the property shall not then bring
as much money as was bid for the same at the first sale, the former bidder
failing to comply with the conditions of sale, as aforesaid, shall make good
the difference in price, with the cost and charges, to be recovered by the
auctioneer as other debts due for property sold at auction on commission are
recovered; and if any auctioneer shall have reason to believe that any such
property sold at auction and not paid for is concealed for the purpose of
defeating his aforesaid right, and he shall make affidavit to that effect
before a magistrate, he shall thereupon be entitled to have from such
magistrate a search warrant, addressed to any peace officer, to search for and
restore the same according to the true intent and meaning of this Act, and in
the meantime the aforesaid claims of such auctioneer on any property so sold by
auction and not paid for shall have precedency of all other liabilities
whatever. | Property not settled for in accordance with conditions
of sale may be taken possession of and sold by auctioneer. |
11. This Act shall not be held or construed to apply
in any manner to persons selling by tender or to sales by tender: | This Act not to apply to sales by tender. |
Provided that,
where sponge is so sold, the person selling the same shall immediately after
the highest bidder or bidders for such sponge shall have been declared the
purchaser or purchasers thereof, announce and declare in a loud, distinct and
audible manner the price for which each lot of sponge has been sold to such
purchaser or purchasers thereof. |
12. Any person selling sponge by tender who fails or
neglects to make the announcement required by the proviso to section 11 of this
Act, shall forfeit and pay the sum of forty dollars. | Penalty. |
13. It shall be lawful for any person interested in
the sale of any sponges by tender to demand from the person selling the same a
written statement or memorandum showing the price for which such sponge has
been sold by such person, and which has been announced by such person according
to the proviso to section 11 of this Act, and any person selling any sponge,
and from whom has been demanded a written statement as aforesaid, who shall
neglect or refuse to furnish the same to the person entitled to make and making
such demand, shall forfeit and pay the sum of forty
dollars. | Written statement may be demanded. Penalty for
neglect. |
14. All penalties imposed by this Act shall be
recovered with costs of suit, and one moiety of all such penalties when
recovered shall be paid into the Consolidated Fund in aid of the general
revenue, and the other moiety thereof shall go to the use of the informer who
shall sue for the same, which suit or action may be brought in the court having
jurisdiction to the amount. | Penalties, how recovered, and applied. |
15. This Act shall not be held or construed to apply
in any manner to persons selling Crown lands by order or direction of the
Governor-General. | Act not to apply to Crown. |