agent of the purchaser for the purpose of entering his name as soon as the bid is made. The law, however, requires that the auctioneer sign the name of the purchaser to the memorandum of sale. This signing must be done at the time and place of the sale of the particular thing, knocked down to the bidder. This alone satisfies the statute. Before the sale, the auctioneer is the agent of the seller, but becomes the agent of the buyer as soon as the bid is accepted, for the purpose of completing the sale. DEFINITION AND HISTORY OF BAILMENTS. SECTION 1. DEFINITIONS. A Bailment is the delivery of goods for some purpose, upon a contract, expressed or implied, that after the purpose has been fulfilled they shall be redelivered to the bailor, or otherwise dealt with according to his directions, or kept till he reclaim them.1 The famous writer on Bailments, Sir William Jones, gives two definitions: "A delivery of goods on a condition, express or implied, that they shall be restored by the bailee to the bailor, or according to his directions as soon as they purpose for which they are balied shall be answered." And, "A delivery of goods in trust, on a contract, expressed or implied, that the trust shall be duly executed and the goods redelivered as soon as the time or use for which they were bailed shall have elapsed or be performed." 2 3 Blackstone's definition is as follows: "Bailment, from the French bailor, to deliver, is a delivery of goods in trust, upon a contract, express or implied, that the trust shall be faithfully executed on the part of the bailee." SECTION 2. INFLUENCE OF THE ROMAN LAW RELATIVE TO BAILMENTS UPON THE COMMON LAW. Bailments first began to become an important subject of litigation in England during the period when the Roman law or civil law was exerting its greatest 1 Stephen's Com., bk. 2, pt. 2, c. 5, p. 80. • Jones on Bailments, 1. s Jones on Bailments, 117. +2 Blackstone's Commentaries, 451. influence upon the jurisprudence of England. As bailment law in Rome was well defined, early English legal writers on the subject were greatly influenced by the Civil law and adopted the Roman division which was a mere catalogue rather than a scientific classification.5 SECTION 3. CLASSES OF BAILMENTS RECOGNIZED BY THE ROMAN LAW. The following classes of Bailments were recognized under the Roman law: (1) Depositum. (2) Mandatum. (3) Commodatum. (4) Pignus. (5) Locatio. (6) Mutuum. (1) A depositum was a gratuitous bailment of goods for custody or safe keeping. (2) A mandatum was a bailment of goods for the performance of some service upon them by the bailee gratuitously. (3) A commodatum was a gratuitous loan of a chattel for the use of the bailee gratis. (4) A pignus or pledge was a bailment to secure the performance of an obligation, with power of sale in case of default. (5) A locatio was a hiring of a chattel. This class was subdivided into (a) locatio rei or the hired use of a thing; (b) locatio operis, or hired services of various kinds about the thing. This, in turn, was again subdivided into locatio custodiae, or the hired custody of a thing; locatio operis faciendi, or the hired • Goddard on Bailments, Sec. 12. See writings of Bracton, Lord Holt and Sir William Jones. |