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Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Edition (1856)

AUCTION, commerce, contract. A public sale of property to the highest
bidder. Among the Romans this kind of sale, was made by a crier under a
spear (sub hasta) stuck in the ground.
2. Auctions are generally held by express authority, and the person who
conducts them is licensed to do so under various regulations.
3. The manner of conducting an auction is immaterial; whether it be by
public outcry or by any other manner. The essential part is the selection of
a purchaser from a number of bidders. In a case where a woman continued
silent during the whole time of the sale, but whenever anyone bid she gave
him a glass of brandy, and when the sale broke up, the person who received
the last glass of brandy was taken into a private room, and he was declared
to be the purchaser; this was adjudged to be an auction. 1 Dow. 115.
4. The law requires fairness in auction sales, and when a puffer is
employed to raise the property offered for sale on bona fide bidders, or a
combination is entered into between two or more persons not to overbid each
other, the contract may in general be avoided. Vide Puffer, and 6 John. R.
194; 8 John. R. 444; 3 John. Cas. 29; Cowp. 395; 6 T. R. 642; Harr. Dig.
Sale, IV.; and the article Conditions Sale. Vide Harr. Dig. Sale, IV.; 13
Price, R. 76; M'Clel. R. 25; 6 East, R. 392; 5 B. & A. 257; S. C. 2 Stark.
R. 295; 1 Esp. R. 340; 5 Esp. R. 103 4 Taunt. R. 209; 1 H. Bl. R. 81; 2
Chit. R. 253; Cowp. R. 395; 1 Bouv. Inst., n. 976.