BUYING

BUYING, the act of making a purchase, or of acquiring the property of a thing for a certain price.

Buying stands opposed to selling, and differs from borrowing or hiring, as in the former the property of the thing is alienated for perpetuity, which in the latter it is not. By the civil law, persons are allowed to buy hope, spem precio emere, that is, to purchase the event or expectation of any thing; e. gr. the fish or birds a person shall catch, or the money he shall win in gaming.

There are different species of buying in use among traders: as, buying on one's own account, opposed to buying on commission; buying for ready money, which is when the purchaser pays in actual specie on the spot; buying on credit, or for a time certain, is when the payment is not to be presently made, but in lieu thereof, an obligation given by the buyer for payment at a time future; buying on delivery, is when the

VOL. V. Part I.

goods purchased are only to be delivered at a certain time future.