Page:Harvard Law Review Volume 9.djvu/424

39<^ HARVARD LAW REVIEW. the instrument in the correct form under which the issue has been authorized. The sale, it is true, is affected by a subsequent condi- tion, but it is nowhere specified that the lottery bond should not contain a clause of this nature. (4) Sales before the prizes are drawn, with permission for the purchaser to resell after the drawing, if desired. — Most financial establishments, large and small, have engaged in the sale of lot- tery bonds under a peculiar kind of arrangement, which up to the present date has not been made the subject of judicial action or of theoretical discussion. A fortnight before each drawing these establishments offer lottery bonds for sale, agreeing to retake them from the purchaser in the five days which follow the drawing, by paying a slight reduction (usually two or five francs) on the price of the original sale. For example, in this way a bond of Panama, sold for 122 francs before the drawing of the 15th of February, 1895, could be resold by the purchaser to the seller till the 20th of February, inclusive, for 120 francs. We regard the transaction as lawful, and not punishable, although after the sale and resale of the bond the buyer is in the same position as a per- son who would have bought the lottery ticket for two francs, with no bond attached. The fact remains, nevertheless, that the bond which has been the subject of these different transactions is the same integral instrument which the legislative body authorized. This circumstance in itself, as we think, insures its legahty. In the other countries of Europe, as well as in France, specula- tion has seized on the lottery bond. It is found usually under the two following forms, as we have already noted: 1st. Dismember- ment of the bond. 2d. Sale of lottery bonds by instalments. (i) Dismemberment of the bond. — In Italy, as in France, it is not allowed to offer to the public unauthorized parts of bonds, or the simple chance at lottery, separated from the bond itself (Law of the 19th of July, and decree of the 21st November, 1880), and the same prohibition is found in Sweden. On the other hand, in Germany, in Austria, in Hungary, in the Netherlands, and in Turkey, the sale of parts of lottery bonds is permitted, and the sale of all or a part of the chances at lottery which are attached to the instrument is the source of a profitable business. The latter arrangement is particularly common in the German speak- ing countries, where it is technically called Heuergeschdft or Promessengeschdft. (2) Sale of lottery bonds by instalments. — The sale of lottery