Short answer. Yes. Article 1403 treats a proper auction entry as a sufficient memorandum for the Statute of Frauds. If the auctioneer records the sale in his sales book at the time of the sale, with the required particulars, that entry satisfies the writing requirement and the sale becomes enforceable.
What the law says
when a sale is made by auction and entry is made by the auctioneer in his sales book, at the time of the sale, of the amount and kind of property sold, terms of sale, price, names of the purchasers and person on whose account the sale is made, it is a sufficient memorandum
Civil Code, Article 1403 — Unenforceable Contracts and the Statute of Frauds. Read the full provision →
Why a writing is needed at all
Certain agreements are unenforceable by court action unless there is a written note or memorandum of them, signed by the party being charged. This is the Statute of Frauds, carried in Article 1403, and a sale of goods at or above the stated price threshold is one of the agreements it covers. The rule does not make an oral deal void; it makes it something a court will not enforce over objection if there is nothing in writing to evidence it. An auction buyer who has only a spoken knock-down and no paper could, in theory, find the sale unenforceable if the seller balks.
The auctioneer's book fills that gap
The article supplies a purpose-built answer for auctions. It provides that when a sale is made by auction and entry is made by the auctioneer in his sales book, at the time of the sale, of the amount and kind of property sold, terms of sale, price, names of the purchasers and person on whose account the sale is made, it is a sufficient memorandum. The auctioneer, in other words, keeps the writing for you. A complete entry in his book does the work the Statute of Frauds demands, so the sale is enforceable even though you signed nothing yourself.
The entry has to be complete and timely
The protection depends on the entry actually containing what the article lists and being made at the right moment. It must be recorded at the time of the sale, not reconstructed afterwards, and it must carry the amount and kind of property, the terms, the price, and the names of both the purchaser and the person on whose account the sale is made. A vague or half-filled line may fall short of a sufficient memorandum. The auctioneer functions here as the agent whose record binds the parties, which is why the completeness of his book, rather than the buyer's own signature, is what matters.
What the sufficient memorandum does not do
Clearing the Statute of Frauds is only about enforceability of form; it does not cure other defects. A proper entry does not validate a sale that is otherwise void, nor does it prove the goods were as described or that the price was paid. It also does not manufacture a contract where none was formed — there must first be a completed sale, which at auction happens on the fall of the hammer. And the rule is specific to genuine auction sales entered by the auctioneer; an ordinary private sale still needs its own signed writing to satisfy the Statute of Frauds.