Pawn

Pawn, Pawnbrokers. Pawn signifies at the present day a pledge to a pawnbroker or person who keeps a shop for the purchase or sale of goods, and takes goods by way of security for money advanced thereon. Statutory regulations have been made preventing frauds and overcharges by pawnbrokers. Thus every pawnbroker taking a pledge for a loan not exceeding £10 is bound to give the pawner a pawn-ticket, specifying the charges for interest, etc., which he is allowed by the statute to make, the period within which the pledge may be redeemed, and he is also bound to keep account books, showing all sales of pledges made by him. He has a statutory power of sale by auction. In other respects he is a bailee, like an ordinary pledgee. (See the "Pawnbrokers Act, 1872," by which previous Acts were repealed and the statute law on the subject consolidated.)