Interesting info on the meaning of "gazump." I knew a fellow in the Navy years ago who was known for his colorful language, idioms and metaphors. He used gazump as "up the gazump stump," as one might say "he has money up the wazoo."
He also used "goddammit" as a noun, replacing "whatchamacallit," and many more I couldn't use on-line.
What does it mean to gazump someone? This phrase, specifically meaning "to swindle a customer in a real estate deal," came about in the United States in the 1920s and 1930s before disappearing and then popping up again in England in the 1970s. Whether or not the term is in vogue, the practice seems to be a mainstay. This is part of a complete episode.
I have no idea of the origin, but the only way I've heard it used, and unfortunately quite frequently, is in the UK in the context of trying to buy a house but being outbid by someone else. That is, someone already put in a verbal offer for a house, then along comes another buyer and, before the paperwork is signed, offers a higher price because he or she really wants the house. The original bidder loses the deal, but perhaps has already sold his or her own house, and so is left high and dry. He has been gazumped (spelling?) and the seller, who backed out of the lower bid, is the gazumper. Would you believe they even offer "gazumping insurance" to protect in such an event?
The way to get round that is to sell your house under Scots Law, rather than English Law (you can choose to do so anywhere in the U.K.), as offers are final in Scotland, so gazzumping cannot happen. The downside is you have to be able to persuade the seller to sell it to you that way, which might not be easy…!
Jock123, in the US oral contracts are as binding as written ones. Most people believe otherwise, because the difficulty with an oral contract is establishing its terms, or indeed that it even exists; in practice, therefore, a civil jury cannot be depended upon to decide correctly which version of the contract to enforce, if the witnesses disagree. Thus the widespread but mistaken conviction that oral contracts are nonbinding. What I'm wondering is how they resolve that problem under Scots law?