368 THE HORSE. 



Whfire there is no warranty, an action may be broutjlit on tlie ground of 

 fraud, bui this is very dillicult to be maintained, and few possibly will 

 hazard it. It will be necessary to prove that the dealer knew the defect, 

 and that the purchaser was imposed upon by his false representation ; and 

 that, too, in a case in which a person of ordinary circumspection might 

 have been imposed upon. If the defect was evident to every eye, the pur- 

 chaser has no remedy — he should have taken more care; but if a warranty 

 was given, it extends to all unsoundness, palpable or concealed. Although 

 a person should ignorantly or carelessly buy a blind horse, warranted 

 sound, he may return it — the warranty is his guard, and prevents him from 

 so closely examining the horse as he otherwise would have done ; but if ho 

 buys a blind horse, thinking him to be sound, and without a warranty, he 

 has no remedy. The law supposes every one to exercise common circum- 

 spection and common sense. 



A man should have a more perfect knowledge of horses than falls to the 

 lot of most, and a perfect knowledge of the vendor too, who ventures to 

 buy a horse without a warranty. 



If a person buys a horse warranted sound, and discovering no defect in 

 him, and relying on the warranty, resells him, and the unsoundness is 

 discovered by the second purchaser, and the horse returned to the first 

 purchaser, or an action commenced against him, he has his claim on the 

 lirst seller, and may demand of him not only the price of the horse, or the 

 difference in value, but every expense that may have been incurred in 

 the transaction. * 



Exchanges, whether of one horse absolutely for another, or a sum of 

 money being paid in addition by one of the parties, stands on the same 

 ground as simple sales. If there is a warranty given on either side, and 

 tliat is broken, the exchange is vitiated : if there be no warranty given, 

 deceit must be proved. 



The subject of trial is a very intricate one, and we are inclined to think 

 that the dealer is often very ill-used. It is well known that a horse from 

 a dealer's stable is seldom or never fit for hard work until he has under- 

 gone some preparation and training. It is right that the purchaser should 

 have a trial of him, but he should try him in a fair way — in a way con- 

 sistent with the state in which the animal is. If a horse from a dealer's 

 stable is galloped far and fast, it is probable that he will soon show distress; 

 and if he is pushed farther, inflammation and death may ensue. The 

 dealer rarely gets recompensed for this; and if it should occur soon after 

 the sale, the horse is returned, or an action is brought for its price. When 

 accidents have arisen in the fair trial of a horse, the decisions of the 

 courts of law have been strangely contradictory; and, indeed, it is often 

 diflicult to determine whether the fault rests with the horse or the rider. 

 If the horse be detained after the specified time of trial, he is supposed to 

 be sold, and with all his faults. 



In London, and in most great towns, there are repositories for the 

 periodical sale of horses by auction. They are a great convenience to the 

 seller, who can at once get rid of a horse with which he wishes to part, 

 without waiting month after month before he can obtain a purchaser, and 

 who is relieved from tlie nuisance or fear of having the horse returned on 

 account of breach of the warranty, because in these places only two days 

 are allowed for the trial, and if the horse is not returned within that 



would have lieoii if returned immediately after such discovery, I think the party can have 

 Ao clefciice to an action for the price uf the article on the g'round of iu)n-compliance with 

 the warranty, hut must be left to liis action on the warranty to recover the dillcrence in 

 the value of the article warranted, and its value when sold." — Curtis v. Hannay, 'i. li'ep 33. 



