DISEASES, DEFECTS, ETC. 87 



that occasion has not been questioned in any subsequent 

 case" (c). 



Cuffing, like Speedy cut, arises from badness of struc- Cutting, 

 ture, and being neither a disease nor a bad habit, cannot 

 be pronounced a breach of a warranty of Soundness and 

 freedom from Vice; and although it may be a greater 

 detriment to the Horse than some kinds of Unsoundness or 

 Vice, yet if the wounds occasioned by it did not actually 

 exist at the time of sale, the purchaser has no legal remedy 

 against the buyer. This is a case to which the legal maxim 

 caveat emptor particularly applies ; the purchaser should 

 examine the Horse, and if there appear any probability 

 of Cutting a special warranty should be taken against it. 

 It is always a great annoyance, and the effects produced 

 by it are sometimes most serious. Many Horses go lame 

 for a considerable period after Cutting themselves severely ; 

 and others have dropped from sudden agony and en- 

 dangered themselves and their riders. Cutting renders a 

 Horse liable to serious injury of the legs, and indicates 

 that he is either weak or has an awkwardness of gait in- 

 consistent with safety (/). 



In the only decided case on the subject, it was held that Held not to 

 mere Badness of shape, though rendering the Horse in- be an Un- 

 capable of work, is not Unsoundness. It appeared that at ^^^^ ^^®^* 

 the time of sale there existed neither lameness nor wound. 

 And Mr. Justice Alderson said, " The Horse could not be 

 considered unsound in law merely from Badness of shape. 

 As long as he was uninjured he must be considered sound. 

 Where the injury is produced by the badness of his action, 

 that injury constitutes the Unsoundness^^ (g). 



There are two kinds of Dropsy, which must both be Dropsy of the 

 considered ; namely, Dropsy of the skin and Drop)sy of Skin. 

 the heart. Dropsical swellings often appear between the 

 forelegs and on the chest ; they are effusions of fluid 

 underneath the skin. They accompany various diseases, 

 particularly when the animal is weakened by them, and 

 sometimes appear when there is no other disease than the 

 debility, which, in the spring and fall of the year, accom- 

 panies the changing of the coat {h) . 



When the pericardium or the heart itself becomes in- Dropsy of the 

 flamed, the secretion of the pericardium is much increased, Heart. 



[c) Broivn v. Elkington, 8 M. & [g) Dickenson v. FoUett, 1 M. & 



"W. 132. Eob. 299. 



(/) Lib. U. K. "The Horse," {h) Lib. U. K. "The Horse," 



363, and App. Ed. 1862, p. 523. 171. 



