WARRANTY. 117 



There was at one time a general opinion that a Sound A sound price 

 price given for a Horse was tantamount to a Warrant y ^*^* tanta- 

 of Soundness ; but Lord Mansfield considered the doc- "Warranty, 

 trine to be so loose and unsatisfactory that he rejected it, 

 and laid down the following Rule : " There must either 

 be an crpress Warranty of Soundness, or Fraud in the 

 seller, to maintain an action" [d). 



A General Warranty is an unconditional undertaking A General 

 that a Horse or any other article really is what the War- Warranty, 

 rantor professes it to be. 



A Warranty may be either General or Qualified. If a A Qualified 

 person at the time of his selling a Horse say, " I never Warranty, 

 warrant, but he is sound so far as I knou;^' it is a Qualified 

 Warranty, and an action for breach of Warranty may be 

 maintained upon it by the purchaser, if it can be proved 

 that the seller kneu^ of the Unsoundness (e). 



By the conditions of sale at Eepositories and public A Limited 

 Auctions, a specified short time is usually allowed, within Warranty. 

 which the purchaser must give notice of any breach of 

 Warranty. If he neglect to do this, he has no remedy, 

 unless such condition has been rendered inoperative by 

 Fraud or Artifice. And in a case where a warranty was 

 to last till the noon of the following day, when the sale 

 was to become complete, Mr. Justice Littledale said, " The 

 Warranty here was as if the vendor had said, ' after 

 twenty-four hours I do not warrant ;' such a stipulation is 

 not unreasonable" (/). 



In the case of Chapman v. Gwyther {g) the seller of a 

 Horse signed the following Warranty : — 



"June 5th, 1865. Mr. C. bought of Mr. G. G. a bay 

 Horse for ninety pounds. Warranted Sound. 



£90. G. G. 



" Warranted Sound for one month. — G. G." 



The Court of Queen's Bench held that the latter words 

 limited the duration of the Warranty, and meant that the 

 Warranty was to continue in force for one month only ; 

 and that the complaint of Unsoundness must therefore be 

 made by the purchaser within one month of the sale. 



The pm-chaser, however, may return the Horse at any 



{(I) ParMnson v. Lee, 2 East, 323. and see Best v. Oshonie, 2 C. & P. 



(e) Wood V. Smith, 4 C. & P. 45. 74; HinchcUffe y . Baru-icJc, L. R., 5 



See also Pinder v. Button, 7 L. T., Ex. D. 177; 49 L. J., Ex. 495; 42 



N. S. 269. L. T., N. S. 492. 



(/) By water v. Richardson, 1 A. (c/) L. R,., 1 Q. V,. 4G3; 35 L. J 



& E. 508 ; 5. C. 3 N. & M. 748 ; Q. B. 142 ; 14 L. T., N. S. 477. 



