BORROWING HORSES. 259 



who has the goods in his custody, as in that of lending for 

 use, an c.rfraordinary degree of care is demanded, and the 

 Borroiccr is therefore responsible for fsUght negligence {c). 



But if the Lender was not deceived, but perfectly knew As much as 

 the quality as well as age of the Borrower, he must be sup- *^® Borrower 

 posed to have demanded no higher care than that of which bestlwm^.'^ 

 such a person was capable ; as if a person lend a fine Horse 

 to a raw youth, he cannot exact the same degree of 

 management and circumspection as he would expect from 

 a riding-master or an officer of dragoons {d) . 



Where a person rides a Horse gratuitously at the Sliowing a 

 Owner^s request, for the pm-pose of shouing him for sale, Horse for 

 he is bound in so doing to use such skill as he actually ^^ ^' 

 possesses, or such as may be implied from his profession 

 or situation, and he is equally liable with a Borrou-er for 

 injury done to the Horse while ridden by him. In a case 

 tried before Mr. Baron Eolfe, it appeared that the plain- 

 tiff had entrusted a Horse to the defendant, requesting 

 him to ride it to Peckham, for the ]3urpose of showing it 

 for sale to a Mr. Margetson. The defendant accordingly 

 rode the Horse to Peckham, and, for the purpose of 

 showing it, took it into the East Surrey Pace Grrouncl, 

 where Mr. Margetson was engaged with others playing 

 at cricket ; and there, in consequence of the slippery 

 nature of the ground, the Horse slipped and fell several 

 times, and in falling broke one of his knees. It was 

 proved that the defendant was a person conversant with 

 and skilled in Horses. 



The learned Judge in summing up left it to the Jury 

 to say whether the nature of the ground was such as to 

 render it a matter of culpable negligence in the defendant 

 to ride the Horse there ; and told them, that under the 

 circumstances the defendant being shown to be a person 

 skilled in the management of Horses, was bound to take 

 as much care of the Horse as if he had borrowed it ; and 

 that if they thought the defendant had been negligent in 

 going upon the ground where the injury was done, or had 

 ridden the Horse carelessly there, they ought to find for 

 the plaintiff, which they did. 



The Court of Exchequer refused a rule for a new trial 

 applied for on the ground of misdirection. Lord Abinger, 

 C. B., saying, "We must take the siunming-up altogether; 



(c) Jones on Bailments, 6.5. See Dumoulin's Tract — De eo quod 

 Exod. xxii. 14, 15. interest, 185 ; Story on Bailments, 



[d) Jones on Bailments, G5 ; 161. 



s. O 



