406 



RACiiS'G, ^STAKEHOLDERS AND STEAVARDS. 



Negligence in 

 not appoint- 

 ing one. 



Decision of 

 the Umpire 

 or Committee. 



"Wlien Juris- 

 diction has 

 not attached. 



Horse ; and if tliey are paid for their trouble, or enter upon 

 tlieir duties, they are liable to an action for not doing so (o) . 



But a person gratuitously undertaking the duties of 

 Steward of a Horse Race, is not liable for negligent non- 

 feasance in not appointing a Judge, unless it appears that 

 he commenced to perform the duties of the office [p). 



Where by the conditions of a Race the decision of the 

 Umpire or Committee is to be final, the parties are bound 

 by it in the same way as in the case of Stewards. Thus 

 where a Match was made between two Mares under the 

 following agreement : — 



"Pratt and Evaxs. 

 '' Thomas Holyoake, Esq., Umpire. 

 " Frederick Pratt bets Thomas Evans 100/. to 25/. p.p. 

 \_phi>/ or pay'], Mr. Ryley's brown Mare [late his pro- 

 perty] beats Thomas Evans's Mare, Matilda, four miles 

 across a coimtry, thirteen stone each. To come off 1st 

 March, 1811. The Umpire.' s decision to he final. 



(Signed) " Thomas Evans, 



"Frederick Pratt." 



The Match came off on the day appointed. Mr. Ryley's 

 brown Mare came in first ; but Mr. Holyoake, the Umpire, 

 decided that the other Mare was the winner, in con- 

 sequence of the former having passed through a gateway 

 instead of goiug over the hedge, which the rules of Steeple- 

 chasing seem to require. It was held that it was not com- 

 petent to either party to dispute the decision of the Umpire, 

 as they had constituted him Judge of the law and the 

 fact(^). 



But it may be that the jurisdiction of the Referee has 

 not properly attached, in which case his decision will not 

 be final, and the party against whom his award has been 

 made will be entitled to recover in an action against the 

 Referee for the Stakes (r). In Sadler y. Smith, the plaintifi 

 and Kelley, watermen on the Thames, agreed to row a 

 right-away Scidler's Race, according to the recognized 

 rules of boat racing, the decision of the Referee to be 

 final. The stakes were deposited A^dth the defendant. In 



(o) See the principle stated in 

 Smith's JVIerc. Law, 112, and cited 



by Jervis, C. J., Balfey. West, 22 

 L. J., C. P. 176. 



{p) Balfe V. West, 22 L. J., C. 



P. 175 ; S. C. 1 C. L. Ecp., C. P. 

 225. 



(<l) Evans v. Trait, 4 Scott, N. Pt. 

 378. 



(r) Sadler v. Smith, 10 B. & S. 

 17; L. R., 5 Q. B. 40; 39 L. J., 

 Q. B. 17; 21 L. T.,N. S. 502; 18 

 W. R. 148— Ex. Ch. 



