48 GENERAL, EXPRESS, AND IMPLIED WARRANTIES. 



a warranty, but Lord Ardmillan was of the contrary' 

 opinion, (a) 



One who sends animals to a pubhc market for sale does 

 not impliedly represent that they are free from contagious 

 disease dangerous to animal life ; and will not, when they 

 are sold " with all faults," be liable in an action either for 

 breach of warranty or for false representation. The mere act 

 of sending infected animals to market, although an offence 

 aofainst the Contas^ious Diseases Animals Act, does not 

 amount to a representation by conduct on the vendor's part, 

 that the animals are in fact free from disease. (6) 



39. General, express, and implied Warranties. — A general 

 warranty, as a rule, applies to a horse being sound, in the 

 sense of its being fit for immediate work.(c) A general 

 warranty of soundness, however, does not cover patent 

 defects — i.e., defects which are so obvious that the 

 buyer cannot help observing them ; but a buyer who 

 knows of the defect cannot sue the seller on the war- 

 ranty. (cZ) On the other hand, a buyer who relies on the 

 warranty, and omits to make a minute examination, is pro- 

 tected against defects which, though not apparent, might 

 have been detected, (e) In other words : " The patent defects 

 which the warranty does not cover, and to which the doctrine 

 of caveat emptor applies, must be so manifest and palpable 

 as to be necessarily within the knowledge of the pur- 

 chaser, and also such defects as at the time of sale 

 either are or will inevitably produce an unsoundness.(/) 

 Whether a defect is patent or not is purely a jury question." 



(a) See a case where a conversation prior to sale was construed as not amount- 

 ing to a warranty, Robeson v. Wauyh, 1874, 2 E. 63. 



(b) Ward V. Ilohbs, 1878, L.R. 4 App. Ca. 13. 



(c) Ralston v. Robb, 1808 ; M. v. Sale, App. 6. 

 (rf) § 46. 



(e) Marijctson v. Wriglit, 1831, 5 M. and P. 606 (Crib-biting and Splint) ; 

 Eolyday v. Morgan, 1858, 28 L.J., Q.B. 9 (Shortsight) ; Siuith v. 0' Bryan, 

 1864, 11 L.T., N.S. 346 (Splint). 



(/) Oliphant, 136. 



