LESSOR MUST WARRANT THE USE OF HORSE HIRED. 93 



provide carriages for the public to travel in ; but, in my 

 opinion, he is bound to take as much care as they, and 

 although not an insurer against all defects, he is an insurer 

 ag^ainst all defects which care and skill can oruard asrainst. 

 His duty appears to me to be to supply a carriage as fit for 

 the purpose for which it is hired as care and skill can render 

 it ; and if, whilst the carriage is being properly used for such 

 a purpose, it breaks down, it becomes incumbent on the 

 person Avho has let it out to show that the break down was 

 in the proper sense of the word an accident, and not pre- 

 ventible by any care and skill." (a) 



If the horse hired be a particular one and it accidentally 

 die, the lessor is thereby discharged ; and if it become tem- 

 porarily useless by no fault of his own, the lessee can either 

 abandon the contract or claim an abatement of the hire. 

 But when the horse hired is an indefinite animal, as in 

 jobbing out horses, the accidental death of the horse does 

 not free the lessor ; nor, when so many horses are hired out, 

 does the accidental death of one discharge his obliga- 

 tion. (6) 



69. The Lessor must Warrant the Use of the Horse 

 Hired. — Under a contract of hiring the lessor is bound to 

 warrant the use of the horse hired. Therefore, a lessee has 

 a claim of damages for eviction if he is deprived of the 

 use of it.(c) A lessor is also bound to maintain the subject 

 hired free from faults and defects, and fit for the purpose 

 for which it is hired. Thus, where a vehicle is hired, the 

 lessor is bound to pay for all repairs except ordinary tear 

 and wear, or such damage as is the result of the lessee's 

 fault,(f?) and the lessee has the burden of showing that damage 



(«) Hyman v. Nije, 18S1, L.K. 6 Q.B.D. 685. See also Christie v. Grirjgsy 

 1809, 2 Coup. 79. 



(6) B. Pr. § 141. 



(c) The same principles regulate damages for eviction in hiring as in sale, see 

 §13. 



(rf) Sutton V. Temple, 1843, 12 M. and W. 52, 60. 



