16 ESSENTIALS OF VETERINARY LAW 



judgment. In official life, ministerial duties are 

 exactly prescribed by law; and the officer or em- 

 ployee must do all that the law says, in the way 

 that it demands, and no more. In discretionary 

 positions the officer must decide his own course of 

 action to no small degree. When a veterinary sur- 

 geon is engaged to look after the condition of 

 stock which a man is about to buy, it is to be 

 presumed that it is because the employer desires 

 the professional judgment of the veterinarian. 

 Having employed this veterinarian it would not 

 be a fair deal for the surgeon to send someone 

 else in his place (unless the substitution were 

 previously agreed upon with the employer), and if 

 such a substitute be sent the employer would not 

 be liable for the payment of the substitute. He 

 would not be liable for the fee of the man em- 

 ployed, for the man employed did not, in the case 

 supposed, perform the duty imposed in the con- 

 tract. He would not be obligated to the substi- 

 tute for he had no contract, either expressed or 

 implied, with him. So where a physician was 

 employed to treat the sick of the community, he 

 could not collect for the services of a substitute, 

 nor could the substitute collect directly.^* It fol- 

 lows also that an officer whose duties require the 

 use of judgment cannot leave the performance of 

 them to a substituted^ Where the duties are pure- 

 ly ministerial, like the writing of a license, the 

 duties may be performed by another. 



24 Chapman v. Muskegon Co.. 25 Public Health, 328, 272. 

 169 Mich. 10, 134 N. W. 1025 ; 

 Hickman v. McMorris, 149 Ky. 

 1, 147 S. W. 768. 



