296 



approaching disease or infirmity, as to incapacitate 

 him for the safe performance of all reasonable 

 work, of a character for which he is avowedly 

 purchased. If a jury is satisfied that any defect 

 or disease existed at the sale, or any symptom of 

 approaching infirmity or disease, that would inca- 

 pacitate him for his accustomed labour, their ver^ 

 diet should be unsoundness. 



Mr. Sewell, who has added largely to the obliga- 

 tions which I have already expressed to him in 

 my former editions, has suggested to me a means of 

 preventing litigation on the question of soundness, 

 which I think, well deserves the consideration of 

 influential men in the sporting world. It is now 

 settled in the case of blood stock, that their age 

 shall be dated from the 1 st of Januar3-\ This very 

 convenient arrangement has been effected by the 

 influence of the Jockey Club, and is recognized in 

 courts of law. Why cannot the same authority 

 be exerted to settle the form and construction of a 

 general warranty ? The difficulty appears to be, to 

 make the undertaking at once so general as to en- 

 sure due protection to the purchaser, and so specific 

 as not to subject the seller to speculative construc- 

 tion of its meaning : but I think this difficulty is 

 not insurmountable. A warranty as now under- 

 stood, protects against all defects known or un- 



