46 SOUNDNESS IN HOESES. 



splint to which the evidence related, appear to us to 

 have intended that this individual splint, though it did 

 not at the moment produce lameness, was, at the time of 

 contract, of that sort, and in that situation, as to contain, 

 in their language, the seeds of unsoundness, that is, 

 the efficient cause of the subsequent lameness. If the 

 lameness complained of had proceeded from a new or 

 different splint, or from the old splint taking a new 

 direction in its growth, so as to affect a sinew, not 

 having been on one before, such a lameness would not 

 have been within the warranty ; for it would not have 

 constituted a present unsoundness at the time of the 

 warranty made. But the jury find that the very splint 

 in question is the efficient cause of lameness. 



" On the former motion, our attention was not called 

 to any evidence, if any such was given, as to the 

 different nature and consequences of splints, which the 

 learned Judge reports to have been given upon the 

 present occasion ; but it now appears that some splints 

 cause lameness, and others do not, and that the con- 

 sequences of a splint cannot be apparent at the time, 

 like those of the loss of an eye, or any other blemish or 

 defect visible to a common observer. We, therefore, 

 think that, by the terms of their written warranty, the 

 parties meant that there was not at that time, a splint 

 which would be the cause of future lameness, and that 

 the jury have found that it was. 



