GG IIORSK ^\.VUKAM V, 



CIIArTER V. 



OF PURCHASE AND SAI.F. WHF.RE THERE ARE 

 PATENT DEFECTS. 



In buying and selling horses, or indeed any other 

 articles, no cause is so prolific of disagreements 

 and subsequent litigation, as bargains or contracts 

 in which the seller has shown, or the buyer should 

 have seen, paient defects in the article sold and 

 bought. Patent defects are avowed blemishes or 

 wants in the subject of contract, which are visible 

 or manifest to the naked eye. Where this has 

 been the case with regard to any article bought 

 and sold, it has always been law that " a general 

 warranty does not usually extend to defects ap- 

 parent on simple inspection, requiring no skill 

 to discover them, nor to defects known to the 

 buyer" (r/). Hence it was long ago laid down 

 in liai/i/ v. Mcrrell (/>), " To waiTant a tiling 

 that may bo perceived by sight is not good." 

 Yet, although this doctrine appears so mucji in 

 accordance with common sense and the ordinary 

 usage of every-day life, so much stress has, in 



(a) BcDJainiu on SiiloH, 2nd cd. 502. 



(b) 3 Bulstrodc, 96. 



