•'^G IIORST: M'VKRANTY. 



Colonel Ivingsootc, in his oviJcnco (///), says a com- 

 mon "warranty from llnrncastlo fair lasts twenty- 

 eight days, and with other witnesses, spoko strongly 

 against the system of warranty ; but it is not the 

 warranty, it is more often the system of trying 

 the waiTanty which is in fault. The breeder 

 gives the warranty to get a good price, and very 

 often the horse is sound ; but juries are utterly 

 imfit to try that question. To try the fact, 

 was there a warranty given or not, cannot bo 

 done so well by any tribunal as by a jury. And 

 so with every simple question of fact ; but, fre- 

 quently, a horse case is a question of soimdness 

 or unsoundness, and is very technical, full of 

 scientific evidence, and is no more fit to go to a 

 jury than a patent case. Still, until cases of this 

 kind can be tried by a judge or by assessors who 

 know something about the business, fanners should 

 hesitate in giving wan-antics, unless for very 

 limited periods, such as eight days. There is no 

 necessity to do so. Caj)tain Slack, in his evidence 

 before the same Committee {)i)y says that when 

 dealers buy horses at a fair in Ireland, they nro 

 never warranted sound by the breeders, and the 

 following extract from the evidence of ^[r. V. 

 Sheils, a large general dealer in horses, is material 

 on the subject. The questioner is liord Kcstcvcn, 



(m) Blue Book, p. 183. (>i) Blue Book, p. 104. 



