242 ESSENTIALS OF VETERINARY LAW 
had other animals.** (§§ 13,112.) Where the price 
and charges for delivery were paid, but no deliv- 
ery was made, it was held that the purchaser 
could recover the money paid, and the death of the 
animal after the time for delivery was no de- 
fense.*® 
The general rule as to unsoundness, at present 
accepted, in spite of some few decisions to the 
contrary in the past, is that laid down by Lord 
Ellenborough: ‘‘To constitute unsoundness, it 
is not essential that the infirmity should be of a 
permanent nature; it is sufficient if it render the 
animal for the time unfit for service, as, for in- 
stance, a cough, which for the present renders it 
less useful, and may ultimately prove fatal. Any 
infirmity which renders a horse less fit for present 
use and convenience is an unsoundness.’’ *¢ 
194, Illustrative Cases of Unsoundness. Fraud 
and deceit are not countenanced by law. An act 
done in order to hide a defect, and make its detec- 
tion less likely, is fraudulent in character. A 
“‘nerved’’ horse is particularly unsound, not only 
because of the foot disease which is thus covered 
up, but because the cutting of the nerve in the leg 
is performed in order that the animal may not 
show tenderness of the foot when it exists.37 Bone 
spavin, even when not accompanied with lame- 
ness, is unsoundness.** Crib biting may be only 
34Sherrod v. Langdon, 21 37 Best v. Osborne, Ry. & 
Towa 518; Packard v. Slack, Mo. 290. 
32 Vt. 9. 38 Watson v. Denton, 7 C. & 
35 Winn v. Morris, 94 Ga. P. 85, Hoffman v. Oates, 77 
452, Ga. 701. 
36 Elton v. Jordan, 1 Stark. 
127; Elton v. Brogden, 4 Camp. 
281. 
