76 WHAT DISEASES CONSTITUTE UNSOUNDNESS OR VICE. 



that a horse by this habit wasted the saliva which was 

 necessary to digest his food, and that the consequence was 

 a gradual emaciation. They said that they did not con- 

 sider crib-biting to be an unsoimdness, but that it might lead 

 to unsoundness ; that it was sometimes an indication of in- 

 cipient disease, and sometimes produced unsoundness where 

 it existed in any great degree. Upon this Mr. Justice 

 Burrough said, " This horse was only proved to be an in- 

 cipient crib-biter. I am quite clear that it is not included 

 in a general warranty," and the plaintiff was accordingly 

 nonsuited [x). 

 Held to be a In a later case a horse was bought warranted " sound 



™^- and free from vice," and an action was brought against the 



vendor on the ground of its being a crib-biter and ivind- 

 sucker (y). Veterinary surgeons were examined who said 

 that the habit of crib-biting was injurious to horses ; that 

 the air sucked into the stomach of the animal distended it, 

 and impaired its powers of digestion, occasionally to such 

 an extent as greatly to diminish the value of the horse, and 

 render it incapable of work. Some of the witnesses gave it 

 as their opinion that crib-biting was an unsoundness ; it was 

 not however shown that in the present instance the habit 

 of crib-biting had brought on any disease, or had, as yet, 

 interfered with the power or usefulness of the horse. 



Mr. Baron Parke told the jury, that to constitute un- 

 soundness there must either be some alteration in the 

 structure of the animal, whereby it is rendered less able to 

 perform its work, or else there must be some disease. Here 

 neither of those facts had been shown. If, however, the 

 jury thought that at the time of the warranty the horse 

 had contracted the habit of crib-biting, he thought that was 

 a vice, and that the plaintiff would be entitled to a verdict 

 on that head. The habit complained of might not indeed, 

 like some others (for instance, that of kicking (2), show vice 

 in the temper of the animal, but it was proved to be a 

 habit decidedly injurious to its health, and tending to 

 impair its usefulness, and came, therefore, in his lordship's 

 opinion, within the meaning of the term vice, as used on 

 such occasions as the present («). And in the case of Paul 

 V. HardwicJc, some of the most eminent veterinary surgeons 



(x) Broenneniurgh v. Haycock, («/) Windsucker, post. 



Holt's Eep. 630 ; 17 E. R. 682 ; and (z) Kicking, post, 



see Washburn v. Cvddihy, 8 Gray, (a) Scholefield v. Sohb, 2 M. & 



430 ; Walker 7. Eohington, 43 Vt. Eob. 210. 

 608 (American Cases). 



