78 



WHAT DISEASES CONSTITUTE UNSOUNDNESS OR VICE. 



Cutting. 



Held not to 

 be an unsound- 

 ness. 



Dropsy of the 

 skin. 



Lord Abinger, C.B., told the jury, " that a defect in the 

 form of the horse, which had not occasioned lameness at 

 the time of the sale, although it might render the animal 

 more liable to become lame at some future time, was no 

 breach of the warranty." And, on a motion for a new 

 trial, the Court of Exchequer refused a rule, Mr. Baron 

 Alderson saying, " Dickenson v. Folhtt (d) is expressly in 

 point for the defendant, and the law as laid down by me on 

 that occasion has not been questioned in any subsequent 

 case " (e). 



Cutting, like speedy cut, arises from badness of structure, 

 and being neither a disease nor a bad habit, cannot be pro- 

 nounced a breach of a warranty of soundness and freedom 

 from vice ; and although it may be a greater detriment to 

 the horse than some kinds of unsoundness or vice, yet, if 

 the wounds occasioned by it did not actually exist at the 

 time of sale, the purchaser has no legal remedy against the 

 buyer. This is a case to which the legal maxim caveat 

 emptor particularly applies ; the purchaser should examine 

 the horse, and if there appear any probability of cutting a 

 special warranty should be taken against it. It is always 

 a great annoyance, and the effects produced by it are some- 

 times most serious. Many horses go lame for a consider- 

 able period after cutting themselves severely ; and others 

 have dropped from sudden agony and endangered them- 

 selves and their riders. Cutting renders a horse liable to 

 serious injury of the legs, and indicates that he is either 

 weak or has an awkwardness of gait inconsistent with 

 safety (/). 



In the only decided case on the subject, it was held that 

 mere badness of shape, though rendering the horse incapable 

 of work, is not unsoundness. It appeared that at the time 

 of sale there existed neither lameness nor wound. And 

 Mr. Justice Alderson said, "The horse could not be con- 

 sidered unsound in law merely from badness of shape. As 

 long as he was uninjured he must be considered sound. 

 Where the injimj is produced by the badness of his action, 

 that injur)' constitutes the unsoundness " (g). 



There are two kinds of dropsy, which must both be con- 

 sidered ; namely, drops]/ of the skin and droj>sy of the heart. 

 Dropsical swellings often appear between the forelegs and 



(d) Dickenson v. Follett, 1 M. & 

 Eob. 299 ; and see Cutting, post. 



(«) Brown v. Elkington, 8 M. & 

 W. 132. 



(/) Lib. U. K.. "The Horse," 

 363, and App., Ed. 1862, p. .523. 



(17) Dickenson v. Follett, 1 M. & 

 Eob. 299. 



