ACTIONS AT LAW. 217 



ALLEGATION AS TO AGE IN SALE CATALOGUE — ABSENCE 

 OF INTENTIONAL MISREPRESENTATION — ALLEGED BREACH 

 OF WARRANTY. 



At the Newcastle-on-T5n.ie County Court, Judge Brad- 

 shaw, in delivering judgment in an action for breach of 

 warranty of a horse, said : " I reserved my judgment 

 in this case for further consideration, not that I ever 

 had any doubts as to what my decision must be, but 

 because the principle involved undoubtedly has an im- 

 portance extending far beyond the present case, for it 

 affects the sale of many hundreds of horses in the course 

 of the year in Newcastle alone ; and, also, because I wished 

 to see if I could find any authority for Mr. Joel's proposition 

 that a representation in the catalogue of sale by auction 

 — a description of a horse in such a catalogue — if read out 

 by the auctioneer at the time of the sale, constitutes a 

 warranty of the horse in respect of the matters therein 

 represented or described. The facts, so far as they are 

 material, are simple enough. The plaintiff sent a horse to 

 Messrs. King and Gillespie's establishment for sale in the 

 usual way at one of their regular auctions. The auctioneer 

 was Mr. John RiddeU. The horse was numbered in the 

 catalogue of sale Lot 22. The conditions of sale and the 

 catalogue were put in. Lot 22 is thus described : ' Cream- 

 coloured cob, seven years old, about 14.2 hands high ; 

 quiet to ride and drive, up to a heavy weight. Subject to 

 V.S. examination prior to sale.' Lot 22 was knocked down 

 to the defendant, who gave a cheque for the price, and 

 removed the cob. 



" The cheque was stopped before payment, and the cob 

 was returned to Messrs. Gillespie's yard on the second day 

 after the sale on the ground that it did not answer the 

 warranty given at the time of the sale, the defendant 



