HORSE CAUSE IN LOWER CANADA. 335 
how long the said horse was affected before the period of the 
said sale, and if, in the opinion of the said expert, this malady 
is that known to the law under the name of courbature, or if it 
is that known as curb ; if the said malady be incurable, and if 
it be one of those considered as concealed maladies, and which 
the plaintiff might not have been able to perceive when he 
bought the said horse ; of which and all which he shall make 
report with diligence/’ 
“ By the Court, & c. &c.” 
It appears that some months before this, Pleau had bought 
the horse in question from Demers, — Demers verbally warrant- 
ing it to be sound ; that Pleau only saw the horse once in mo- 
tion, as Demers drove it through the street of Three Rivers ; 
that he bought it the same night, examining it only by the 
light of a lantern in the stable, paying for it and taking it 
home. Pleau went to the stable in the morning to look at his 
new purchase, and found it lying down, and much to Pleau’s 
dismay up it could not get without the assistance of several 
men ; and in this very unpleasant predicament the animal con- 
tinued up to the time I saw it, Pleau being in the equally un- 
pleasant predicament of having £25 good and lawful money 
taken from his pocket and placed in that of Demers, and a horse 
in his stable that wanted more help to get up in the morning 
than a dissipated lady of fashion. Pleau, however, is a man of 
pluck, and, if there be law in the land, he is determined to get 
rid of his bad bargain. He flies to his lawyer, and straightway 
Demers receives a billet-doux, in which he is politely requested 
to hand back the money and take back his screw. Demers flies 
to his lawyer, and as politely declines. Pleau then serves him 
with a writ in an action of redhibition ; and the two attorneys, 
with Pleau and Demers as backers, set the battle in array. 
The plaintiff declares that the animal is affected with la courba- 
ture ; the defendant denies it; the Court, learned in all law 
but not in horse-flesh, feels itself unable to decide, and appoints 
an expert. Accordingly, I, the expert named, repaired to 
Three Rivers ; and on the 5th of November saw and examined 
the horse, and rendered to the Court a report, of which the fol- 
lowing is the substance : — 
“ 1 found the said horse to be affected in the knee joints of 
both fore legs, and the hock joints of both hind legs, with that 
disease of the bones which is scientifically denominated “exos- 
tosis,” — popularly, in English, known as “ splint” on the fore 
legs, and “ spavin” on the hind legs, and which 1 believe to be 
popularly known in France as li un suros,” which is certainly 
a courbature ; — and which disease, being of slow growth, I have 
