LAMENESS. 
425 
ness he may discover, as well as into its positive or probable effect 
on the action or capabilities of the animal, both present and to come. 
This leads us, before we close the subject, to say a few words on 
WARRANTY; by which is meant an indemnity against any un- 
soundness, or a pledge given — commonly in writing — by the vender 
to the purchaser, that the horse is sound and quiet, and possesses 
such and such qualifications. Without such indemnification or 
pledge, the law says caveat emptor — let the purchaser take the 
consequences. The rule at law being, that every body who pur- 
chases a horse takes him at his own judgment, and has no remedy 
against the seller, supposing the horse to turn out upon a future 
trial or a more considerate inspection after the purchase, to be 
worth less than the sum given ; unless he (the purchaser) can 
prove he was induced to purchase by representations false within 
the knowledge of the seller ; to fasten a fraud of which nature 
upon an experienced dealer in horses is, however, a difficult matter*. 
Warranties are of different kinds — express or implied, general or 
special. An express warranty speaks for itself. And as for an 
implied warranty, such a thing is hardly known, or, at least* rarely 
taken advantage of in horse -dealing , the price paid, however high, 
not being legally held to be any guarantee of the soundness of the 
animal ; and any thing that might transpire between seller and 
buyer, implying warranty, being worth nothing without proof, 
which, being procured, would render the transaction, in law, tan- 
tamount to an express warranty. A general warranty extends 
to all defects and faults known and unknown to the seller; but 
a special warranty is confined in its operation to the parts or 
particulars specifically pointed out. A horse may be warranted 
of such an age ; or, having some defect visible upon his limbs, 
such as a spavin, or a curb, or a fired leg, of which he does not 
go lame at the time, that defect may be specified, and the horse 
warranted not (within any reasonable or prescribed period) to 
become lame in consequence of it. A general warranty, however, 
affords no protection against such defects as are “ plain and obvi- 
ous” to every body, and, consequently, to the purchaser ; no more 
than a special warranty does against any which are not included 
or named in the specification. “ But if on the sale of a horse the 
seller agree to deliver it sound and free from blemish at the ex- 
piration of a specified period, the warranty is broken by a fault 
in the horse when delivered, although such defect was obvious at 
the time of sale ; and as some splints cause lameness and others 
do not, a splint is not one of those plain defects against which a 
warranty will not indemnify ; and when a seller warrants a horse 
Tomlin’s Popular Law Dictionary, 1838. 
