WARRANTY OF HORSES. 
203 
rather worse. I have had some experience in these cases, 
having been repeatedly examined as a witness, and I have 
not been inattentive to such proceedings elsewhere, as fur- 
nished through the medium of the press. It is reasonable also 
to suppose that I may have some knowledge of the real merits 
of the subject — my professional pursuits and my experience 
will surely warrant me in saying this much — and I am fully 
convinced, after mature consideration, that the result has 
served, just as often as otherwise, only to ratify an injustice. 
I mean that the verdict has been on the side of wrong quite 
as frequently as on that of right; and what is more, that even 
where the conclusion arrived at appeared just, it has generally 
been drawn from some principles or premises which, if not 
false in themselves, bore about the same relation to the subject 
as the chops and tomato sauce” did to the “ breach of pro- 
mise” in the celebrated case of “ Bardell versus Pickwick.” 
Of course I confine this censure to those cases where the dis- 
pute has not extended beyond the question of soundness. 
When the warranty is in doubt, the case is altogether diffe- 
rent. The one is a matter of fact which may be fairly dealt 
with, the other is purely a question of science ; and hence, 
perhaps, the inability of the law to deal fairly with the sub- 
ject, and the absurdity and injustice of so many verdicts. 
Let us take an instance or two of common occurrence. A 
farmer has bred and reared a horse to be five years old. He 
has never known him to be amiss, and he is not aw are of the 
slightest defect. He has seen him fairly tried, and he feels 
assured that he is a sound horse. The animal is sold at a 
high figure to the dealer, A month elapses, and the farmer 
receives a letter informing him that the horse is not sound, 
and enclosing the certificate of some veterinary surgeon, w ho 
has probably found something he calls “ incipient spavin” in 
one or both hocks, or some disease of the feet, or something 
else that must, it is said, of necessity have existed at the time 
of sale. An extraordinary demand is made for keep and 
other expenses, and the horse is put to livery. Well, the 
matter goes on, and the farmer, satisfied of the soundness of 
his horse, and perhaps fortified in that opinion by the advice 
of others, foolishly thinks that his opponent can have no 
chance of success in a court of law r , and allow s the case to 
proceed to a trial. Miserable delusion ! Now commences 
the process which must for ever cure him of such an extrava- 
gant fancy. To his utter astonishment, witness after witness 
is produced to prove that the animal, of which he w^as so 
proud, and which he knew to be so good and prized so highly, 
is the veriest screw that was ever whipped into a trot. One 
