76 
DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 
they do not interfere with the action of the fetlock, or cause lameness, 
except when they are numerous or large. They constitute unsoundness 
only when they cause lameness, or are so large and numerous as to ren- 
der it likely that they will cause it. 
In the purchase of a horse, the buyer usually receives, embodied in 
the receipt, what is termed a warranty. It should be thus expressed : 
“ Received of A B two hundred dollars for a gray mare, warranted only five 
vears old, sound, free from vice, and quiet to ride or drive. 
" “$200. “CD" 
A receipt including merely the word “ warranted” extends only to 
soundness; “warranted sound” goes no farther; the age, freedom from 
vice, and quietness to ride and drive, should be especially named. This 
warranty comprises every cause of unsoundness that can be detected, or 
that lurks in the constitution at the time of sale, and to every vicious 
habit that the animal has hitherto shown. To establish a breach of 
warranty, and to be enabled to tender a return of the horse and recover 
the difference of price, the purchaser must prove that it was unsound 
or viciously disposed at the time of sale. In case of cough, the horse 
must have been heard to cough immediately after the purchase, or as 
he was led home, or as soon as he had entered the stable of the pur- 
chaser. Coughing, even on the following morning, will not be sufficient ; 
for it is possible that he might have caught cold by change of stabling. 
If he is lame, it must be proved to arise from a cause that existed be- 
fore the animal was in the purchaser’s possession. No price will imply 
a warranty, or be equivalent to one ; there must be an express warranty. 
A fraud must be proved in the seller, in order that the buyer may be 
enabled to return the horse or maintain an action for the price. The 
warranty should be given at the time of sale. A warranty, or a promise 
to warrant the horse given at any period antecedent to the sale, is invalid, 
for horse-flesh is a very perishable commodity, and the constitution and 
usefulness of the animal may undergo a considerable change in the 
space of a few days. A warranty after the sale is invalid, for it is given 
without any legal consideration. In order to complete the purchase, 
there must be a transfer of the animal, or a memorandum of agreement, 
or the payment of the earnest-money. The least sum will suffice for 
earnest. No verbal promise to buy or to sell is binding without one of 
these. The moment either of these is effected, the legal transfer of prop- 
erty or delivery is made, and, whatever may happen to the horse, the 
seller retains, or is entitled to the money. If the purchaser exercises 
any act of ownership, by using the animal without leave of the vender, 
or by having any operation performed, or any medicine given to him, he 
makes him his own. The warranty of a servant is considered to be 
binding on the master. 
If the horse should be afterward discovered to have been unsound at 
the time of warranty, the buyer may tender a return of it, and, if it be 
not taken back, may bring his action for the price ; but the seller is not 
bound to rescind the contract, unless he has agreed so to do. 
Although there is no legal compulsion to give immediate notice to the 
seller of the discovered unsoundness, it will he better to have it done. 
