220 
SALE AND WARRANTY OF HORSES. 
lities. We therefore conceive, that an occasional purchaser 
would often, by a very slight acquaintance w'ith the first prin¬ 
ciples of the law of sales and warranties, be not only delivered 
from much anxiety in negotiating this awfully delicate bargain, 
but he also, in many instances, w r ould escape the misery of being 
driven to contend for his rights in the dreaded arena of a court of 
justice. Our observations on warranty shall be preceded by a 
cursory survey of the general contract of sale itself, in the course 
of which we shall select for our more particular notice, out of the 
multitude of rules by which this contract is more or less directly 
governed, a few that are marked by some degree either of difficulty 
or peculiarity in their application to our subject matter, and a 
few others of primary importance, though not similarly distin¬ 
guished ; being compelled to a selection of some sort, by the ob¬ 
vious impossibility of even alluding, in the compass of a few 
pages, to a hundredth part of the incidents which ought to be 
treated of in a regular dissertation on this subject.” 
“ A sale is defined by Blackstone to be 1 a transmutation of 
property from one man to another, in consideration of some price 
or recompense in value.’ But the terms of this definition, as the 
celebrated commentator immediately subjoins, are evidently too 
comprehensive, as they embrace the case of an exchange as well. 
A transmutation of property for a pecuniary consideration seems, 
therefore, to be the proper definition of a sale. It is a transmu¬ 
tation of the right of property in goods, let it be remarked, as 
contradistinguished from the mere light of possession. 
“ To enable society to enforce the obligations resulting from 
such an engagement, some satisfactory remarks are obviously re¬ 
quisite, of the mutual consent of the contracting parties having 
existed in a serious and deliberate form. By the Statute of Frauds 
it is enacted, ‘ that no contract for the sale of any goods, 
wares, or merchandize, for the price of £10 or upwards, shall 
be allowed to be good, except the buyer shall accept part of the 
goods so sold, and actually receive the same, or give something 
in earnest to bind the bargain or in part of payment; or that 
some note or memorandum, in writing, of the said bargain be 
made and signed by the parties to be charged by such contract, 
or their agents thereunto lawfully authorised.’ ” 
In regard to Delivery and Acceptance , 
u It is necessary to observe that a manual transfer or actual 
delivery and acceptance is not in every case essential; lor the law 
will often, from certain acts, imply a delivery to satisfy the sta¬ 
tute. In a case, e. g\, where the plaintiff, w ho kept a livery stable 
and dealt in horses, was in treaty with the defendant lor the sale 
