434 
JURISPRUDENCE. 
riving at the same conclusions in our examinations of horses as to 
soundness. 
Presuming that my hearers have sufficient anatomical and patho¬ 
logical knowledge, with the requisite tact and practical experience, to 
enable them accurately to determine by examination the existence of 
any alteration or deviation from the natural or healthy standard, and 
have judgment enough to decide to what extent that deviation may, 
then or afterwards, affect the value or usefulness of the animal, I will 
proceed to explain what should constitute unsoundness, in the legal ac¬ 
ceptation of the term, and give a synopsis of the laws of warranty in 
the British Empire and her dependencies. 
SOUNDNESS. 
Were we to adopt a definition of the term sound, as meaning an 
animal entirely free from any alteration in structure or functions, we 
would seldom, indeed, meet with a sound animal, as any slight wart or 
injury or thickening of the skin, of no consequence whatever, would 
render a valuable animal unsound, which would be absurd and unjust. 
Thus many trifling affections, such as windgalls, splints (when 
small), capped hock, pimples, etc , would prevent us from certifying the 
animal as sound ; yet they would not, in the slightest degree, interfere 
with his usefulness. 
I am well aware that what would be a trifling matter in an animal 
of a certain conformation, would be a serious affair on another animal 
of a different form. It is also a fact that a defect which would in¬ 
capacitate a horse for rapid work may be no detriment to him at slow 
work on a farm. Thus it will be seen that, if we adopt the definition 
of soundness given above, we may not only meet with a sound animal 
in a hundred, but we may often deprive our clients of animals that 
suited them admirably. 
According to Lord Ellenborough, “any infirmity that renders a 
horse less fit for present use or convenience, is an unsoundness.” The 
late William Percivall says : “ Soundness as opposed to actual or de¬ 
cided lameness (or as synonymous with good health) is a state too well 
understood to need any definition or description ; when we come, how¬ 
ever, to draw a line between soundness and lameness or their dis¬ 
tinguished form—to mark the point at which one ends and the other 
begins—we meet a difficulty, and this difficulty increases when we find 
• s 
ourselves called on to include, under our denomination of unsoundness, 
that which is likely or has a tendency to bring forth lameness, not simply 
