LAW-SUITS
,—in respect to horses, are become so common, from the frequent deceptions in BUYING and SELLING, (as well without others as with DEALERS,) that not a term passes without various litigations of this description. When the expence and anxiety attendant upon both PLAINTIFF and DEFENDANT, during the time a suit is pending; the uncertainty of its termination, which ultimately depends so much upon the effect of chance in EVIDENCE; the misrepresentation, or misconstruction, of FACTS, are all taken into consideration, it is much to be regretted, that such circumstances cannot be brought to a more friendly and less expensive conclusion. As, however, such propensity to mutual accommodation is not likely to abound amidst the complicated tempers, caprices, and versatilities, of society at large; it becomes the more necessary to avoid, as much as possible, whatever may be eventually productive of so unpleasant and unprofitable an embarkation; particularly when it is constantly seen in COURTS of LAW, to what a wonderful degree of villainy human depravity is extended, for the completion of points in which the parties are individually or collaterally interested; and perhaps in no causes whatever, so much as in those where the soundness or unsoundness of a horse is concerned.
Those who have had occasion most to frequent the Courts, best know (in fact, there are cases on record to justify and corroborate the assertion) that suits have occurred, where six witnesses swore "they saw the horse almost daily for some weeks previous to his death, and that he had the GREASE so bad he died with it;" when, to the astonishment of a crouded court, (before Mr. Justice Buller, who tried the cause,) the DEFENDANT produced an equal number of witnesses who swore, "they likewise saw the horse almost daily to the last hour of his life, and that he never had the least mark, trait, or sign of grease about him;" to corroborate which, a HUNTSMAN (making the seventh witness on that side) was produced, who swore "he stripped the horse for his hounds, and he had no mark of grease about him." The Judge remarked, "that the mass of perjury was absolutely beyond human conception on one side or the other; and so far exceeded the power of his discrimination, that he submitted it entirely to the province of the Jury," who immediately returned a verdict for the defendant.
It is much to be lamented, that every horse cause brought before a Court favours more or less of this complexion; in a perfect knowledge of which, the parties concerned strengthen their interest, and select their necessary evidence, with as much pains and eagerness as votes are solicited at an election: and it is not at all uncommon to have a body of evidence produced to SWEAR a horse "dead lame" on one side, and a much greater number to prove him PERFECTLY SOUND on the other. In such a glorious uncertainty of the LAW, what reflecting man can indulge a sufficient hope of success, to encounter a load of mental disquietude during the process, with the additional expence of thrice the VALUE of the object in dispute?