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ENGLISH TURF LAWSUIT Action to Eecover Purchase Price of Yearling Fails in London William Allison Discusses Precedents and andLegalRulings LegalRulings Applying to Purchases at atAuction Auction In Connection With Case Considerable interest was aroused in Eng ¬ lish racing and breeding circles by the recent lawsuit of James White against Lady Mark Sykes proprietor of the famous Sledmere Stud to recover 50000 paid for Noblesse Oblige at the yearling sales of 1920 on the ground that the colt had a hip down As the defect was obvious at thetime of the pur ¬ chase and there was no warranty given the court rendered a verdict for the defendant and assessed Mr White for the costs of the action William Allison the special com ¬ missioner of the London Sportsman makes the following observations in connection with the suit suitIt It is not easy to comment on a law case when you know both the parties and dont want to annoy either bub I must say that it is surprising that such a case as that of James White against Lady Sykes should ever have been brought into court Mr AVhite admitted that this was due to mo ¬ mentary anger on his part or words to that effect but it is just the sort of impulse we should subdue when we see a law case in the offing offingNO NO JIISDESCRIPTION IN CATALOG CATALOGNobody Nobody except lawyers could possibly benefit by sucli a case The thing is so absolutely simple The maxim of Caveat Emptor applies to all auction sales where there is no misdescription in the catalog and the idea that you should be entitled to return a colt you have trained and raced for two years because he had a hip down when you bought him by auction as a year ¬ ling is sheer madness madnessThere There is no warranty whatever at an auc ¬ tion sale except that the lot is what it is described as being A hunter must be capa ¬ ble of being ridden to hounds quiet to ride and drive must be correct and I once knew a case when a mare was described as a brood mare and so bought She turned out to have been so badly torn in foaling that she could not possibly breed again Clearly the description of her as a brood mare was wroong wroongShe She was sent up to Albert Gate and sold as a mare the original seller refunding whatever was the difference in price An Irishman bought her and was incensed when he found out the trouble but he of course had no valid claim for redress redressThe The strangest feature of this recent case is that Noblesse Oblige should have been bought as a yearling for such a price with ¬ out any notice being taken of his patent de ¬ fect I saw it myself and so did most peo ¬ ple who had occasion to look at him at all carefully but as there had been good win ¬ ners with a hip down one thought the trou ¬ ble in this case was simply disregarded disregardedKOYAL KOYAL HA3IPTOX NOT BADLY HAMPER HAMPERRoyal Royal Hampton was mentioned in this connection but the witnesses do not seem to have recalled that he ran third for the Derby I have often written that he might have made a fourth Derby winner by Hamp ¬ ton had his hip been all right but it is clear that he cannot have been seriously Inconvenienced InconveniencedTho Tho Sledmere people may be said to have laid themselves open to future claims when they did not fight to a finish over the case brought against them some years ago by the late Sir William Nelson because his highpriced purchase turned out wrong in his wind Sir William having bought by auc ¬ tion had no claim at all against the sellers The yearlings are sold without reserve and the fullest inspection is always allowed but on that occasion after the law had been invoked and of course everyone hates law the weak policy of giving Sir William an ¬ other yearling was adopted adoptedIt It never should have been for whatever you may decide to do as a matter of friendly arrangement in private you should be as hard as flint when unreasonably attacked by legal process processIt It is common enough after a yearling has suffered a recent accident to announce at the sale that it may be returned if not sound within a certain time John oGaunt was damaged in arriving as a yearling at Doncaster and Sir Tatton Sykes departing from his rule of no reserves put a 15000 reserve on him and authorized Mr Tattcr sall to announce the reason Sir John Thurs by bought the colt at that reserve reserveDEFEAT DEFEAT WAS PATENT PATENTSuch Such cases however differ absolutely from that of Noblesse Oblige whose defect was of old standing and was or ought to have been patent to all knowledgable beholders beholdersAs As to implied warranties in auction sales except that the lot is as described in the catalog there can be no possible claim which is not ridiculous The man who buys a 250 yearling would have just as good a claim as he who buys one for 50000 were it otherwise and rather more so for it is reasonable to suppose that the man who spends 50000 takes more precaution before doing so soI I hope I am on friendly relations with all buyers and sellers of bloodstock and I can say with the fullest regard to the interests of the former class Never go to law over what you have bought by auction unless it is wrongly described in the catalog I am a lawyer myself though rusty on recent quillets of the law but on this point the law holds good always and as to warranty Mr Jorrocks as we know refused indig ¬ nantly to warrant that a horse was a horse let alone sound soundI I sometimes wish that I were in this or that horse case in law courts It would be so easy to point out the nonsense of the various contentions and I am quite sure that if James Whites case against Lady Sykes had been sent as a case for my opinion the action would never have been brought sup ¬ posing of course he acted on that opinion
