[List-Cumbria] Carlisle Patriot, 17 Aug 1816 - York Assizes

[Petra Mitchinson]

Saturday 17 Aug 1816   (p. 4, col. 3-4)

 

LAW INTELLIGENCE. 

  

YORK ASSIZES. 

 

SHILLETO v. CLARIDGE.-Mr. RAINE said, that this was an action to recover the value of a mare sold, under warranty of soundness,
which the defendant refused to take back, and an allowance for the expenses of her keeping from that time to the present. After
expressing his confidence in the strength of the case he had to submit to the Jury, Mr. RAINE proceeded to state the particulars of
the transaction: he said, that the plaintiff, Mr. SHILLETO, who is a gentleman residing at Ulleskelf, near Tadcaster, had seen a
most captivating advertisement in the York Herald, of a horse to be sold at Jerveaux Abbey, which from the description given of it,
the plaintiff thought would be very likely to suit him. He accordingly proceeded thither, for the purpose of looking at this horse,
but not willing to rely on his own judgment, he took with him the Rev. B. MARRIOTT, and a person of the name of Thomas BRIGGS, a
skilful horse-dealer, on whose opinion he placed still greater reliance. The defendant, Mr. CLARIDGE, is steward to the Earl of
Egremont, and agent to several other gentlemen, and is himself a gentleman of great respectability, and of considerable fortune,
residing at Jerveaux Abbey, which he had very much beautified. The defendant was very fond of horses, a pursuit which he has had the
good fortune to render profitable as well as pleasurable, and for which he (Mr. R.) did not in the least blame him. Indeed it would
ill become him do it, who was so fond of the same pursuit himself. When they arrived at Jerveaux Abbey, they found that the mare
they came to see, was not at all likely to suit Mr. SHILLETO, being much too light for his riding "for my friend, Mr. SHILLETO,
(continued Mr. RAINE) does not ride a feather." The gentlemen being invited to take refreshment, and see the curiosities of the
place, Thomas BRIGGS, who preferred the sinews of a horse to all the antiquities of the kingdom, looked into the stables among the
horses, where he saw a mare, which from her appearance, he thought was extremely likely to suit Mr. SHILLETO-it was proposed to Mr.
CLARIDGE to let BRIGGS try her paces, to which he consented, and the result was, that the mare was so well liked, that after some
treaty she was purchased by Mr. SHILLETO, for the sum of seventy guineas, which was certainly the price first asked by Mr. CLARIDGE,
under a warranty of soundness in every respect. The proposal to purchase came from Mr. SHILLETO. It was observed that the mare had
been blooded, and Mr. CLARIDGE's groom stated, that the mare had got a little cold two days before at Thirsk; the mare having been
heard to cough. Mr. CLARIDGE said, he had used the mare only in harness, and that she had not been used on the road. Mr. RAINE then
proceeded to state that the cough continued, though every care was taken of her that was possible, in keeping her warm, in giving
her warm mashes of lineseed, &c. which diet was continued until Sunday the 3rd of December, when hard corn was given her, which was
continued to Wednesday 6th December, when Mr. SHILLETO ordered BRIGGS to shew her to the hounds, but by no means ride her hard or
distress her; but if the hounds went away, he was to return, and by no means to go with them. These instructions, Mr. RAINE said,
BRIGGS had carefully followed, and that he had rode the mare with the utmost caution and gentleness, the whole of the day; and that
he had never galloped her, or put her out at all; except putting her on a canter for about 200 yards, to shew Mr. Fenton SCOTT her
paces. 

 

The facts of the purchase of the mare, the warranty, and the subsequent unsoundness, were not disputed by the defendant, and upon
these points the evidence was admitted to be conclusive. The only point on which there was any difference of opinion as to the
facts, related to what took place on the 6th of December; and the only very material witness was BRIGG, whose evidence bore out the
statement of the proceedings made by Mr. RAINE, supposing it to be an accurate statement of what took place. 

 

Mr. WILLIAMS, after complimenting both the plaintiff and the defendant on the liberal conduct they had adopted towards each other in
this cause, entered into a review of the evidence adduced to make out the case of the plaintiff; and his observations were
particularly directed to discredit BRIGGS, as to his conduct at the fox chase. He dwelt with much humour on the improbability that
BRIGGS, fond of the sport and mounted on a mare he was eager of displaying, should remain a passive spectator of the animating
scene, and should be content to follow the hounds at an humble distance, in a dog trot. This he was sure was too improbable a story
to obtain credit with the jury. The fair presumption was, that he had ridden the mare freely, and which hard riding under all the
circumstances of the case-her having a cold-being recently taken from soft food-being totally unaccustomed to be ridden, having been
used only in harness, and all this on a cold winter's day-was quite sufficient to convert a trifling cold, an insignificant ailment,
into a permanent unsoundness. 

 

Barnard DICKINSON, a servant, and -- WHITELOCK, the groom of Mr. CLARIDGE, stated, that with the exception of a very slight cold in
the winter of 1813, which soon disappeared, the mare in question had enjoyed an excellent state of health from June, 1814, to within
two days of the sale of her to Mr. SHILLETO, when she had a common cold and a little cough, caught by sleeping in a strange stable
at Thirsk. 

 

Mr. Baron WOOD recapitulated the evidence with great particularity. He stated the law to be this, that in case of warranty, if there
existed any cold or cough, or any cause, which should ultimately terminate in permanent unsoundness, it was breach of the warranty,
and the purchaser had a right to return; except the purchaser should, by improper treatment, convert what would otherwise be a
temporary ailment, into an incurable malady. 

 

The Jury retired at six o'clock in the evening, and remained locked up all night. About ten o'clock the following morning they came
into Court to deliver the verdict; on the usual enquiry being made, if they were agreed in their verdict one of the Jury expressed
his dissent which induced Baron WOOD to put the question to them individually; the first six replied in the affirmative, but the
seventh said he was undecided; in consequence of this, the Jury were sent out of Court again, and remained out half an hour; on
their return, they said they were agreed in their verdict, which they found for the defendant. We understand that nine of the Jurors
were of opinion that there ought to have been a verdict for the plaintiff; but that the unconquerable firmness of the minority
obtained the victory, and starved the majority into surrender. We believe there is no instance in the annals of these Assizes of a
Jury having been so long locked up. The trial begun at nine o'clock on Monday morning, and the verdict was delivered at eleven the
following day, during which period, the Jury had never been out of Court, except in their own room. The plaintiff and defendant
cordially shook hands in Court, as soon as the Jury retired to consider their verdict, and this decision is to be final. 

 

 

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