Analizie i interpretacji poddane zostały źródła prawa dotyczące odpowiedzialności za wady fizyczne zwierząt w prawie francuskim przedrewolucyjnym i XIX-wiecznym – w tym lokalne prawa zwyczajowe, droit commun oraz późniejsze akty normatywne – jak również piśmiennictwo z zakresu nauk weterynaryjnych. Wykazano, że lokalne prawa zwyczajowe dotyczące rękojmi za wady główne wybranych gatunków zwierząt (przede wszystkim koni, a także innych zwierząt koniowatych, bydła, owiec) istniały na obszarze całej Francji i były uwzględniane też w ramach tzw. pays de droit écrit. Uprawnienia kupujących były nieproporcjonalnie ograniczone, przede wszystkim przez istnienie katalogu wad, krótkich terminów, wyłączenie możliwości obniżenia ceny i limitowanie redhibicji. Wyróżniano jedynie kilka wad ukrytych, których nazwy i zakres, a także reguły temporalne były nieracjonalne, anachroniczne i niezgodne ze stanem wiedzy lekarsko-weterynaryjnej. Regulacje te były stosowane (contra legem) w praktyce sądowniczej po wejściu w życie kodeksu Napoleona, a następnie zostały – niemalże bez zmiany – przejęte przez późniejsze ustawodawstwo.

Veterinary professional practice can be performed in many forms, including expert activity. The importance of veterinary expertise is, however, often underrated and limited to only one of its areas. Nonetheless, veterinary expert opinions have significant social, legal, and economic impacts. This study investigates veterinary expertise from an interdisciplinary, comparative perspective. Ethical and legal analysis and interpretation are performed. Essential concepts and relevant aspects of veterinary expertise are analysed. Legally relevant factors of an expert opinion are identified. The relationship between the law, the language, and the understanding of the role and duties of a veterinary proficient is demonstrated. A variety of possible expert opinions and the multiplicity of veterinary scopes of such activity is presented. It is argued that the ranges of forensic veterinary medicine and of veterinary expertise are broader than is predominantly assumed. Veterinary forensic medicine is a crucial part of veterinary specialisation. Ethical and legal basics, and the scope of veterinary expert’s liability, are revealed and discussed. The conclusion is that the duties and responsibilities of expert veterinarians are particularly great due to the exercise of the public trust profession, with large importance for the whole society. Their observance is, however, crucial to ensure the highest quality of expert opinions issued by veterinarians.

The practice of the veterinary profession is regulated by public law and corporate regulations. The most fundamental corporate regulations of veterinary associations, to which membership is a condition of practising the profession, are the codes of veterinary ethics. The codes of ethics contain five basic rules for practising veterinary responsibilities to animals, clients, the public, the veterinary team, and the veterinarians themselves. Veterinarians are often faced with dilemmas about whose interests to protect; this is due to the tasks the profession carries out while protecting the animals of their owners and the public. Ethical principles are a guideline for veterinarians in difficult situations. Depending on the hierarchy of values imposed by codes of ethics, different decisions can be made. In this article, we present the importance that the Polish code of veterinary ethics gives to animal welfare as an obligation of veterinarians towards animals and compare how animal welfare is positioned in the European, American, British and New Zealand codes of veterinary ethics. In contrast to other codes, the Polish code of veterinary ethics does not sufficiently recognise animal welfare as a value to be protected in the practice of the profession.