Origin Long-standing common law property doctrine, still cited today via the maxim let a purchaser beware.
Caveat emptor, Latin for let the buyer beware, is a doctrine of property and contract law placing the burden on a buyer to investigate the quality and condition of goods or property before completing a purchase, rather than holding the seller liable for defects the buyer failed to discover, except where the seller committed fraud or actively concealed a defect. The doctrine reflects an underlying imbalance of information between seller and buyer, and has historically been most prominent in real estate transactions, though many jurisdictions have since layered statutory consumer-protection and implied-warranty exceptions on top of it.
Facts
Origin PeriodLong-standing common law property doctrine, still cited today via the maxim let a purchaser beware. 1 Core PrincipleA buyer takes on the responsibility to verify the quality and condition of what they are purchasing, and cannot ordinarily hold the seller liable after the fact for a defect the buyer failed to discover, absent fraud or active concealment by the seller. 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
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