CAVEAT

caveat (kav-ee-aht orkay-vee-at orkav-ee-at). [Latin “let him or her beware”] 1. A warning or

proviso <he sold the car to his friend with the caveat that the brakes might need repairs>.

caveat actor (kay-vee-at ak-tor). [Latin] Let the doer, or actor, beware.

caveat emptor (kay-vee-at emp-tor). [Latin “let the buyer beware”] A doctrine holding that purchasers buy at their own risk. • Modern statutes and cases have greatly limited the importance of this doctrine. [Cases: Sales  41, 269; Vendor and Purchaser  37(1). C.J.S. Sales §§ 52, 271;

Vendor and Purchaser §§ 49, 51–63, 67–69, 79.]

“It [caveat emptor] is one of that tribe of anonymous Latin maxims that infest our law …. [T]hey fill the ear and sound like sense, and to the eye look like learning; while their main use is to supply the place of either or both.” Gulian C. Verplanck, An Essay on the Doctrine of Contracts 218 (1825).

“Caveat emptor is the ordinary rule in contract. A vendor is under no duty to communicate the existence even of latent defects in his wares unless by act or implication he represents such defects not to exist.” William R. Anson, Principles of the Law of Contract 245 (Arthur L. Corbin ed., 3d Am. ed. 1919).

“This action of unfair competition is the embodiment in law of the rule of the playground — ‘Play fair!’ For generations the law has enforced justice…. The maxim caveat emptor is founded on justice; the more modern rule that compels the use of truth in selling goods is founded on fairness. It conflicts with the rule of caveat emptor.” Harry D. Nims, The Law of Unfair Competition and Trade-Marks 25 (1929).

caveat venditor (kay-vee-at ven-di-tor). [Latin] Let the seller beware. [Cases: Sales  269.

C.J.S. Sales § 271.]

caveat viator (kay-vee-at vI-ay-tor). [Latin “let the traveler beware”] The duty of a traveler on

a highway to use due care to detect and avoid defects in the way.

2. A formal notice or warning given by a party to a court or court officer requesting a suspension of proceedings <the decedent’s daughter filed a caveat stating the facts on which her will contest is based>.3. Under the Torrens system of land titles, a formal notice of an unregistered interest in land. • Once lodged with the register of deeds, this notice prevents the register from recording any dealing affecting the estate or the interest claimed. See TORRENS SYSTEM.

[Cases: Records  9(13.1).] — caveat,vb. [Blacks Law 8th]