caveat emptor
Section 16 of the Sale of Goods Act, 1930 states the rule: there is no implied condition as to the quality or fitness of goods for any particular purpose, except as the section provides.
The exceptions are wide. Fitness for purpose is implied where the buyer makes known the purpose and relies on the seller's skill, and the goods are of a kind the seller deals in (s.16(1)). Merchantable quality is implied where goods are bought by description from a dealer, though not for defects an examination ought to have revealed (s.16(2)). Trade usage may add conditions (s.16(3)), and the rule never protects a seller who commits fraud. For consumers, the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 has shifted much of the risk to sellers.
Example
The buyer cannot rely on caveat emptor being displaced, because he chose the machine himself after inspection and never told the seller his particular purpose.
In Indian law
- Section 16, Sale of Goods Act, 1930 (implied conditions as to quality or fitness)
- Priest v. Last (Court of Appeal, England, 1903): hot-water bottle; purpose implied from the nature of the goods
See also
sale of goods · warranty · consumer · uberrimae fidei
Read more in the study notes
- Contract of sale, conditions and warranties (Contract II)
- Utmost good faith, non-disclosure and section 45 (Insurance Law)