Actions on the case for deceit

Abstract

This chapter is concerned with the action on the case for deceit, chiefly in the context of false warranties made by sellers of goods. The availability of the action was at first contested on the ground that a warranty was a covenant, and therefore required written evidence, or perhaps a writ of covenant. But it became well established before 1400, and the next difficult question was how to distinguish a warranty, for this purpose, from a misdescription. The general principle was ‘caveat emptor’, but this did not apply in the case of food and drink or in cases where a buyer was unable to ascertain the facts for himself. A major debate in 1606 over the sale of a stone misdescribed as a ‘bezoar’ confirmed that, in the absence of a warranty (or guarantee) at the time of sale, the buyer of a misdescribed object had no legal redress.