Opinion ID: 1512081
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Whether an Implied Warranty of Habitability Arose Under the Facts of This Case

Text: A. General Legal Background Prior to the mid-1950's the ancient maxim of caveat emptor (let the buyer beware) long ruled the law relating to the sale of real property. Thought to have originated in late sixteenth-century English trade society, the doctrine was especially prevalent during the early 1800's when judges looked upon purchasing land as a game of chance. Hamilton, The Ancient Maxim Caveat Emptor, 40 Yale L.J. 1133, 1187 (1931). [2] The maxim, derived from the then contemporary political philosophy of laissez faire, held that a buyer deserved whatever he got if he relied on his own inspection of the merchandise and did not extract an express warranty from the seller. Roberts, supra note 2, at 836-837. According to one commentator, however, Caveat emptor    did not adversely affect the typical buyer of a new house during the nineteenth century. In those days, after all, the home-owner-to-be was commonly a middle-class fellow who purchased his own lot of land and then retained an architect to design a home for him. Once the plans were ready the landowner hired a contractor who built a house according to the plans. Quality control was assured because the builder was paid in stages as he completed each part of the house to the satisfaction of the architect. If the house did happen to collapse, the homeowner had a choice of lawsuits to recoup his losses: either the plans were defective, in which case the architect had been negligent, or the building job had not been workmanlike, in which case the contractor was liable. [Roberts, supra note 2, at 837] Unfortunately, this blissful state of affairs has not carried over to the modern day. After World War II    the building industry underwent a revolution. It became common for the builder to sell the house and land together in a package deal. Indeed, the building industry outgrew the old notion that the builder was an artisan and took on all the color of a manufacturing enterprise, with acres of land being cleared by heavy machinery and prefabricated houses being put up almost overnight. Having learned their law by rote, however, the lawyers tended to insist that caveat emptor nonetheless applied to these sales.