Question 3 (a)
No implied condition as to quality or fitness: caveat emptor and its exceptions
6 marks
- Time to write
- About 12 minutes
Question
Question 3 (a) · 6 marks“There is no implied condition as to the quality and fitness of goods for the buyer’s purpose in a contract of sale”. Comment.
Reworded from the university paper; the task is the same. The original paper belongs to the University of Delhi. See DU's question bank.
Before you write
Read off the question and its marks
Read from the question
- CommentA statement to judge: take a stand on it in your first line, and come back to it at the end.
Write it in this order
- Read; underline the asks; jot your points 1 min
- 1 The rule and caveat emptor 2 marks 4 min
- 2 Exceptions: fitness, merchantability, sample 3 marks 5 min
- 3 Conclusion 1 mark 1 min
- Check: every ask answered, key terms underlined 1 min
Short on time? Trim steps 1 and 2 evenly rather than skip one: each is capped at its own marks. End with step 3 in a line or two.
Try it first. About 12 minutes for 6 marks. Write it out, then open the solution.
Solution
Hover or tap a marked figure, like 72,000, to see how it is made and where else it appears.
Rule (s. 16; caveat emptor). As a rule, no condition is implied about the quality or fitness of goods sold for any particular purpose. The buyer must satisfy himself that the goods suit the purpose for which he buys them: this is the rule of caveat emptor, "let the buyer beware".
1Prakash checks the scooter himself before paying—once it is his, the breakdown is too.
Caveat emptorThe buyer must examine the goods and satisfy himself.
2'It must hold out water,' he tells the paint seller, and lets him choose the tin.
Fitness for buyer's purposeRelies on the seller's skill or judgment.
3He buys rice by the sample packet: the sacks must match it.
Sale by sampleThe bulk must correspond with the sample.
4The potter slides a cloth over the crack while selling—that leak stays his fault.
Fraud or concealment by the sellerWhere the seller makes a false representation, or actively conceals a defect.
Exceptions: when a condition is implied.
- Fitness for a particular purpose (s. 16(1)). Where the buyer makes known to the seller the purpose of his purchase, relies on the seller's skill and judgment, and the seller ordinarily deals in such goods, there is an implied condition that the goods are reasonably fit for that purpose; not, however, where they are sold under a trade mark or patent name.
- Merchantable quality (s. 16(2)). When a buyer buys goods by description from a seller who deals in goods of that kind, the law implies a condition that the goods are of merchantable quality; if the buyer has examined them, though, no condition is implied for defects that the examination should have revealed.
- Sale by sample. The goods must be free from any defect, not apparent on a reasonable examination of the sample, that would render them unmerchantable.
Conclusion. The statement is true as the general rule of caveat emptor, but it is subject to these implied conditions, which protect a buyer who relies on the seller's skill or buys by description from a dealer.
Where the 6 marks sit
| # | Component | Marks |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The rule and caveat emptor | 2 |
| 2 | Exceptions: fitness, merchantability, sample | 3 |
| 3 | Conclusion | 1 |
| Total | 6 |
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