Caveat emptor Caveat emptor Caveat emptor (, ) is Latin for "Let the buyer beware" (from "caveat", "may he beware", a subjunctive form of "cavēre", "to beware" + "ēmptor", "buyer"). Generally, "caveat emptor" is the contract law principle that controls the sale of real property after the date of closing, but may also apply to sales of other goods. The phrase "caveat emptor" and its use as a disclaimer of warranties arise from the fact that buyers typically have less information about the good or service they are purchasing, while the seller has more information. The quality of this situation is known
A Caveat or Warning for Common Cursitors and later texts often describe Blunt as an Upright Man, which Harman does not in his text. See also examples in Thieves' cant The "Caveat" is available online to subscribers to EEBO, and at Google Book Search. (The latter comprises page-images of an 1814 reprint of the 1573 edition.) The text is included in: A Caveat or Warning for Common Cursitors A Caveat or Warning for Common Cursitors, vulgarly called vagabonds was first published in 1566 by Thomas Harman, and although no copies of that edition survive, it must have been popular, because two printers were punished by the Stationers'