Caveat emptor as 'information asymmetry'. Defects in the good or service may be hidden from the buyer, and only known to the seller. A common way that information asymmetry between seller and buyer has been addressed is through a legally binding warranty, such as a guarantee of satisfaction. But without such a safeguard in place the ancient rule applies, and the buyer should beware. Under the principle of "caveat emptor", the buyer could not recover damages from the seller for defects on the property that rendered the property unfit for ordinary purposes. The only exception was if the seller actively concealed latent
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'