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 458 WARMER WARRANTY 1867 assistant editor of the Hartford "Con- rant." He has published "My Summer in a Garden" (Boston, 1871); " Saunterings," an account of travels in Europe (1872) ; u Back- Log Studies "(1872); with Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain), "The Gilded Age," a novel (Hartford, 1873); and "Mummies and Mos- lems," travels in Egypt (1876). WARNER, Susan, an American authoress, horn in New York in 1818. She is the daughter of Henry W. Warner (died in 1875), author of an " Inquiry into the Moral and Religious Charac- ter of the American Government" and " The Liberties of America." She has published "The Wide, Wide World" (1850), under the pseudonyme of Elizabeth Wetherell, which at- tained great popularity both in America and Europe; "Queechy" (2 vols., 1852); "The Law and the Testimony " (8vo, 1853), in which the texts proving the great doctrines of Chris- tianity are brought together under their appro- priate heads; "The Hills of the Shatemuc" (1856), containing descriptions of scenery on the Hudson river; "The Old Helmet" (1863); " Melbourne House " (1864) ; " Daisy " (1868) ; " A Story of Small Beginnings " (4 vols., 1872) ; " The Say and Do Series, Stories on the Lord's Prayer " (1875) ; and with her sister " Say and Seal " (1860) ; " Ellen Montgomery's Book Shelf " (1853-'9) ; " The Word Series " (3 vols., 1868); "Books of Blessing," stories on the beatitudes, and " Wych Hazel " (1876). Some of her works have been translated into French, German, and Swedish. Her sister, ANNA WAB- NER, has published, under the pseudonyme of " Amy Lothrop," " Dollars and Cents" (2 vols., 1853) ; " My Brother's Keeper " (2 vols., 1855) ; "Stories of Vinegar Hill" (6 vols., 1871); "The Fourth Watch " (1872) ; and "The Oth- er Shore " (1878). WARRANTY, a term used in law, in the trans- fer of real estate, in the sale of chattels, and in contracts of insurance. The learning of real warranties abounds in the old books, and was subtle and technical in an extreme degree ; but it never had much force in the United States. For the principles governing warranties in con- veyances of lands, see DEED, and for those in insurance, see INSURANCE. In the sale of chat- tels or personal property there may be a war- ranty of title in the seller, or a warranty of the character or quality of the thing sold. As to title, the rule is that ho who sells as his own property a chattel in his possession, must be regarded as warranting that he owns the chat- tel and has a right to sell it in that way, al- though nothing is said about the title. As to the quality, the warranty may be express or implied. An express warranty is construed with some strictness, because the buyer may and should always take care that the warranty gives him just the protection ho desires, and must abide any loss arising from any deficiency or ambiguity in the terms used. If there be no express warranty, then tho principle of caveat cmptor (let the buyer beware) comes in. Thii may indeed he regarded as a law of sale. Un- doubtedly it is a rule which works much hard- ship and covers much fraud, but it is obvious that courts must have a general rule on this subject. The law, dealing with a buyer and a seller, must determine on which of them the risk and responsibility rest. It must therefore adopt the rule of caveat emptvr, and say that it is the duty of the buyer to take sufficient care for himself, which he may do either by sufficient examination or by demanding an ex- press warranty; or else it must say that tho responsibility must rest on the seller, and that whenever the thing sold turns out to be other than the buyer supposed, the seller must make it good. Either of these rules would have some advantages and be open to some objec- tions; and upon the whole, we believe that the commercial experience of England and of this country is decidedly in favor of tho rule of caveat emptor. At the same time, the courts have applied important limitations and qualifi- cations to the rule, and as now administered it seems to work well. In the first place, the rule is never applied to fraud, direct or indi- rect, or of any kind; but while this rule is clear, what shall constitute fraud is not so plain. It is settled that neither buyer nor sell- er is bound to communicate to the other in- formation possessed exclusively by him, where the means of intelligence are equally accessi- ble to both. The numerous cases on this ques- tion are not in harmony ; but from them the general rule may be drawn, that any party may by his silence alone permit another to deceive himself, but if ho cause or aid the deception by act or word it becomes a fraud on his part. Another rule is, that no mere praise or com- mendation of an article or invitation to trade binds the seller. The courts have made an exception to this rule in the case of an article the quality and value of which could only be known by an expert, and which the seller as an expert assumes to recommend to one who ho knows relies upon his superior knowledge. And if a seller, pending the negotiation for sale, makes a positive affirmation of quality, intending to effect a sale thereby, and in fact causing or materially promoting the sale, such affirmation is a warranty. If falsely made, it is both a warranty and a fraud. It is certain that the word "warrant" need not be used, nor any other word of exactly equivalent mean- ing. If the fair meaning of all the words used imports an undertaking or agreement of tho seller as to the quality of the thing sold, it is a warranty. There are interesting cases on the question how far a bill of sale effects a war- ranty by its description of the thing sold, and it is not easy to determine what is precisely settled by them ; but the better and perhaps the prevalent rule appears to be, that a writ- ten bill of sale, or sale note, is a warranty of all that it distinctly expresses. There is in some courts a disposition to limit this implied warranty to cases where the buyer has no op-