Is There a Paradigm Shift from Application of Caveat Emptor to Caveat Venditor in the Sale of Goods in Ghana? A Comparative Analysis of the Application of the Principle Caveat Emptor
Edmund Nelson Amasah
, Enoch Kwabena Amoah & Joseph Bondzie Afrifa
Issue: Vol.3 No.4 April 2022 Article 4 pp. 130-147
DOI : https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.2022344 | Published online 28th April, 2022.
© 2022 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
This study seeks to analyse, compare and determine the extent to which various legal jurisdictions have prioritized the protection of buyers in sale of goods contracts. A doctrinal legal research approach was adopted in carrying out the study. The study found that at the end of the 19th century, most legal systems are gradually making statutory attempts as well as judicial pronouncements to prioritize the application of the principle of Caveat venditor over the principle of Caveat emptor. The study, therefore, calls for an amendment of the Sale of Goods Act, 1962 (Act 137) to codify judicial decisions made on these concepts into statutory provisions to meet the requirements of legal validity and the exigencies of time. This would go a long way to boost consumer protection and largely, the socio-economic interests of buyers in Ghana.
Keywords: Sale of goods contract, lex mercatoria, Caveat emptor, Caveat venditor.
All Answers Ltd., “Caveat Emptor Principle and Sales of Goods.” Accessed March 19, 2022, https://www.lawteacher.net/free-law-essays/commercial-law/caveat-emptor-principle-and-sales-of-goods-commercial-law-essay.php?vref=1
Amoah, E. K. “Justification for Implementing Victim-Offender Mediation in the Criminal Justice System of Ghana.” E-Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (EHASS), Vol. 1 Issue 5 (2020): 118-130. Accessed February 4, 2022. https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.2020091
Baker, J. H. An Introduction to English Legal History. 2nd Edn., London: Butterworth, 1979.
Creswell, W.C., Qualitative inquiry and research design; Choosing among five traditions. Thousand Oaks, Califonia:Sage Publications, 1998.
De Luca, Villy., The Conformity of the Goods to the Contract in International Sales, 27 Pace Int’lL. Rev. [2015] :163.
Dei-Anang, K. K, “Caveat Venditor Ghaniensis,” Vol. IV No. 2 UGLJ [1967]: 90-110.
Enrique (Henry) Saldana, Caveat Emptor (Let the Bayer Beware) vs. Caveat Venditor (Let the Seller Beware) When Buying Real Estate in Mexico (2011).
Henschel, René Franz, Conformity of Goods in International Sales Governed by CISG Article 35; Caveat Venditor, Caveat Emptor and Contract Law as Background Law and as a Competing set of Rules, Nordic Journal of Commercial Law Issue 1 [2004]: 1-21. Acccessed February 4, 2022. https://doi.org/10.5278/0js.ncl.v0i1.3064
Hyland, R., “Conformity of Goods to the Contract Under United Nations Sales Conventions and the Uniform Commercial Code,” in Einheitliches Kaufrecht und Nationals Obligationenrecht, ed. Schlectriem, P., Nomos, Baden-Baden, 1987.
Jolowicz, H. F., Historical Introduction to Roman Law, Cambridge; Cambridge University Press,1932.
Kessler, Friedrich, “The Protection of the Consumer Under Modern Sales Law,” 74 YALE L.J. (1964): 278-79.
LeViness, Charles T. Charles T. LeViness, Caveat Emptor versus Caveat Venditor, 7 Md. L. Rev. Vol. 7 Issue 3 [1943]: 177-200.
Mills, J.E.A, Rockson v. Armah: A Case of Caveat Emptor, Caveat Venditor or Neither? Vol. Xv UGLJ [1978-81]: 168-175.
Posner, Richard A., ‘The Decline of Law as an Autonomous Discipline: 1962-1987’ 100 Harvard Law Review (1987): 761.
Posner, Richard A., ‘The Present Situation in Legal Scholarship’ 90 Yale Law Journal (1980):1113-1130.
Rabel, Ernst, Das Recht des Warenkaufs Rabel, Band 1, (Unveränd Neudr. d. Ausg. v. 1936 u., 1957), Germany: De Gruyter, 2015.
Taneja, Prachee Chelsea, “Doctrine of Caveat Emptor and Caveat Venditor.” Scribd Inc. Accessed May 13, 2021. https://www.scribd.com/doc/76646016/Doctrine-of-Caveat-Emptor-and-Caveat-Venditor.
Thomson Reuters, Black Law Dictionary, (9th edn., West Publishing Co, Minnesota, 2009 ), Bryan A. Garner (ed.) 252.
Zeller, Bruno. Cisg and the Unification of International Trade Law. Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon [UK] : Routledge-Cavendish, 2007.
Edmund Nelson Amasah Esq. is a Commercial Law lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology Faculty of Law, Kumasi. He holds a Master of Laws degree from Cambridge University and is a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Ghana. He is an associate of Obeng-Manu Law Firm in Kumasi.
Enoch Kwabena Amoah Esq. is an Assistant Lecturer at the Faculty of Law of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana. He holds a degree in BSc. Biochemistry, LLB, Master of Laws degree and is also a Barrister and Solicitor in the Republic of Ghana. He is an associate of Minkah-Premo & Co. legal firm in Kumasi, Ghana.
Joseph Bondzie Afrifa is a Professional Law course student at the Ghana School of Law, Makola, Accra. He holds a degree in Law (LLB) from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana.
Amasah E.N., Amoah E.K. & Afrifa J.B., “Is There a Paradigm Shift from Application of Caveat Emptor to Caveat Venditor in the Sale of Goods in Ghana? A Comparative Analysis of the Application of the Principle Caveat Emptor.” E-Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences 3, no.4 (2022):130-147 https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.2022344
© 2022 The Author(s). Published and Maintained by Noyam Publishers. This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Others