warranty
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 212 U.S. 445 - Frederic L. Grant Shoe Co. v. W. M. Laird Co. · 1909Most cited · 92 citing opinions
it was precisely because it was a warranty,—that is, an absolute undertaking by contract that a fact was true,—that, if a warranty was alleged, it was not necessary to lay the scienter.
How the Supreme Court has restated “warranty”
Each Supreme Court definition of “warranty,” sized by how often later courts cited it. “Change” is measured by wording overlap with earlier definitions — a rough signal, not a semantic judgment.
How often courts cite the cases defining “warranty”
Court decisions citing the 3 opinions that defined “warranty” — 186 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining cases as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.
All 3 definitions, chronological · 1810–1909
- ORIGINAL
It is essential, in this form of action especially, to distinguish accurately between the warranty contained in the policy, and those extrinsic circumstances, such as misrepresentation or concealment, which have been deemed sufficient to discharge the underwriters. Although the effect of a breach of a warranty, and of a material misrepresentation may be the same on a policy, yet they cannot be confounded together, in deciding on pleadings or on a special verdict.
distinct from misrepresentation in marine policies
if, upon a sale with a warranty, or if, by the special terms of the contract, the vendee is at liberty to return the article sold, an offer to return it is equivalent to an offer accepted by the vendor, and, in that case, the contract is rescinded and at an end... But if the sale be absolute, and there be no subsequent agreement or consent of the vendor to take back the article, for contract remains open, and the vendee is put to his action upon the warranty, unless it be proved that the vendor knew of the unsoundness of the article, and the vendee tendered a return of it within a reasonable time.
rescission vs. damages