Template:Warrantydescription: Difference between revisions

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A {{tag|warranty}} is a statement of a ''current'' [[fact]] made as a term of a {{tag|contract}}. If a warrantor breaches its {{tag|warranty}} the injured party might claim damages for the breach of {{tag|contract}} and sue for damages, but cannot [[rescind]] it altogether. For that you would need a breach of {{tag|representation}}.  
A '''[[warranty]]''' is a statement of a '''present or historical [[fact]]''' made as a term of a [[contract]]. If a warrantor breaches its [[warranty]] the injured party might claim damages for the breach of [[contract]] and sue for damages, but cannot [[rescind]] it altogether. To set aside the contract ''as if it never happened'' — to void it, ''[[ab initio]]'' — you would need to prove a mis[[representation]] from someone before the [[contract]], that induced you to [[Enter into|enter]] it.  


Purists would say that a “[[warranty]]” is also not appropriate for a statement of ''future'' fact — if, [[Epistemology|epistemologically]], such a thing as a future fact is even possible, and those same purists would say it is not — for who knows what the future brings? The [[common law]] is not a deterministic slave to the rhythm; if the future is a soufflé, it has not so much risen yet, but those who might be eating it have not yet considered whether we’re even going to that French place by the roundabout, which may not even have soufflé on the menu in the first place. The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune may yet pin us to a different hill. The thing the common law understands for making commitments about the world that’s yet to come is called the ''[[promise]]'' or, if you want to sound flash about it, the [[undertaking]]. <br>
Since a warranty is creature of [[contract]], one’s liability for its failure is absolute: if a warranty fails, you’re in the schtook: it is no defence that you could not [[reasonably]] have known that the matters warranted were not true, or that some mendacious interloper (other than the other party to the contract) has intervened to defeat your best intentions ''unless that kind of conditionality is written into the [[contract]]''. This is the appeal of a written [[contract]]: the parties can write down with infinite, [[tedious]] precision, what they mean to say, and what they say they mean, one-hundred per cent.
 
It also points up the logical befuddlement behind the idea of writing [[representation]]s into a [[contract]].  
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Latest revision as of 13:30, 14 August 2024

A warranty is a statement of a present or historical fact made as a term of a contract. If a warrantor breaches its warranty the injured party might claim damages for the breach of contract and sue for damages, but cannot rescind it altogether. To set aside the contract as if it never happened — to void it, ab initio — you would need to prove a misrepresentation from someone before the contract, that induced you to enter it.

Since a warranty is creature of contract, one’s liability for its failure is absolute: if a warranty fails, you’re in the schtook: it is no defence that you could not reasonably have known that the matters warranted were not true, or that some mendacious interloper (other than the other party to the contract) has intervened to defeat your best intentions unless that kind of conditionality is written into the contract. This is the appeal of a written contract: the parties can write down with infinite, tedious precision, what they mean to say, and what they say they mean, one-hundred per cent.

It also points up the logical befuddlement behind the idea of writing representations into a contract.