Booth v. Merriam

• Court: Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts
• Writing for the Court: KNOWLTON, J.
• Citation: Booth v. Merriam, 155 Mass. 521, 30 N. E. 85 (Mass. 1892)
• Decision Date: 24 February 1892
• Parties: BOOTH v. MERRIAM et al.

155 Mass. 521

30 N.E. 85

BOOTH v. MERRIAM et al.

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Suffolk.

February 24, 1892

COUNSEL

E.J. Jenkins and W.B. Orcutt, for plaintiff.

L.M Child, for defendant.

OPINION

KNOWLTON J.

In an ordinary lease of a dwelling-house, there is no implied covenant that the premises are in good repair or fit for habitation. "The rule of caveat emptor applies; and it is for the lessee to make the examination necessary to determine whether the premises he hires are safe, and adapted to the purposes for which they are hired." Cowen v Sunderland, 145 Mass. 363, 14 N.E. 117; Stevens v Pierce, 151 Mass. 207, 23 N.E. 1006. If there is a concealed defect that renders the premises dangerous, which the tenant cannot discover by the exercise of reasonable diligence, of which the landlord has or ought to have knowledge, it is the landlord's duty to disclose it, and he is liable for an injury which results from his concealment of it. Cowen v. Sunderland, ubi supra; Minor v Sharon, 112 Mass. 477; Bowe v. Hunking, 135 Mass. 380; Martin v. Richards, 29 N.E. 591, (Mass., Jan., 1892.) The plaintiff contends that this case shows the existence of such a defect, and that it is like Cowen v. Sunderland, in which it appeared that there was a cess-pool covered with decayed boards and earth four to six inches deep, on which grass and weeds were growing, in a yard hired by the plaintiff, and that it had been repaired with old boards some time before, by the defendants' direction. The case at bar differs from that in important particulars. There was an iron cover set in a wooden frame which covered the cess-pool, and was level with the surface of the ground, thereby disclosing to everybody that there was a covered excavation there, designed for use. The accident happened solely because the frame was old and out of...