Saunders v. . HattermanSaunders v. . Hatterman
The defendant (in the County of Cabarrus,) sold to the plаintiff a tract of land, lying in the neighboring County of Davie, whiсh land the plaintiff had never seen. At the time of the contract and at the time of the exeсution of the deed’, the defendant said that the lаnd was worth about three dollars per acre — that it had sold for five or six hun-| dred dollars, and that it was gоod land. It was alleged by the plaintiff that those аssertions were all false, and known to be false by the defendant when he made them.,/ The Judge ' informed the Jury that an action of deceit would not liе, admitting that the representations were falsе and fraudulent, if it was the plaintiff’s own fault not to liavе informed himself of the truth of the matter, if by reasonable diligence he could have done so-thаt if he could have informed himself, as to the value of the land, by going upon it and there making an examination for himself, or if he could, by making inquiries, have ascertained for what amount it sold, (as he might havе done in this case,) he could not maintain the аction, though the affirmation were false; that if he could have ascertained the truth by reasonable diligence; it was his own folly to trust to the representations of the vendor. We do not seе any error in this charge of the Court. The true rule is stated to be, that the seller is liable to- an action of deceit, if he misrepresent the quality оf the- thing sold, in some particularsNn which the buyer has nоt equal means of knowledge with himself; or if he do so in such a manner as to induce the buyer to forbеar making the inquiries, which for his own security and advantage he would otherwise have made.
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Kent’s Com. 487. Thе misrepresentation must be of a kind, the falsehood of which was not readily open to the other party. Per Taylor, C. J.
Fagan
v
Newsom,
We think that the judgment must be affirmed.
Per Curiam. Judgment affirmed.