Also known as: caveats · caveated · caveating · caveatable · caveatee · caveatees · caveator · caveators
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A warning or exception noted within a legal rule or Restatement that qualifies the main principle and leaves certain applications open for judicial resolution.
Craig Caldwell dies without informing his agent. The agent draws a check on Caldwell's account the next day. The bank honors the check before learning of the death. The caveat in the termination rule permits the payment to stand despite the principal's death.
Catherine Carter suffers a stroke that leaves her unable to communicate. Her agent signs a supply agreement the following week. The buyer later learns of the incapacity. The caveat qualifies the rule equating incapacity with death and allows the contract to remain enforceable under limited circumstances.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Cynthia Cortez buys a new car from Cascade Manufacturing under a contract containing a broad liability disclaimer. After an accident she sues for design defects. The court examines whether the disclaimer survives judicial scrutiny. The caveat leaves room for courts to limit the effect of such disclaimers in personal-injury cases.
Christine Castro's church seeks to expand its building in violation of a local zoning ordinance. The city denies the permit under a generally applicable law. The court weighs whether the statute burdens religious exercise. The caveat preserves judicial flexibility in applying strict scrutiny to such claims.
Central Dynamics directors discuss a possible merger with another firm. They issue a press release that omits the talks. Investors later sue claiming the statement was misleading. The court assesses whether the negotiations were material. The caveat cautions against assuming investors cannot evaluate preliminary information.
Camila Cervantes is convicted of a firearms offense. The judge finds at sentencing that the crime was committed with racial bias and imposes an enhanced term. The defense objects that the bias finding was never submitted to the jury. The caveat underscores the constitutional limit on judicial fact-finding that increases punishment.
It identifies an area where the Institute declines to state a definitive position or recognizes an exception that courts must resolve on the facts of each case.
It carves out narrow banking transactions that may continue until notice of death or incapacity reaches the bank, but it does not broadly protect ordinary commercial contracts.
The caveat signals that the black-letter statement does not cover every factual variation and invites case-by-case analysis of whether an exception should apply.
No. A caveat indicates the Institute takes no position on the issue, whereas an exception is an affirmative qualification written into the rule itself.
…not quite in gear with the prevailing standard, but hardly an epochal case. I would not argue otherwise, but I would raise a caveat. Not every epochal case has come in epochal trappings. Jones & Laughlin did not reject the direct-indirect standard in so many words; it just said the relation of the regulated subject…