caveat emptor

Meanings

1. Used as a warning to anyone purchasing something that there may be unforeseen problems or faults with the item that is purchased.
2. A provision of Roman law which gave the seller of a house the legal right to keep quiet about any defects of the house.

Etymology

Latin for “buyer beware”; from Latin caveat (“may he / she / subject-noun beware”), the third-person subjunctive of caveō (“to beware”) + ēmptor (“buyer”).