George Shiras, Jr.

“ That each of said children was of the age and sex stated in the complaint; was each unmarried and had no child nor children, and had each lived with their said mother, making their home with her, up to the time of their death; and were each then living with the plaintiff, aiding and assisting her in and about making a living, and in and about her duties and labors in the keeping of the section house of the defendant at Woodstock, in the county of Chaffee and state of Colorado, where said children were killed. ”

“ It is an ordinary case of letting.'
The rule of caveat emptor was also applied in the recent case of Woods v. Cotton Co., 134 Mass. 357. Defendant was owner of a tenement house fitted for four families, and plaintiff was tenant at will, or wife of tenant at will. There were three stone steps leading down from the yard to the street, on which ice and snow had accumulated, and on which plaintiff slipped and received the injury complained of. There was evidence tending to prove that, at the time plaintiff was injured she was in the exercise of due care. The jury viewed the premises. ”

“ The syllabus states the case and decision as follows:
'A tenant cannot maintain an action against his landlord for an injury caused by falling upon a stair in the tenement, the tread of which has been sawed out and left unsupported by a previous tenant, there having been full opportunity to examine the stair at the time of hiring, and no warranty of the fitness of the tenement having been given by the landlord ”

“ The tenant is in possession, and he determines who shall occupy or enter his premises, [citing cases.]
'In the case at bar there was no express or implied warranty, and no actual fraud or misrepresentation. If the action can be maintained it must be on the ground that it was the duty of the defendants to inform the tenant of the defect in the staircase. This duty if it exists, does not arise from the contract between the parties, but from the relation between them, and is imposed by law. ”

“ When the information is derived from strangers to the parties negotiating, and not affecting the quality or title of the thing negotiated for, it is not such as the opposite party can call for. We see no error in the rejection of the evidence on account of this part of the proposition, as there was no moral or legal obligation for the lessor to disclose any information he had on the subject of the intended improvement of the adjoining lot. ”

“ The lessor is not, however, always bound to disclose the state of the premises to the intended lessee, unless he knows that the house is really unfit for habitation, and that the lessee does not know it, and is influenced by his belief of the soundness of the house in agreeing to take it ”

“ It is, however, well settled that the law does not imply any warranty on the part of the landlord that the house is reasonably fit for occupation; much less does it imply a warranty that no accident should befall the tenant from external forces, such as storms, tornadoes, earthquakes, or snowslid s. ”

“ When the means of information as to the facts and circumstances affecting the value of the subject of sale are equally accessible to both parties, and neither of them does anything to impose on the other, the disclosure of any superior knowledge which one party may have over the other is not requisite to the validity of the contract.' Id. ”

“ In the basin above the hip there is no timber, and in and about the section house there is a space of eight or nine hundred feet square on which there is no timber except three or four trees.
'That the timber on the mountain side was sparse and scattered. That only a few trees were carried down by the snowslide. That snowslides do not always follow beaten tracks made by former snowslides on the same mountain side, but frequently depart therefrom. ”

“ The judge directed a verdict for defendants, and the supreme court sustained this ruling. Field, J., giving the opinion of the court, said, (page 383:)
'There is no implied warranty in the letting of an unfurnished house or tenement that it is reasonably fit for use, [citing cases.] ”