In Roman law. A maxim, or rule, casting the responsibility for defects or deficiencies upon the seller of goods, and expressing the exact opposite of the common law rule of caveat emptor. See Wright v. Hart, 18 Wend. (N. Y.) 449. In English and American jurisprudence. Caveat venditor is sometimes used as expressing, in a rough way, the rule which governs all those cases of sales to which caveat emptor does not apply