or a forward sale. The option may only be stipulated for a fixed period that does not exceed three days. According to the preferred view this period is counted from the moment the contract is concluded, though some maintain that it begins when the parties separate. The sounder opinion is that, if the option is granted to the seller, title to the merchandise remains his; if it is granted to the buyer, title passes to him; and if the option is mutual, ownership is held in suspension. Should the sale ultimately be affirmed, ownership is deemed to have passed to the buyer retroactively from the time of contract; otherwise, it remains with the seller.

Rescission or ratification is effected by any wording that conveys the intended meaning, such as: “I rescind the sale,” “I annul it,” or “I reclaim the item.” For ratification one might say: “I approve it” or “I confirm it.” If the seller has sexual intercourse with the slave or sets him free, that constitutes rescission; the same ruling applies, according to the stronger view, to his selling, leasing, or marrying off the slave. By contrast, the more reliable opinion is that when the buyer performs these same acts they amount to ratification, whereas merely offering the item for sale again or appointing an agent to sell it is neither rescission on the seller’s part nor ratification on the buyer’s.

Section

The buyer acquires an option upon the discovery of a latent defect that predates the sale, such as a slave’s castration, fornication, theft, repeated escape, bed-wetting, bad breath, offensive body odor, or, in the case of an animal, bolting or biting—indeed, any flaw that diminishes the property itself or its value to the extent that a legitimate purpose would be frustrated, provided that items of that category are normally free of such a defect. Whether the defect was present at the time of contract or arose before delivery makes no difference. If it comes about after delivery, the buyer has no option unless it can be traced to a prior cause; if, for example, a limb is severed as retaliation for an earlier assault, the right to return the item is established according to the sounder view, unlike the case of death from an antecedent illness, where no option exists in the stronger opinion. If the slave is executed for apostasy that occurred before the sale, the vendor is liable, again according to the sounder position.

If the seller stipulates a general disclaimer of defects, the better view is that he is absolved with respect to any hidden defect in a living creature of which he was unaware, and nothing else. Even with such a disclaimer, the buyer retains the option regarding a defect that arises before he takes possession. Should the seller attempt to disclaim liability for defects that might appear in the future, the stipulation is invalid with respect to