こんにちは。
期末試験対策の勉強の休憩がてら日本のニュースを見ていたら、いわゆる”事故物件”に住む人が増えていると書いてありました。
さて、私は幽霊だとかホラーだとかの話が大の苦手なのですが、皆さんは幽霊を信じますか。ここアメリカではどうやら存在するということになっているようです…。
ニューヨークの1991年の判例（Stambovsky v. Ackley）をご覧ください。
この裁判は住宅の売買案件において、売主が買主に家が"haunted"されていることを告知しなかったため、買主が契約の解除を求めたという案件です。
判示は次の書き出しから始まります。（強調は私が追加）
＞ Plaintiff, to his horror, discovered that the house he had recently contracted to purchase was widely reputed to be possessed by poltergeists, reportedly seen by defendant seller and members of her family on numerous occasions over the last nine years. Plaintiff promptly commenced this action seeking rescission of the contract of sale.
そして核心へ…
＞ The unusual facts of this case, as disclosed by the record, clearly warrant a grant of equitable relief to the buyer who, as a resident of New York City, cannot be expected to have any familiarity with the folklore of the Village of Nyack. Not being a “local,” plaintiff could not readily learn that the home he had contracted to purchase is haunted. Whether the source of the spectral apparitions seen by defendant seller are parapsychic or psychogenic, having reported their presence in both a national publication (“Readers' Digest”) and the local press (in 1977 and 1982, respectively), defendant is estopped to deny their existence and, as a matter of law, the house is haunted.
さらに判示が続きます。（ここでいう"caveat emptor"はラテン語でして、意味は”買主をして注意せしめよ（let the buyer beware）”になります。ざっくりいえば買主の危険負担です。）
＞ From the perspective of a person in the position of plaintiff herein, a very practical problem arises with respect to the discovery of a paranormal phenomenon: “Who you gonna' call?” as the title song to the movie “Ghostbusters” asks. Applying the strict rule of caveat emptor to a contract involving a house possessed by poltergeists conjures up visions of a psychic or medium routinely accompanying the structural engineer and Terminix man on an inspection of every home subject to a contract of sale.
こういうジョークを織り交ぜるのはアメリカ人らしい気がします。
興味がある方はthe Ghost of Nyackとか入力するといろいろ詳しい情報が出てくるようです。
期末試験対策の勉強の休憩がてら日本のニュースを見ていたら、いわゆる”事故物件”に住む人が増えていると書いてありました。
さて、私は幽霊だとかホラーだとかの話が大の苦手なのですが、皆さんは幽霊を信じますか。ここアメリカではどうやら存在するということになっているようです…。
ニューヨークの1991年の判例（Stambovsky v. Ackley）をご覧ください。
この裁判は住宅の売買案件において、売主が買主に家が"haunted"されていることを告知しなかったため、買主が契約の解除を求めたという案件です。
判示は次の書き出しから始まります。（強調は私が追加）
＞ Plaintiff, to his horror, discovered that the house he had recently contracted to purchase was widely reputed to be possessed by poltergeists, reportedly seen by defendant seller and members of her family on numerous occasions over the last nine years. Plaintiff promptly commenced this action seeking rescission of the contract of sale.
そして核心へ…
＞ The unusual facts of this case, as disclosed by the record, clearly warrant a grant of equitable relief to the buyer who, as a resident of New York City, cannot be expected to have any familiarity with the folklore of the Village of Nyack. Not being a “local,” plaintiff could not readily learn that the home he had contracted to purchase is haunted. Whether the source of the spectral apparitions seen by defendant seller are parapsychic or psychogenic, having reported their presence in both a national publication (“Readers' Digest”) and the local press (in 1977 and 1982, respectively), defendant is estopped to deny their existence and, as a matter of law, the house is haunted.
さらに判示が続きます。（ここでいう"caveat emptor"はラテン語でして、意味は”買主をして注意せしめよ（let the buyer beware）”になります。ざっくりいえば買主の危険負担です。）
＞ From the perspective of a person in the position of plaintiff herein, a very practical problem arises with respect to the discovery of a paranormal phenomenon: “Who you gonna' call?” as the title song to the movie “Ghostbusters” asks. Applying the strict rule of caveat emptor to a contract involving a house possessed by poltergeists conjures up visions of a psychic or medium routinely accompanying the structural engineer and Terminix man on an inspection of every home subject to a contract of sale.
こういうジョークを織り交ぜるのはアメリカ人らしい気がします。
興味がある方はthe Ghost of Nyackとか入力するといろいろ詳しい情報が出てくるようです。