Classic Case 16.1 Read Webster v. Blue Ship Tea Room, 198 N.E.2^d 309 (1964).

Webster is a well-known example of a court protecting local customs and traditions. When a patron in a Boston restaurant chokes on a fish bone in a bowl of chowder, the court concludes there was no liability issue because the goods (the chowder) were "merchantable", that is, the chowder was not different from "the ordinary purpose for which goods are used". Not the best chowder, nor the worst, but of like kind. As the court observed, "the joys of life in New England include the ready availability of fresh fish chowder. We should be prepared to cope with the hazards of fish bones, the occasional presence of which in chowder is, it seems to us, to be anticipated, and which, in the light of a hallowed tradition, do not impair their fitness or merchantability".

Do you agree? Should one expect the occasional shrimp shell along the Gulf Coast or the occasional shard of crab shell in a Baltimore crab cake?