Innkeepers... CHAPTER XLI INNKEEPERS ANALYTICAL OUTLINE OF INKEEPERS 1. Definitions. 2. Innkeeper's liability. 3. Duties of innkeepers. 4. Responsibility for torts of servants. 5. Lien of innkeepers. 6. Termination of the relation. 472. Definitions. An inn is a public place for the entertainment of man and beast. It is a public house for the entertainment of those who choose to visit it. Formerly, an innkeeper well as persons, but now was required to take care of horses as the word is used more in the sense of hotel keeper. There is an implied contract for the guest to pay the customary price for the entertainment he receives. It is necessary that the innkeeper shall furnish both food and lodging. This distinguishes innkeepers from restaurant keepers. An innkeeper is also obliged to keep all who present themselves in a proper manner. He must hold himself out as ready to furnish food and lodging to all travelers, and make a business of receiving guests, for a reasonable compensation. This distinguishes an innkeeper from a boarding house keeper, since a boarding house keeper has the right to select his guests. Such places are not open to travellers indiscriminately. 473. An innkeeper may, therefore, be defined as one who holds himself out to the public as engaged in furnishing entertainment and lodging for travelers for a reasonable compensation. He must do this as his regular business. One who furnishes entertainment occasionally is not considered an innkeeper. 474. A guest may be defined as one who offers himself to an innkeeper for accommodation and is accepted as such. Usually he must be a transient. One who makes a special contract for entertainment is not a guest, nor is one who is just invited in by the innkeeper for a meal. It may happen that both guests and boarders may be entertained at the same house, depending on the nature of the contract under which they are entertained. One may be a guest although he does not stay over night. 475. Innkeeper's liability. Rule: An innkeeper is a bailee of the baggage and property of his guest. At common law an innkeeper was an insurer of the goods of his guest. In many states this exceptional liability has been modified by statute. Under modern statutes, the innkeeper can relieve himself of his liability of an insurer of the goods of his guest by providing a safe in which the guest may have his valuables locked up, and by posting notices in the rooms that such a safe is at the disposal of his guests and that he will not be liable for valuables unless they are delivered to him to be locked up. Such notice must be brought to the attention of the guest. The extreme liability of the innkeeper extends only to such goods as are necessary for the comfort and convenience of the traveller on his journey. For any other goods the innkeeper is liable only as an ordinary bailee. 476. Duties of innkeepers. It is an innkeeper's duty to receive all guests who present themselves in a proper condition for entertainment, but he need not receive one who is drunk or disorderly, or who is suffering from any contagious disease, or who is not able to pay for his entertainment. 477. Liability for servants. Rule: An innkeeper is liable for the acts of his servants and employees, the same as if they were his own acts. The fact that he was careful in the selection of his servants will not relieve him from this liability. Where a servant stole the overcoat of a guest the innkeeper was held liable for the action of the servant. 478. Lien of innkeeper. An innkeeper has a lien on the goods of his guests to secure the payment of his bill, and he may retain custody of a guest's baggage until payment is made. Under the common law he merely had the right to hold the goods, but now by statute he also has the right to sell the goods, deduct the charges, and turn the balance, if any, over to the guest. The innkeeper can detain the property until he is paid, but if he voluntarily surrenders the property over to the guest his lien is lost. Statutes in most states now give the same lien to boarding house keepers. 479. Termination of the relation. The liability of the innkeeper continues as long as the guest remains at the inn, and a reasonable time thereafter, but after the expiration of a reasonable time, he is liable only as an ordinary bailee. If a porter meets the train and takes charge of the traveler's baggage the relation of guest begins when the porter takes the baggage. If the porter delivers the baggage to the train when the guest leaves, the relation continues until such delivery is made. 1. Define an inn. QUESTIONS 2. What implied contract is there between the innkeeper and his guest? 3. Define guest. 4. What is an innkeeper's liability for the baggage and property of his guest? 5. What is the duty of an innkeeper? 6. To what extent is an innkeeper liable for the acts of his servant? 7. What right has an innkeeper to a lien on the baggage of his guest to secure the payment of his bill? 8. When does the relation of innkeeper and guest terminate? CASES (GIVE REASONS FOR YOUR ANSWERS) 1. While F was staying at a hotel it was destroyed by fire caused by defective batteries. F lost a trunk, jewelry, clothing and other personal effects. The hotel manager claimed that at the time F registered she asked for rates and was quoted a special price per week for her entertainment. Can F hold the hotel management liable as innkeeper? 2. R went to a hotel and registered as a guest and left his coat in the check room which was in charge of one of the servants of the house. The coat was stolen by the servant. Is the hotel management liable for the coat? 3. G was stopping at a hotel. He left without paying his bill. The hotel keeper retained G's trunk. Later, however, he allowed G to take the trunk away. A few weeks later when G returned to the hotel, the manager seized the trunk and sold it to pay for G's lodging on the former trip. Did the hotel keeper have the right to do this? 4. A gold miner stopped at a hotel and deposited a bag of gold dust with the clerk to be locked in the safe. The gold dust was stolen from the safe. Was the landlord liable for the loss? 5. W lived about a half a mile from the hotel. He went to the hotel in the evening, stayed all night and had breakfast there in the morning. While there his pocket-book was stolen from under his pillow. Is the landlord liable? 6. B stayed at a hotel where a safe was kept for the deposit of valuables. B went to his room and when he retired he placed his pocketbook under his pillow, and during the night it was stolen. There were signs posted in all of the rooms to the effect that the landlord would not be liable for valuables unless they were deposited in the safe. Can B recover the value of his loss from the landlord? 7. A hotel sent a porter to the train to carry the baggage of guests to the hotel. S gave his baggage to the porter to carry to the hotel. It was lost between the station and the hotel. Is the landlord liable? 8. B was a guest at C's hotel. B left his baggage at the hotel while he went fishing out in the country, at a near-by lake, for a few days. The baggage was stolen during B's absence. Is C liable for the baggage? 480. Definition. A common carrier is one who makes a business of carrying goods for the general public from one place to another for a compensation. Under this head is included railroads, ships, express companies, and ferrymen. All of these transport goods as a public employment. A common carrier holds himself out to the public as ready to serve all persons to the extent of his ability. 481. Duties and liabilities. It is the duty of a common carrier to carry for all indifferently. This duty arises from the public nature of the business. A refusal to carry up to the limit of his ability would render the carrier liable in damages. He could be compelled also by a court to perform the duty. Carriers, which are operating under special franchises, as a right of way, or the right to condemn land for a right of way may be compelled to furnish reasonable facilities to carry on their business. The duty to carry for all indifferently also imposes the duty not to discriminate against one shipper in favor of another, by |