INNS AND INNKEEPERS. An inn is a hostelry, hotel or public house kept for reward, for the lodging and entertainment of travellers or of any who need temporary accommodation. The name is also given, in a specialized sense, to the institutions set apart for the study and practice of the law. (See INNS OF COURT.) Inn signs are thought by Sir Thomas Browne to be of pagan origin, the sun and moon so frequently represented showing a dedication to Apollo or Diana. Later on hagiology superseded the pantheon and the saints in the calendar swung on sign-boards, interspersed with the arms of various noble personages, who having been well treated as they passed that way, allowed the inn keeper to display their escutcheons over his portal. The hanging of an ivy bush above the inn door is of immemorial antiquity and has not entirely fallen into disuse at the present day. The chequers so frequently displayed as an ale house sign was common among the Romans and is depicted in a Pompeian street view presented by Sir William Hamilton to the Society of Antiquaries. As to this sign, a writer in the Gentleman's Magazine for (P. 797) states : "The great Earl Warrenne ... had an exclusive power of granting licenses to sell beer. That his agent might collect the tax more readily, the door posts were painted in checquers, such being the arms of Warren." Law Relating to Innkeepers.—The term inn includes both as regards privileges and liabilities any house of public entertain ment where beds, food, etc., are furnished to all persons paying for the same, although it may be called a hotel, tavern, public house, temperance hotel or coffee house. Apparently, however, a lodging or boarding house is not an inn. An innkeeper "being in some sort a public servant" has no right to select his guests, or insist on knowing the traveller's name and address, or refuse shelter at any hour of the day or night, provided he has vacant accommodation and the traveller is not obviously objectionable. But an innkeeper is not bound permanently to entertain a guest. By the common law of England an innkeeper is responsible for the personal property of a traveller so long as the relationship of landlord and guest continues between the parties, unless the goods are destroyed by the act of God or the king's enemies, which latter term does not include damage by riot or rebellion. No special con tract or agreement is necessary in order to raise this obligation, and the loss of the goods is prima facie evidence of the innkeeper's negligence. This liability is possibly a survival of a very necessary precaution in the days when it was no uncommon thing for high waymen and innkeepers to be in league together. But contributory negligence on the part of the guest may relieve the landlord from his legal liability in case of loss.
This common law liability of an innkeeper (except as regards horses, harness and carriages which term includes motor cars) for the safe custody of the goods of a guest is, however, limited by the Innkeepers Liability Act, 1863, which provides that an inn keeper shall not be liable to a greater amount than f 3o for loss of goods, unless the loss is caused by the default or neglect of himself or his servants. But this limitation of liability is conterminous only with an exhibit of the first section of the act in a prominent position in the hall or entrance to the inn; and if the innkeeper refuse to receive for safe custody any goods of his guest, he is liable for the loss as at common law. But an innkeeper is not an insurer of the persons or wearing apparel of his guests—when the clothing is in actual use—although he must take reasonable pre cautions for the safety of travellers using his house. In return for these liabilities the law gives him a lien over his guest's goods for the amount of his bill. This is a particular and not a general lien, and attaches only to the actual goods brought by the guest to the inn and housed by the innkeeper with him. When several guests of one party leave together, the lien extends to the goods of all. The innkeeper is only bound to take ordinary care of goods thus held, but he cannot use them or charge for their storage. By the Innkeepers Act, 1878, if goods have been kept for six weeks they may, after advertisement in one London and one local newspaper, be sold on expiry of one month from the date of such advertise ment. Apparently this act applies to Scotland in spite of the pro vision for advertisement in a London paper (Green's Encyclo paedia of Scots Law, 2nd ed. vi. p. 571).
In Scotland the law is in all material particulars the same as in England except that accidental fire is considered damnum fatale for which the innkeeper is not liable. He is moreover bound to receive and house the goods of a traveller, other than personal effects, provided they are not very exceptional or dangerous. In the United States the common law follows that of England, and laws of the various States of the Union have diminished the liability of the innkeeper in much the same manner as in England.
(F. WT. ; W. W. P.) INNSBRUCK, the capital of the Austrian province of Tirol, is a beautiful town situated at a height of 1,88o ft. in a wide plain formed by the Inn and its right bank tributary the Sill and mainly on the peninsula between these streams. Surrounded by lofty mountains that seem to overhang the town it occupies a site both strategically and commercially important at the junc tion of the highway from Germany to Italy over the Brenner pass with the great thoroughfare from western Europe to Vienna and the east over the Arlberg pass. As the name implies, this is a famous crossing place of the Inn guarded in Roman time by the station of Veldidena, which was succeeded by the Premon stratensian abbey of Wilten. The town is first recorded by its present name in 1187 and in 1233-1235 it was fortified. About 1420 the Archduke Frederick IV. built a new castle here and the town replaced Meran as the capital of Tirol. Its history has been generally uneventful and it always manifested a strong loyalty to the ruling house of Austria, particularly during the revolution of 1848.
Within the town there is a striking contrast between old and new. The narrow arcaded streets of the old town, with fine old frescoed houses of the 17th and 18th centuries, give place to the regularly built blocks and open spaces of the more modern accretions, yet without disturbing the sense of unity. One of the finest of the older buildings is the Franciscan or Court church mainly in Italian Renaissance style. Within is the remarkable cenotaph of the emperor Maximilian I. (d. 1519), count of the Tirol from 1490 onwards, a gigantic marble sarcophagus with 28 bronze statues of his ancestors and favourite heroes and 24 marble reliefs depicting scenes from his life. The church contains also a number of other tombs of notable historic figures.
The university of Innsbruck, formally founded in 1677, sus pended during 1782-1792 and 1810-1826, was refounded in 1826 and makes the town a centre of intellectual life. Well-staffed and equipped with fine buildings and a library of nearly 400,000 vol umes, the university influence spreads far beyond the borders of Tirol and Austria. More than 1,5oo students attend its courses, 39% coming from the Tirol, 27% from other parts of Austria and 34% from foreign countries including 2% from the United States of America. There is also a well-stocked museum, the Ferdinandeum, with rich collections, some illustrative of the Tirolean life.
Other interesting and historic buildings and monuments corn bine with the surrounding scenic and climatic attractions to make Innsbruck a centre for tourists, whereby its functions as the regional capital and market are strengthened. Practically two hundred thousand visitors are catered for annually and their needs form the basis of a large trade in foodstuffs and other necessities of daily life. Improved facilities for travel have swelled this tourist traffic in the 2oth century, a fact that is reflected in the growth of the town since 190o when its population numbered 26,866. By the census of March, 1923, it showed 56,365 and the census of 1934 reported 61,o1o, mainly German-speaking and Romanists.