LIVERY STABLE KEEPER — JOBMASTER — Taxes.—A livery stable is a place, not part of the business of an inn, where horses are groomed, fed, and let on hire, and where also vehicles are generally let. A livery stable keeper does not require any licence to carry on business as such, but he must have some regard to the EXCISE (q.v.) law which requires, as a rule, that employers of men servants and the owners of carriages shall take out certain licences and pay certain duties. Section 19 (5) of the Revenue Act, 1869, affords the proprietor of a livery stable the following exemption from these licences and duties :—" It shall not be necessary for licences to be taken out in the following cases, viz. : By any person who shall have made entry of his premises in accordance with section 28 of this Act for any servant employed by him at such premises in the course of his trade, other than a servant employed to drive a carriage with any horse let to hire for any period exceeding twenty-eight days ; provided that such person shall have complied with all the provisions contained in the said section." Notice should be taken of the disallowance of the exemption in the case of a twenty-eight day hiring. And it should be remenilxu.ed that compliance with the provisions of another section of the Act is a condition precedent to the exemption ; and that section, the twenty-eighth includes in the term livery stable keeper any other person " who lets any 'horse for hire, or who keeps any horse to be used for drawing any public stage or hackney carriage." The provisions of the section that the livery stable keeper must comply with in order to obtain the exemption are :—(i) Ile must deliver to an inland revenue officer acting in the parish or place in which his premises are situated an entry in writing signed by himself; (ii) This entry must con tain a description of the premises and of the purpose for which he uses or intends to use them ; (iii) He must then legibly paint upon a conspicuous part of his premises, or upon a board affixed thereto, his christian name n.nd surname, with the addition of other words denoting the particular trade or business, or trades or businesses (if more than one), carried on by hini ; Thereafter he must allow an inland revenue officer to inspect his premises at any reasonable time. Should he neglect to comply with any of the fore going provisions he will incur a penalty of ,L)20. And any livery stable keeper incurs a like penalty, under section 29, if he does not from time to thne enter in a book an account of every ca.rriage standing at livery or otherwise on his premises, with the christian and surnames and place of abode of the person to whom it belongs. And a penalty of like amount is imposed in the event of contravention of ani‘ of the followine. additional provisions of the same section :—" And every person who shallfurnish any servant on hire, or let any carriage for hire to be kept away from his premises, shall from thne to thne enter in a book an account of every such servant or carriage with the name of such servant, the number of wheels of such carriage, mul t'he name and address of the person hiring such servant or carriage ; and all such books shall at all reasonable times in the daytime be open to the inspection of any officer of inland revenue, who shall have power to make any extract therefrom." The officer must not be prevented or
obstructed in the execution of his duty.
A Livery Stable Keeper has no privileges implied by the law in his favour, by reason of his particular trade, as has an innkeeper, so that if be desires t,o limit any of his general obligations, he must do so by special agreement (Chapman v. Allen ; Yorke v. Greenough). He has, however, an advantage over an innkeeper in not being under an obligation to take in any horse which may be brought to him, and in not being bound to have soldiers billetted upon him (Parkhurst v. Foster ; Barnard v. how). If, however, a horse in his keeping is lost or stolen he is answerable for it (Yorke v. Greenough; Francis v. 1Vyatt). And, according to Searle v. Laverich, he is bound to take reasonable care of every horse and carriage he may take in, and also that the property will be reasonably safe when on his premises. He is not considered, however, to impliedly warrant that his premises are absolutely safe. Subject to the provisions of the Law of Distress Amendment Act, 1908, a horse standing at livery can be distrained upon by the landlord of the livery stable keeper for rent ( Yorke v. Greenough), but not if it is left merely to be cleaned and fed. As Chief-Justice Wilde said in the case of Parsor- v. Gingell, "If the goods are sent to the premises for the purpose of being dealt with in the way of the party's trade, and are to remain upon the premises until that purpose is answered, and no longer, the case falls within one class; but if they are sent for the purpose of re maining there merely at the will of the owner, there being no work to be done on them, it falls within a totally different consideration." A livery stable keeper, according to Barnard v. how and Parsoms v. Gingell, has not an innkeeper's right of detaining a horse for his keep. Such a lien can only be acquired by him by express agreement, as in the case of Donatty v. Crowder, where a mare was placed with a livery stable keeper, w ho advanced money to her owner, it being agreed that the mare should stand as security for repayment of the loan, and for the expenses of her keep. Once the livery stable keeper has acquired such a lien, the owner of the horse cannot deprive him of it by fraudulently taking it out of his possession ; should this be done the livery stable keeper can retake it so long as he does not use force, for, as decided in Wallace v. Woodgate, the lien will not be defeated by possession being lost under such circumstances.