BAILMENT (ante), the delivery of something of a personal nature by one party to another, to be held according to the purpose or object of the delivery, and to be returned, or delivered over, when that purpose is accomplished. B. may be divided into three kinds: 1. For the benefit of the bailor, or some person whom he represents. 2. For the benefit of the bailee, or some person represented by him. 3. For the benefit of both parties. In the first class, the bailee is required to exercise only slight care, and is responsible only for gross neglect. In the second he must exercise greater care, and is held for slight neglect. In the third he is to exercise ordinary care, and is responsible for a neglect not extraordinary. A person receiving the goods of another to keep without recompense, acting in good faith and keeping them as he would his own, is not answerable for their injury or loss; for, as he derives no benefit, he is responsible only for bad fault or gross neglect. This responsibility may be more or less by special acceptance, and a spor.taneous offer on the part of the bailee may require him to be more careful. But the borrower who receives the entire benefit of the B. must use extraordinary diligence in the care of the property, and may be held for the slightest neglect. It must be used by him only for the purposes for which it was borrowed; he cannot keep it beyond the specified time, nor hold it as a pledge for demands otherwise made against the bailor. In the third class, the benefits are reciprocal, and advantage accrues to both parties ; the parties stand upon equal footing, and neither can requir more than ordinary care and prudence. In B. the depositary has the right of possession
against any but the true owner. A borrower has no property in the thing borrowed, but may protect his possession by action against a wrong-doer. The hire of things for use transfers a special property in them for the use agreed upon; the price paid is the consideration for the use, and the hirer becomes for the time proprietor of the things bailed, having the right to keep them for the time agreed upon. In general, the hire of labor and services is the essence of every species of bailment in which compensation is to be given for carp-mnil attentign bestowed upon the things bailed. The contracts of warehousemen, carriers, forwarding and commission merchants, factors, and all who receive goods to deliver, carry, forward, sell, or keep, are of this nature, and involve the hiring of services. In a more limited sense, a B. for labor and services is a contract by which materials are delivered to a laborer or artisan to be wrought into some other form. The title remains with the party delivering the goods, and the workman acquires a lien upon them for his services. The owner may reclaim his property after the work is done, but the laborer can hold it until be is paid. Inn-keepers and common carriers are held responsible for goods intrusted to them except against inevitable accident, or against the public enemy. They are in effect insurers. The inn-keeper is responsible for the property of a guest, though it may be lost by theft. The common carrier is responsible in case of loss by fire, unless caused by lightning or tempest.