LOAN, in law (LOAN OF MONEY, ante), signifies either the delivery of money or any personal chattel by one person to another for which an equivalent return is to be rnade; or the bailment of a personal chattel to be returned in kind. In the case of the loan first mentioned, if the thing loaned be other than money, and its equivalent be not returned to the lender, he may recover its value with interest, if so specified, and costs, in a suit at law. But the specific article itself cannot be recovered at law, since the award of damages offers the lender, as a rule, a sufficient remedy. Yet equity will sometimes enforce specitic performance of such a contract. But equity will not. enforce, for instance, a contract for the delivery of a stock of which shares are easily procurable. The most ordinary contract of loan for which au equivalent is to be returned is a loan for money. This loan makes the parties to it debtor and creditor, instead of bailor anu bailee. If there have been no express contract of loan, the law will imply one, with interest to be computed from the time the loan was made. The second class of loans
belongs to the class of gratuitous bailments, the delivery of an article to the bailee, for his use, without compensation, and on condition of its return to the bailor. As this kind of bailment is entirely to the advantage of thc bailee, he is bound to use extraor dinary care, and is responsible for slight negligence, in the use of the bailment. He is not responsible for the natural deterioration by ordinary wear and tear of the article delivered, but with that exception must return the article to the bailor in as good con dition as when it was received. The diligence to which the bailee is held in the care of the property depends upon its character and value, and the circumstances to which it is exposed. If the bailee refuse to deliver the property when the bailment has expired, after demand made, he may be sued in trover or replevin.