WAREHOUSE RECEIPT (1) Means any receipt given by any person for any goods, wares or merchandise in his actual, visible and continued pos session as bailee thereof in good faith and not as of his own property, and (2) Includes receipts, given by any person who is the owner or keeper of a harbor, cove, pond, wharf, yard, ware house, shed, storehouse or other place for the storage of goods . . . , for goods . . . delivered to him as bailee, and actually_ in the place or in one or more of the places owned or kept by him, whether such person is engaged in other busi ness or not, and (3) Includes also receipts given by any person in charge of logs or timber in transit from timber limits or other lands to the place of such logs or timber.
Clause (3) was enacted because it had been held in several cases that a "warehouse receipt" for logs lying in certain lakes on the way from the woods to the mill was not valid, as the logs were not in a place kept by the signers of the receipt. The receipt need not be in any particular form, but the receipt and the facts sur rounding its issue should conform to and be brought within the definition. The owner's name should be
given, a sufficient description of the goods, the place where the goods are stored or kept, and, in the case of logs in transit, the place of departure and of destination.
A warehouseman is bound to use reasonable care and diligence in caring for the things deposited with him. He is not an insurer, like a carrier, against all risks. But, as he holds himself out to care for things left in his charge, it follows that his care must, unless otherwise agreed, be adequate. Thus, the owner of a refrigerator storage warehouse must maintain a tem perature in his warehouse suitable for the preserva tion of perishables entrusted to him. The warehouse man must, for instance, use all reasonable and mod ern means for preserving his customers' goods from theft, fire, water, heat and rats.
A warehouseman has for payment of his charges a specific lien on the goods stored with him.