There are three degrees of care and dili gence required of the bailee, and three degrees of the negligence for which he is responsible, according to the purpose and object of the bailment, as shown in those three classes ; and the class serves to designate the degree of care, and of the negligence for which he is responsible. Thus, in the first class the bailee is required to exercise only slight care, and is responsible, of course, only fbr gross neglect. In the second he is required to exercise great care, and is responsible even for slight neglect. In the third he is required to exercise ordinary care, and is responsible for ordinary neglect.
There is a supplementary class, founded upon the policy of the law, in which the bailee is responsible for loss without any neglect on his part, being as it were, with certain exceptions, an insurer of the safety of the thing bailed. Prof. Joel Parker, MS. Led. in the Law School of IIarv. Coll. 1851.
3. When a person receives the goods of an other to keep without recompense, and he acts in good faith, keeping them as his own, he is not answerable for their loss or injury. As he derives no benefit from the bailment, he is responsible only for bad faith or gross negli gence. Edwards, Bailm. 35, 67-74. 17 Mass. 479 ; 11 Mart. La. 462 ; 38 Me. 55 ; 3 Mas.
C. C. n.; 2 C. B. 877 ; 4 Nev. & M. 170 ; 2 Ld. Raym. 913. See Story, Bailm. 0 64; 6 C. Rob. Adm. 316. But this obligation may be en larged or decreased by a special acceptance, 2 Kent, Comm. 565 ; Story, Bailm. 0 33 ; Willes, 118 ; 2 Ld. Raym. 910 ; 3 1E11, N. Y. 9 ; 7 id. 533 ; and a spontaneous offer on the part of the bailee increases the amount of care required of him. 2 Kent, Comm. 565. Knowledge by the bailee of the character of the goods, Jones, Bailm. 38, and by the bailor of the manner in which the bailee will keep them, 38 Me. 55, are important circum stances.
So when a person receives an article and undertakes gratuitously some commission in respect to it, as to carry it from one place to another, he is only liable for its injury or loss through his gross negligence. It is enough if he keep or carry it as he does his own pro perty. 6 C. Rob. Adm. 141; 3 Mas. C. C. 132 ; 6 N. H. 537 ; 1 Cons. So. C. 117 ; Edwards, Barn. 102-108.
As to the amount of skill such bailee must possess and exercise, see 2 Kent, Comm. 509 ; Story, Bailm. 00 174-178; 11 Mees. & W. Exch. 113; 5 Term, 143; 2 Ad. & E. 256 ; 8 B. Monr. Ky. 415 ; 4 Johns. N. Y. 84; 11 Wend. N. Y. 25 ; 7 Mart. La. 460 ; 20
id. 77 ; 3 Fla. 27 ; and more skill may be re quired in cases of voluntary offers or special undertakings. 2 Kent, Comm. 573.
4. The borrower, on the other hand, who receives the entire benefit of the bailment, must use extraordinary diligence in taking care of the thing borrowed, and is responsible for even the slightest neglect. Edwards, Bailm. 138 ; 7 La. 253.
Ile must apply it only to the very purpose or which it was borrowed, 2 Ld. Raym. 915 ; tory,•Bailm. 00 232, 233; cannot permit any ether person to use it, 1 Mod. 210 ; cannot keep it beyond the time limited, Story, Comm. 257 ; 5 Mass. 104 ; and cannot keep it as I pledge for demands otherwise arising tgainst the bailor. 2 Kent, Comm. 574; Ed vards, Bailm. 141.
In the third class of bailments under the livision here adopted, the benefits derived prom the contract are reciprocal: it is advan tageous to both parties. In the case of a given on a loan of money or to secure he payment of a debt, the one party gains a 3redit and the other security by the contract. And in a bailment for hire, one party ac luires the use of the thing bailed and the )they the price paid therefor: the advantage is mutual. So in a bailment for labor and services, as when one person delivers mate rials to another to be manufactured, the bailee is paid for his services and the owner receives back his property enhanced in value by the process of manufacture. In these and like cases the parties stand upon an equal footing: there is a perfect mutuality between them. And therefore the bailee can only be held re sponsible for the use of ordinary care and common prudence in the preservation of the property bailed. Edwards, Bailm. 38, 39; 13 Johns. N. Y. 211 ; 9 Wend. N. Y. 60; 5 Bingh. 217. See HIRE ; PLEDGE.
5. The depositary or mandatary has a right to the possession as against everybody but the true owner, Story, Bailm. 0 93; 6 Whart. Penn. 418; 1 Dev. N. Y. 79; 2 id. 327 ; 12 Ired. No. C. 74; 4 Eng. L. & Eq. 438; see 12 Penn. St. 229; but is excused if he delivers it to the person who gave it to him, supposing him the true owner, 17 Ala. 216, and may maintain an action against a wrong-doer. 3 Atk. Ch. 44; 1 Wits. 8; 2 Bulstr. 311; 1 Barnew. & Ald. 59; 2 Barnew. & Ad. 817. A borrower has no property in the thing borrowed, but may protect his pos session by an action against the wrong-doer. 2 Bingh. 173; 7 Cow. N. Y. 752. As to the property in case of a pledge, see PLEDGE.