INN, INNKEEPER. In point of law, an inn is a public house of entertainment for travelers for eompensat ion. An innkeeper is a person who betels liinIself out as engaged in the business of receiving- and affording aecommodation (inelud ing food. drink, and for travelers, or other transient guests, for compensation. A tav crn, being a place where only food and drink are served, was not included in the term inn: but the snore modern term 'hotel' is, ill a legal sense, synonymous with the term inn.
From the earliest times the common law re garded innkeepers as engaged in a piddle calling like that of common carriers, warl-honsfanen. wharfingers, etc. It imposed upon them peculiar obligations and granted eorresponding rights or privileges. The innkeeper is legally hound, so long as he has necommodations, to receive all proper persons applying for aceommodation. and is liable for damages upon his failure to do so. In early times he was bound also to supply ae• commndations for his t,mest's horse. hut it is now the law that one may engage in the lousiness of innkeeping without supplying any accommo dation for horses. The innkeeper is not hound, how-ever. to receive one who is drunk, disorderly, affected with a contagions disease. or who is otherwise obnoxious. The prospective guest is not entitled to select whatever accommodation the inn affords, and if he will not accept such reasonable accommodation as is offered the inn keeper may order him to leave the house. A3 some compensation for this compulsory hospital ity, the innkeeper is allowed certain privileges; thus, he has a lien on the horse and carriage or goods of the guest for that part of the bill or reckoning applicable to each respectively, and for the sum due for accommodation afforded to the guest, i.e. he may keep these until his bill is paid for their keep, even though they are not the property of the guest (see LIEN), hut he can not detain the person of his guest until pay ment is made.
While an innkeeper has his remedy by lien for his charges, lie is under great responsibility for the safety of the goods of his guests. In general, he is absolutely liable for the safety of all goods brought to his house by the guests unless the loss occurs by net of God or the pub lic enemy. An act of God is any cis major in
which there is no element of human agency. A public enemy is a de facto government in actual state of war with the Government to which the innkeeper is subject. (See these topics under the head of CARRIER, COMMON.) Hence the inn keeper is liable to his guest for loss by fire or theft, although in some States the innkeeper is exempted by statute from liability for loss by fire not caused by the negligence of himself or his servants. The innkeeper is excused if the loss is caused by the guest's own negligence—as, for example, by his leaving the door of his room un locked or by his leaving a box or package con taining valuables in a public room of the inn without delivering the package to the innkeeper or his servants. An innkeeper cannot escape liability by posting a notice in the guest's room or other part of the house to the effect that he will not be answerable for such losses, such no tice being contrary to the policy of the law which imposes the extraordinary liability on the innkeeper. The innkeeper may, however, make reasonable regulations for protecting the prop erty of the guests, as requiring all valuables be longing to guests to he deposited in the inn keeper's safe, and if the guest after fair notice fails to comply with the regulation, the inn keeper is not liable for loss of the valuables, unless due to his own misconduct or that of his servants.
One who takes his meals in a public restaurant attached to an inn is not a guest of the inn itself, and his rights are merely those of a casual boarder. An innkeeper may entertain boarders living regularly in his house, as \yell as transient guests or travelers; hut as to these his liability is only that of a boarding-house keeper. Innkeepers are subject to various statu tory regulations which, owing to the fact that the innkeeper is engaged in a public calling, do not violate any of the constitutional provisions guaranteeing the rights of citizens. Thus he may be compelled to keep a regular register of his guests, provide safety appliances to avoid danger of fire, and he may even be subject to regulations as to food and accommodations. See