GUEST. A traveller who stays at an inn or tavern with the consent of the keeper. Bacon, Abr. Inns, C 5; 8 Co. 32; Story, Bailm. § 477.
A traveller or transient comer who puts up at an inn for a lawful purpose to receive its customary lodging and eutertainment. De Lapp v. Van Closter, 136 Mo. App. 475, 118 S. W. 120. It is not now„deemed essential that a person should have come from a dis tance to constitute him a guest ; Curtis v. Murphy, 63 Wis. 6, 22 N. W. 825, 53 Am. Rep. 242; Walling v. Potter, 35 Conn. 183.
And if, after taking lodgings at an inn, he leaves his horse there and goes elsewhere to lodge, he is still to be considered a guest ; McDaniels v. Robinson, 26 Vt. 316, 62 Am. Dec. 574; but not if he merely leaves goods for keeping which the landlord receives no compensation; 1 Salk. 388; 3 Ld. Raym. 866 ; Cro. Jac. 188. And where one leaves his horse with an innkeeper with no intention of stopping at the inn himself, he is not a guest of the inn, and the liability of the landlord is simply that of an ordinary bailee for hire ; Ingallsbee v. Wood, 33 N. Y. 577, 88 Am. Dec. 409. The length of time a man is at an inn makes no difference, whether he stays a day, a week, or a month, or longer, or only for temporary refreshments, so always that, though not strictly transiens, he retains his character as a traveller ; 5 Term '13; Mc Donald v. Edgerton, 5 Barb. (N. Y.) 560.
But if a person comes upon a special con tract to board at an inn, he is not, in the sense of the law, a guest, but a boarder ; Bacon, Abr. Inns, C 5 ; Story, Bailm. § 477 ; Wand. Inns 64; but this is a question of fact to be determined by a jury ; Magee v. Im provement Co., 98 Cal. 678, 33 Pac. 772, 35 Am. St. Rep. 199. The payment of a stipu lated sum per week does not of itself change the relation of a party from that of a guest to that of a lodger ; Berkshire Woollen Co. v. Proctor, 7 Cush. (Mass.) 417; Magee v. Improvement Co., 98 Cal. 678, 33 Pac. 772, 35 Am. St. Rep. 199. The relation exists where one who keeps a house for the enter tainment of all who choose to visit it, ex tends a general invitation to the public to become guests, although the house is situ ated on enclosed grounds; Fay v. Improve ment Co., 93 Cal. 253, 26 Pac. 1099, 28 Pac. 943, 16 L. R. A. 188, 27 Am. St. Rep. 198. See BAILEE; INNKEEPER; BOARDER.