HIPOTECA. In Spanish Law. A mort gage of real property. Johnson, Civ. Law of Spain, 156 [149]; White, New Recop. b..2,1 tit. 7.
A bailment in which compensa tion is to be given for the use of a thing, or for labor and services about it. 2 Kent 456; Story, Bailm. § 359. The divisions of this species of contract are denoted by Latin names.
Locatio operis faoiendi is the hire of labor and work to be done or care and attention to be bestowed on the goods let by the hirer, for a compensation.
Locatio operis mercktm veh,endarum is the hire of the carriage of goods from one place to another, for a compensation. Jones, Bailm. 85, 86, 90, 103, 118; 2 Kent 456.
Locatio rei or /ooatio conductio rei is the bailment of a thing to be used by the hirer for a compensation to be paid by him; This contract is voluntary, and founded in consent; it involves mutual and reciprocal obligations ; and it is for mutual benefit. In some respects it bears a strong resemblance to the contract of sale; the principal differ ence between them being that in cases of sale the owner parts with the whole proprietary interest in the thing, and in cases of hire the owner parts with possession only for a temporary purpose. In a sale, the thing it self is the object of the contract; in hiring, the use of the thing is its object; Vinnius, lib. 3, tit. 25, in pr.; Pothier, Louagg, nn. 2-4; Jones, Bailm. 86; Story, Bailm. § 371.
Hiring a servant for a fixed sum per week, with no fixed period of duration, may be terminated by either party at any time without notice; Warden v. Hinds, 163 Fed.
201, 90 C. C. A. 449, 25 L. R. A. (N. S.) 529 and note ; so if the contract is for a fixed sum per year ; Martin v. Ins. Co., 148 N. Y. 117, 42 N. E. 416; Weidman v. Cigar Stores Co., 223 Pa. 160, 72 Atl. 377, 132 Am. St. Rep. 727 (dictum); Edwards v. R. Co., 121 N. C. 490, 28 S. E. 137; and per month ; Kos loski v. Kelly, 122 Wis. 665, 100 N. W. 1037; The Pokanoket, 156 Fed. 241, 84 C. C. A. 49. Other cases hold that the hiring, in such case, is for the full period; Douglass v. Ins. Co., 118 N. Y. 484, 23 N. B. 806, 7 L. R. A. 822; Horn v. Land Ass'n, 22 Minn. 233 ; Bas com v. Shillito, 37 Ohio St. 431. So much per week or per month imports a contract for a week or a month; Beach v. Mullin, 34 N. J. L. 343. Where a salary was to be paid "in equal quarterly payments," it was held to be for a. year; Kirk v. Hartman, 63 Pa. 97; so where there was a weekly compensa tion but the employee was to have a percent age "at the end of the year"; Babcock & Wilcox Co. v. Moore, 62 Md. 161. An offer of $1,000 a year, duly accepted, imports a contract for a year ; Liddell v. Chidester, 84 Ala. 508, 4 South. 426, 5 Am. St. Rep. 387; so does a contract with a solicitor for a fix ed sum per annum ; 4 H. L. Cas. 624. It was held in Maynard v. Corset Co., 200 Mass. 1, 85 N. E. 877, that "salary" usually imports permanence. See MASTER AND SERV ANT ; BAILMENT.