Bailment

[from Fr. bailler, to deliver.] A delivery of goods in trust, upon a contract expressed or implied, that the trust shall be faithfully executed on the part of the bailee.

2 Bl, Com, 461.

A delivery of goods for some particular purpose

or on mere deposit, upon a contract express or implied, that after the purpose has been performed, they shall be re-delivered to the bailor, or otherwise dealt with according to his directions, or, (as the case may be) kept till he reclaims them. 2 Steph. Com. 129. — A delivery of goods in trust upon a contract expressed or implied, that the trust shall be duly executed, and the goods restored by the bailee, as soon as the purpose of the bailment shall be answered. 2 Kent's Com. 668. — A delivery of a thing in trust for some special object or purpose, and upon a contract express or implied to conform to the object or purpose of the trust. Story on Bailm. § 2. • All these definitions, except the last, are based, with some variation, upon the two definitions of Sir William Jones: — " A delivery of ^oods on a condition, expressed or implied, tnat they shall be restored by the bsulee to the bailor, or according to his directions, as soon as the purpose for which they were bailed shall be answered." Jor^es on Bailm. 1. "A delivery of goods in trust, on a contract expressed or implied, that the trust shall be duly executed, and the goods re-delivered as soon as the time or use for which they were bailed shall have elapsed or be performed."

Id» 117.

A very prominent feature of these definitions is tne restoration or re-delivery of the article bailed to the bailor, which they declare to be one of the objects of the contract on the part of the bailee. This idea oi restoration is entirely dropped by Sir William Blackstone in his definition, but is taken up again by Mr. Stephen, though with considerable modification, and is expressly adopted by Chancellor Kent, while on the other hand, no reference is made to it in the definition of Judge Story. It is clear that the restoration of the thing bailed to the bailor, either in specie, or in a new form agreed upon, does in fact constitute a part of the contract in nearly all the varieties of bailment; but it is no less clear that one species of bailment, and that the most important of all, (the locatio operis mercium vehendarum, or bailment of goods to be carried for hire,) is quite free from any such contract on the part of the bailee. The dif Bculty in defining bailment is to explain with sufficient clearness, what the contract is, and to avoid at the same time going into particulars not common to every one of its varieties.