“Hah!” I exclaimed. “But that case has since been doubted, and it can scarcely be accepted as good law.[315] Well, what shall we do?”
“Let’s tell them to turn the nags into the field,” said De Gex.
“If you do, and they are lost, stolen or injured, we cannot look to our host for recompense, unless Master Boniface himself be guilty of negligence, as by putting them in a field where pits or ditches abound or fences and gates are broken or open. If, however, he should put them into the pasture of his own accord, he would be answerable;[316] for then the field would be considered as part of the inn premises. Although Story thinks that the latter rule should be qualified, as it is such a common custom in America in the summer time to put horses in a pasture, he says the implied consent of the guest may fairly be presumed, if he knows the practice.”[317]
“Well, let us send them over to the other house, where the stabling appears better, while we ourselves lodge here,” again suggested Mr. De G.
“That might do,” I made answer; “for an innkeeper is bound to receive a horse, even though the owner chooses to go elsewhere.[318] And it is clearly settled that in the eyes of the law a man becomes a guest at a place of public entertainment by having his horse there, though he himself neither lodges nor takes refreshments there.”[319]
“But I thought that an innkeeper was not bound to take the goods of a man who merely wishes to use the house as a place of deposit;[320] nor liable for things so left there, except as an ordinary bailee.”[321]
“Oh, that rule only applies to dead things out of which the man can make no profit; but with animals the innkeeper is chargeable, because he makes something out of keeping them. And, as I said, it has been frequently held that he is liable for the loss of a horse, although its owner puts up at a different place. But there is some doubt.”[322]
“Will he also be liable for the carriage?” asked my companion.
“Yes, and for the harness as well; for the compensation paid for the horses will extend the host’s responsibility to such articles. And the owner will be able to sue for damages if anything happens to our nags, although they have been hired by us.[323] If a servant brings his master’s horse to an inn, and while there it is stolen, of course the master can sue the innkeeper;[324] and for all such legal purposes the hirer of goods will be deemed the owner’s servant.”
“Suppose a horse-thief stops at an inn and there loses his prize, can the owner then sue the landlord?”