“Nothing that you have on,”[359] I replied, as I turned away, thinking that I could hear the scratch of the recording angel’s pen as he scored another to the number of my good deeds.
“Was it not considered at one time that an innkeeper had the right to detain the persons of his guests for the payment of their bills?” queried De Gex.
“Yes, old Bacon so lays it down,[360] and so did one Judge Eyres,[361] long since gone to his account; and in some of the old text-books the same view is taken. But the idea was exploded forty years ago by the combined effort of Lord Abinger, C. B., and his puisnés, Barons Parke, Bolland, and Gurney.”
“On what occasion?”
“A man of the name of Sunbolf sued an innkeeper for assaulting and beating him, shaking and pulling him about, stripping and pulling off his coat, carrying it away and converting it to his own use.”
“That was rather rough of him.”
“It was, but the innkeeper, Alford, replied that he kept a common inn for the reception, lodging and entertainment of travelers and others; and that just before the time when he did all those things complained of, Sunbolf and divers other persons in company with him came into the inn as guests; and that he then found and provided them, at their request, with divers quantities of tea and other victuals; and that Sunbolf and the other persons thereupon, and just before the committing of the grievances, became and were indebted to him in a certain small sum of money, to wit, eleven shillings and three pence, for the said tea and victuals; and thereupon he, the innkeeper, just before he did the things of which he was accused, required and demanded of Sunbolf and the others, payment by them, or some or one of them, of the said sum, or some security or pledge for the payment thereof; but Sunbolf and the others wholly refused then, or at any other time, to pay to him the said sum, or leave with or give to him any security or pledge for the payment of the same; and before he did the acts spoken of, Sunbolf persisted in leaving, and would have departed and left the said inn, against the innkeeper’s will and consent, without paying the said sum of eleven shillings and three pence, so due as aforesaid, had not he, A., kept and detained him, Sunbolf, or some other of the said persons, or their goods and chattels, or some of them, until they paid it; and because Sunbolf and the others would go and depart from the said inn without paying, and refused to pay that sum to him, and because the sum remained wholly due to him, and because Sunbolf and the others would not, and refused to leave with or give any pledge or security whatever to him for the payment of that sum, and he (that is, Alford) could not procure or obtain from them, or any or either of them, any other pledge or security than the said coat mentioned, he, (the said Alford) at the time mentioned, did gently lay his hands on Sunbolf to prevent him going and departing from the said inn without his or the other persons paying the said eleven shillings and three pence, or giving him some pledge or security for the payment of it; and he did then, for the purpose of acquiring such security or pledge, to a gentle and necessary degree, lay his hands upon Sunbolf, and strip and pull the said coat from and off of him, the same being a reasonable pledge or security in that behalf, and then placed the same in the said inn wherein he had thence thitherto kept and detained the same as such pledge and security, for the said debt of eleven shillings and three pence, being wholly due and unpaid to him; and, therefore, he (Alford) suffered and permitted Sunbolf and the others to go and depart from the said inn; and on the occasion aforesaid he necessarily and unavoidably, to a small degree, shook and pulled about Sunbolf; and these were the acts complained of.”
“Well said the wise man of old, ‘Audi alteram partem,” said my friend. “Alford’s story gives quite a different aspect to the whole affair.”
“It gives you, at any rate, an idea of the longwinded pleadings in vogue in the year of grace 1838.”
“Was A.’s explanation satisfactory to the court?”