Bailment - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition bailment

Definition :

Bailment [fr. bailler, Fr., to deliver], a compendious expression to signify a contract resulting from delivery; perhaps best defined as a 'delivery of a thing in trust for some special object or person, and upon a contract express or implied, to conform to the object or purpose of the trust.'

In the celebrated case of Coggs v. Bernard, (1704) Ld Raym 909; 1 Sm L C, Lord Holt divided bailments thus:-

(1) Depositum, or a naked bailment of goods, to be kept for the use of the bailor.

A restaurant keeper has been held liable for loss of an overcoat entrusted by a customer to a waiter, Ultzen v. Nicols, (1894) 1 QB 92; Orchard v. Bush & Co., (1898) 2 QB 284.

(2) Commodatum. Where goods or chattels that are useful are lent to the bailee gratis, to be used by him. See Coughlin v. Gillison, (1899) 1 QB 145.

(3) Locatio rei. Where goods are lent to the bailee to be used by him for hire.

(4) Vadium. Pawn or pledge.

(5) Locatio operis faciendi. Where goods are delivered to be carried, or something is to be done about them, for reward to be paid to the bailee. For the history of the liability of carriers, see Nugent v. Smith, (1876) 1 CPD 423, and for an explanation of the duty of private bailees of this class, Brabant v. King, 1895 AC 632. As to the liability of a bailee for the acts of his servants, see Cheshire v. Bailey, (1905) 1 KB 237. See CARRIER.

(6) Mandatum. A delivery of goods to somebody, who is to carry them, or do something about them, gratis. Consult Wyatt Paine on Bailments; Chitty on Contracts.

The subject-matter of contractual bailment has been dealt with in Chapter IX of the Contract Act, and s. 148 defines 'bailment' to mean the delivery of goods 'upon a contract'. It is well settled that the essence of bailment is possession. It is equally well-settled that a bailment may arise, as in this case, even when the owner of the goods has not consented to their possession by the bailee at all: PALMER ON BAILMENT, 1979 edition, page 2. There may thus be bailment when a wharfinger takes possession of goods unloaded at the quay side, (1970) 2 All ER 625.

A bailment is not therefore technically and essentially subject to the limitations of an agreement, and the notion or privity need not be introduced in an area where it is unnecessary, for bailment arises out of possession, and essentially connotes the relationship between a person and the thing in his charge. It is sufficient if that possession is within the knowledge of the person concerned. It follows that a bailment may very well exist without the creation of a contract between the parties and it essentially gives rise to remedies which, in truth and substance, cannot be said to be contractual. That is why Palmer has made the assertion that 'bailment is predominantly a tortious relation' (page 36), and the two are fundamentally similar, Trustees of the Port of Bombay v. Premier Automobiles Ltd., (1981) 1 SCC 228 (234-235): AIR 1981 SC 1982: (1981) 1 SCR 532.

Bailment is a technical term of the Common Law though etymologically it might mean any kind of handing over. It involves change of possession. One who has custody without possession, like a servant, or a guest using his host's goods, is not a bailee. On the whole, a bailment may be described as a delivery on condition, to which the law usually attaches an obligation to redeliver the goods, or otherwise deal with them as directed, when the condition is satisfied; but there may be in particular cases a bailment without an enforceable obligation, Anamalai Timber Trust v. Tripunithura, AIR 1954 Trav Co 305.

There can be bailment and the relationship of a bailee in respect of specific property without there being an enforceable contract. Nor is consent indispensable for such a relationship to arise. A finder of goods of another has been held to be a bailee in certain circumstances. Just as a finder of property has to return it when its owner is found and demands it, so the State Government was bound to return the said vehicles once it was found that the seizure and confiscation were not sustainable. There being thus a legal obligation to take reasonable care of it so as to enable the Government to return it in the same condition in which it was seized, the position of the State Government until the order became final would be that of a bailee, State of Gujarat v. Memon Mahomed Haji Hasam, AIR 1967 SC 1885: (1967) 3 SCR 938.

The word 'bailment' is defined in s. 148 of the Contract Act as the delivery of goods by one person to another for some purpose, upon a contract that they shall be returned or otherwise disposed of according to the directions of the person delivering them, when the purpose is accomplished, R.D. Saxena v. Balram Prasad Sharma, (2000) 7 SCC 264 (272): AIR 2000 SC 2912. (Contract Act, 1872, s. 148)

Means a delivery of personal property by one person (the bailor) to another (the bailee) who holds the property for a certain purpose under an express or implied-in-fact contract. Unlike a sale or gift of personal property, a bailment involves a change in possession but not in title, Black Law Dictionary, 7th Edn., p. 137.

Means the transfer of possession but not ownership of personal property (as goods) for a limited time or specified purpose (as transportation) such that the individual or business entity taking possession is liable to some extent for loss or damage to the property, Webster's Dictionary of Law, Indian Edn. (2005), p. 41.

Bailment, is a delivery of personal chattels on trust, usually on a contract, express or implied, that the trust shall be duly executed, and the chattels redelivered on either their original or an altered form, as soon as the time or use for, or condition on, which they were bailed shall have elapsed or been performed, Halsbury's Laws of England, Vol. 2, 4th Edn., Para 1801, p. 830.