48 Ga. App. 109 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1933
The defendant rented certain rooms from the plaintiff. The plaintiff furnished to the defendant’s wife and child meals at a stipulated price per meal. The plaintiff had a sign in
Headnotes 1, 2, and 3 do not require elaboration.
Does the property of a delinquent boarder, where it is in his possession and the boarding-house keeper has voluntarily relinquished possession and control thereof to the boarder, if any she had, still remain subject to the lien created by statute in favor of boarding-house keepers? There can be no question but that the defendant is liable for the board furnished to his wife and child; and so he stands upon the same footing as if he himself had been furnished board. Chickering-Chase Bros. Co. v. White, 127 Wis. 83 (106 N. W. 797); Baker v. Stratton, 52 N. J. L. 277 (19 Atl. 661); Bell v. Bossignol, 143 Ga. 150 (84 S. E. 542, L. R. A. 1915D, 1184, Ann. Cas. 1917C, 576); Hamilton v. Jenkins, 7 Ga. App. 136 (66 S. E. 397); Wrightsville &c. Ry. Co. v. Vaughan, 9
At common law a boarding-house keeper had none- of the privileges of an innkeeper, and could not detain the baggage and effects of a delinquent boarder which were in the boarding house. This State and other States of the Union have enacted 'laws placing boarding-house keepers upon the same footing as to the privileges of an innkeeper in detaining the baggage and effects of a delinquent guest to pay for his charges. The lien given to such innkeepers and boarding-house keepers is not created by contract, but by law. Statutes giving to boarding-house keepers a lien on the goods of their boarders and the means to enforce the same .are in derogation of the common law and should be strictly construed. Downs v. Bedford, supra, 155 (2); Wooten v. Ford, 46 Ga. App. 50 (166 S. E. 449).
By the act of February 24, 1873 (Acts 1873, p. 45), innkeepers and boarding-house keepers were given a lien for their dues on the baggage of their guests. It provided the manner in which innkeepers and boarding-house keepers “in possession of personal property under a lien for fees” should satisfy their lien, which should be superior to other liens, except liens for taxes, special, landlord’s liens for rent, liens of laborers and general liens of which they had actual notice “before the property claimed to be subject came into their control.” Code of 1882, § 1986. The Civil Code of 1910, § 3368, provides that “Liens of pawnees, innkeepers, boarding-house keepers, livery-stablemen, and attorneys at law. in possession of personal property under a lien for lees shall be satisfied according to the provisions of section 3530 of this Code, in cases where there is no notice of conflicting liens; but if there is a-' conflicting lien, the mode of foreclosure pointed out in section 3366 shall be pursued.” One method was by sale to the highest bidder,after thirty-days notice to the guest. Section 3530 of the Civil Code (1910) is as follows: “The pawnee may sell the property received in pledge after the debt becomes due and unpaid; but he must always give notice for thirty days to the pawner of his intention to sell, and the sale must be in public, fairly conducted, and to the highest bid
This view is in line with the great weight of authority. 32 C. J. 569. If the innkeeper parts with possession of the property of his guest the lien is lost. Bacon, Abr., Inns and Innkeepers, D; Jones v. Pearle, 1 Strange, 556, sub nom. Jones v. Thurloe, 8 Mod. 172. The lien in favor of an innkeeper consists in his right to retain the possession of, the chattels in opposition to the title of the owner until the charge respecting them is paid, and if the possession is voluntarily surrendered, without fraud, to the guest or owner, the lien is at an end. Hickman v. Thomas, 16 Ala. 666; Danforth v. Pratt, 42 Me. 50; Manning v. Hollenbeck, 27 Wis. 202. By parting with the possession of the property on which he has a lien, the lien is lost. If the owner gets the property into his own hands without fraud, the lien is ended. Moss v. Townsend, 7 Bulst. 206, 217; Bevans v. Waters, 3 Car. & Payne, 520; Sweat v. Pym, 1 East. 4, 5 Mees. & Wel. 342. The detention of the property of the guest by the innkeeper is necessary to hold the lien, and if he parts with his possession of it, the lien is lost, and he can not afterwards retake the property. Willcock on Inns, 79; Jacobs v. Latour, 5 Bing. 130; Grinnell v. Cook, 3 Hill (N. Y.) 486 (38 Am. D. 663) ; Bird’s Select Cases, 50; Wandell on Inns, Hotels and Boarding Houses, 181, 182.
So it follows that a judgment of the court below-finding the defendant’s property subject to the lien of the plaintiff would not have been authorised by the evidence in the case, and, as we have-
Judgment reversed.