5 Sandf. 242 | The Superior Court of New York City | 1851
By the Court.
In order to charge the defendant as an innkeeper, it was not necessary to prove that it was only for the reception of travellers that his house was
It is plain, however, that the liability of an innkeeper, as such, in any particular case, continues no longer than the continuance of the relation between him and the guest. That relation ceases, when the guest pays his bill and leaves the house,, with the declared intention of not returning. In such a case it is at his own peril, we apprehend, that he leaves his baggage or other property behind him. The innkeeper has a right to believe that he has taken it with him, and is, therefore, no longer responsible for its safe keeping, unless it is specially committed to his charge ; and then, only, as an ordinary bailee. His common law liability is at an end.
Whether young Wintermute, in the case before us, had not ceased to be the guest of the defendant, before the trunk was lost, and, consequently, whether the liability of the defendant for its safe keeping, had not then ceased, was a question that directly arose upon the evidence, and which, therefore, as the turning question in the cause, ought to have been submitted to the jury. That it was, in fact, submitted, is not asserted, and the charge of the judge, as stated in the case, clearly shows that it was not. To repair this omission, a new trial must be granted, and an opportunity thus be given to the defendant, of obtaining the verdict, to which, under a proper direction, a jury may think him entitled.
It has occurred to us, that there is a difficulty in the way of the plaintiff’s recovery, which, it is proper, should be stated, for the consideration of the counsel. It seems to have been conceded, upon the trial, that as Wintermute, the son, was a minor, the property in the trunk, and its contents, was vested in the
The grounds of the charge, which I gave to the jury, were, that, under the pleadings,-the defendant wgs bound to prove, affirmatively1,- the- redelivery df the trunk,- and that' the requisite proof of this fact, had' not been given: I am U'oW satisfied,-that there was evidence, from Which, the jury, if they credited'the defendant’s Witness, would have been-warranted'to infer the fact of a redélivery, and consequently, that'the question ought' to have been submitted t'o the jury. If is upon' this ground; that 1 concur in granting a tiew trial.
The difficulty,-which the Chief Justice has suggested, as to the right of the plaintiff, to maintain this action, I am inclined to think-, will not be overcome,- unless, .upon' the next trial, further and mofe satisfactory evidence- of the ownership of the father shall be given. As the- case stands,-the prestimption; it seems' to me, is" against his title:
Judgment reversed: and' new trial granted', with costs to abide the évent.