Bailment

Bailment is a legal relationship in common law, where the owner of personal property ("chattel") transfers physical possession of that property to another, who holds the property for a certain purpose, but retains ownership.^[1] The owner who surrenders custody of a property is called the "bailor" and the individual who accepts the property is called a "bailee".^[2] The bailee is the person who possesses the personal property in trust for the owner^[a] for a set time^[b] and for a precise reason and who delivers the property back to the owner when they have accomplished the purpose that was initially intended.^[7]

^ Garner, Bryan A, ed. (2009). Black's law dictionary (9th ed.). St. Paul, MN: West. p. 162. ISBN 978-0314199492.
^ Merrill, Thomas W. (2010). Property. Smith, Henry E. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-971808-5. OCLC 656424368.
^ Scott, Austin Wakeman (1967). The Law of Trusts. Little, Brown. p. 49. LCCN 67019987. Trust and bailment. The term "trust" is sometimes used in a sense broad enough to include bailment. A bailment, however, is not a trust in the strict sense; for a bailee is entrusted merely with the possession of a chattel, whereas a trustee holds the title to the trust property. A trust is a more intensive relationship than that which is involved in a bailment.
^ Virgo, Graham (2020). The Principles of Equity & Trusts. Oxford University Press. p. 62. ISBN 978-0-19-885415-9. The essence of the distinction between trust and bailment is therefore that the bailee does not have legal title to the property and is obliged to manage the property on behalf of the legal owner, whereas the trustee has legal title to the property and is obliged to manage the property on behalf of the beneficiary, who has an equitable interest in the property.
^ Faber, Wolfgang; Lurger, Brigitta (27 April 2009). England and Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Cyprus. Walter de Gruyter. p. 23. ISBN 978-3-86653-703-3. It is recognised that such a relationship can be of two main types: 'at will', meaning that the bailor can call for possession to be returned at any time; or 'for a term', meaning that the bailor only has a right to the return of the asset upon expiration of the certain period (save where the bailment has been repudiated...). Unless the bailor has made a binding promise to allow the bailee to retain possession for a fixed term, the bailment is at will.
^ Faber, Wolfgang; Lurger, Brigitta (30 March 2011). Acquisition and Loss of Ownership of Goods. Walter de Gruyter. p. 388. ISBN 978-3-86653-901-3. Unless the bailor has given a binding promise to confer possession to the bailee for a fixed term, the bailment is considered to be at will. Bailment can derive from a contract, but this is not always the case and gratuitous bailments (e.g. deposit of luggage with a coach driver during travel) also exist (Houghland v. R. R. Low (Luxury Coaches) Ltd. [1962] 1 QB 694).
^ Gordon, Noah J.; Surette, Eric C. "Bailments". American Jurisprudence. Vol. 8A (2d ed.).

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[1] Garner, Bryan A, ed. (2009). Black's law dictionary (9th ed.). St. Paul, MN: West. p. 162. ISBN 978-0314199492.

[:1-2] Merrill, Thomas W. (2010). Property. Smith, Henry E. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-971808-5. OCLC 656424368.

[3] Scott, Austin Wakeman (1967). The Law of Trusts. Little, Brown. p. 49. LCCN 67019987. Trust and bailment. The term "trust" is sometimes used in a sense broad enough to include bailment. A bailment, however, is not a trust in the strict sense; for a bailee is entrusted merely with the possession of a chattel, whereas a trustee holds the title to the trust property. A trust is a more intensive relationship than that which is involved in a bailment.

[4] Virgo, Graham (2020). The Principles of Equity & Trusts. Oxford University Press. p. 62. ISBN 978-0-19-885415-9. The essence of the distinction between trust and bailment is therefore that the bailee does not have legal title to the property and is obliged to manage the property on behalf of the legal owner, whereas the trustee has legal title to the property and is obliged to manage the property on behalf of the beneficiary, who has an equitable interest in the property.

[6] Faber, Wolfgang; Lurger, Brigitta (27 April 2009). England and Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Cyprus. Walter de Gruyter. p. 23. ISBN 978-3-86653-703-3. It is recognised that such a relationship can be of two main types: 'at will', meaning that the bailor can call for possession to be returned at any time; or 'for a term', meaning that the bailor only has a right to the return of the asset upon expiration of the certain period (save where the bailment has been repudiated...). Unless the bailor has made a binding promise to allow the bailee to retain possession for a fixed term, the bailment is at will.

[7] Faber, Wolfgang; Lurger, Brigitta (30 March 2011). Acquisition and Loss of Ownership of Goods. Walter de Gruyter. p. 388. ISBN 978-3-86653-901-3. Unless the bailor has given a binding promise to confer possession to the bailee for a fixed term, the bailment is considered to be at will. Bailment can derive from a contract, but this is not always the case and gratuitous bailments (e.g. deposit of luggage with a coach driver during travel) also exist (Houghland v. R. R. Low (Luxury Coaches) Ltd. [1962] 1 QB 694).

[:0-9] Gordon, Noah J.; Surette, Eric C. "Bailments". American Jurisprudence. Vol. 8A (2d ed.).

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