Friday, December 19, 2008
A Note on Bailment
A bailor is someone who gives personal property (not land, which is real property) to another, the bailee, to have possession of, but not ownership. A common example of this is car repair and maintenance. I gave my car to the garage to have my brakes checked and my oil changed. I, the bailor, entrusted the garage, the bailee, to not only service my car, but also to return it in reasonably the same condition as when it came into his possession.
While this went well for the most part, when I picked up my car, I sat down and almost gagged from the overwhemling stench of cigarettes. There is no indication that someone had actually smoked in the car, but the smell was more than a lingering scent. Does the bailee have a duty not to stink up my car? What if it was not cigarette smoke, but rather terrible body odor? Surely it would be genetic discrimination (and unreasonable to boot) to withhold a mechanic's license for a biological disparity from the norm. Maybe I should have just asked for one of those little pine-tree fresheners.
Shabbat Shalom.
While this went well for the most part, when I picked up my car, I sat down and almost gagged from the overwhemling stench of cigarettes. There is no indication that someone had actually smoked in the car, but the smell was more than a lingering scent. Does the bailee have a duty not to stink up my car? What if it was not cigarette smoke, but rather terrible body odor? Surely it would be genetic discrimination (and unreasonable to boot) to withhold a mechanic's license for a biological disparity from the norm. Maybe I should have just asked for one of those little pine-tree fresheners.
Shabbat Shalom.
# posted by Daniel @ 1:13 PM 
