Select Essays in Anglo-American Legal History Volume 3 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1909 Excerpt: ...goods were lost.1 Fifthly, bailees were chargeable in assumpsit, after that action had become the common remedy for the breach of parol contracts.2 Finally, we find, as the most striking illustration of the contractual nature of the bailment, the rule of the old Teutonic law that a bailor could not maintain detinue against any one but the bailee. If the bailee bailed or sold the goods, or lost possession of them against his will, the sub-bailee, the purchaser, and even the thief, were secure from attack by the bailor. This doctrine maintained itself with great persistency in Germany and France.8 In England the ancient tradition was recognized in the fourteenth century. In 1351 Thorpe (a judge three years later) said: " I cannot recover against any one except him to whom the charter was bailed."4 Belknap (afterwards Chief Justice) said in 1370: "In the lifetime of the bailee detinue is not given against any one except the bailee, for he is chargeable for life."5 Whether it was ever the law of England that the bailor was without remedy, if the bailee died in possession of the chattel, must be left an open question. 6 In a case of the year 1323 it was gener 1 Reeve v. Palmer, 5 C. B. jr. s. 84. The early authorities are cited by Professor Beale in Essay No. 54, ante. Wheatley v. Lowe, Palm. 28; Cro. Jac. 668, s. c. See Essay No. 59, ante. Heusler, Die Gewere, 487; Carlin, Niemand kann auf einen Anderen mehr Recht ubertragen als er selbst hat, 42, 48; Jobbe-Duval, La Revendication des Meubles, 80, 165. Y. B. 24 Ed. III. f. 41, A, pi. 22. Y. B. 43 Ed. III. f. 29, pi. 11. "In Sel. Cas. in Ch., 10 Seld Soc'y No. 116 (1413-1417), a plaintiff, before going to Jerusalem, had bailed a coffer containing title deeds and money to his mother. The ...