Sec.2. A person who receives goods to be kept and returned without reward, must keep them with reasonable care, or, if they receive injury, he will be liable for the damage: in other words, he is responsible only for gross neglect. Gross neglect is a want of that care which every man of common sense takes of his own property. A depositary, who is a person with whom goods are deposited, has no right to use the goods intrusted to him.
Sec.3. A mandatary, or one who undertakes to do an act for another without recompense, in respect to the thing bailed to him, is responsible for gross neglect, if he undertakes and does the work amiss; but it is thought that for agreeing to do, and not undertaking or doing at all, he is not liable for damage.
Sec.4. The borrower of an article, as a horse, carriage, or book, without reward, is liable for damage in case of slight neglect. But if the article is applied only to the use for which it is borrowed, is used carefully by the borrower only, and returned within the time for which it was borrowed, he is not liable.
Sec.5. Property taken in pledge as security for a debt or an engagement, must be kept with ordinary care; in other words, the pawnee is answerable only for ordinary neglect; and if the goods should then be lost or destroyed, the pawner is still liable for the debt. If the pawnee derives any profit from the use of the property, he must apply the profits, after deducting necessary expenses, toward the debt.
Sec.6. Another kind of bailment is the hiring of property for a reward. If an article is injured or destroyed without any fault on the part of the hirer, the loss falls on the owner, for the risk is with him.
Sec.7. If work or care is to be bestowed for a recompense on the thing delivered, the workman is liable for ordinary neglect; and the work must be performed with proper skill, or he is answerable for damage. If a tailor receives cloth to be made into a coat, he is bound to do it in a workmanlike manner.
Sec.8. Innkeepers are in general responsible for all injuries to the goods and baggage of their guests, even for thefts. But for loss caused by unavoidable accident, or by superior force, as robbery, they are not liable.
Sec.9. A person who carries goods for hire in a particular case, and not as a common carrier, is answerable only for ordinary neglect, unless he expressly takes the risk of a common carrier.
Sec.10. A common carrier is one who carries goods for hire as a common business, whether by land or by water, and is responsible to the owner of the goods, even if robbed of them. He is in the nature of an insurer, and is answerable for all losses, except in cases of the act of God, as by lightning, storms, floods, &c. and public enemies, as in time of war.