The word "Bailment" is derived from the French word 'Bailer' which means 'To Deliver'. Bailment in the legal meaning is actually a kind of situation in which a person hands over his movable property to another person for a specific purpose. Further in this blog, We will discuss in detail the Contract Of Bailment.
Contract of Bailment and Pledge comes under special types of contracts. The Contract Act has general principles related to bailment and not deal with every aspect of bailment.
It is dealt with under section 148 to 181 of the Indian Contract Act.
Now, we will go through some of the definitions provided by the famous jurists and the encyclopedia of law to get a clear view of Bailment.
Sir William Jones: According to Sir William Jones, Bailment is defined as a "delivery of goods on a condition, express or implied, that they shall be reported by the bailee to the bailor or according to his directions as soon as the purpose for which they are bailed shall be answered."
Blackstone: let's understand what is a contract of bailment according to Blackstone, Bailment is defined as "A deliver of goods in trust upon a contract, express or implied that the trust shall be faithfully executed on the part of the bailee."
In Halsbury's Law Of England: It can be called an encyclopedia of law in England and Wales which provides the comprehensive encyclopedia of law. According to this encyclopedia of law, Bailment is defined as " A delivery of personal property or anything which is in personal possession is delivered in trust, on a contract which may be expressed or implied, that the trust shall be duly executed and the thing which has been given on this contract shall be delivered back in their original or altered form, as soon as the time of use for, or condition on which they were bailed shall have elapsed or been performed."
Under Section 148 of The Indian Penal Code, It is defined What is Contract Of Bailment, Who is Bailor, and Bailee. Let's go through the definition under section 148.
Section 148: It defines "A bailment is a delivery of goods by one person to another person for some purpose upon a contract that they shall when the purpose is accomplished, be returned or otherwise disposed off according to the directions of the persons delivering them. Here, the person delivering the goods is called the "The Bailor". The person to whom they are delivered is called "The Bailee". Now, we will conclude by explaining what is the contract of bailment with the help of an example.
Explanation: If a person already in possession of the goods of other contracts to hold them as a bailee, he thereby becomes the bailee, and the owner becomes the bailor of such goods, although they may not have been delivered by the way of bailment.
In addition to that, we also need to understand that bailment can be created by a person who is in possession/custody of goods. He needs not necessarily be the owner of goods. So, this was an in-depth explanation of what is a contract of bailment.