Section 1: Renting Property

Responsibilities of Bailors and Bailees

Of course, simply knowing that bailments exist and being able to identify the different sorts isn't of much use if you aren't aware of the legal rights and responsibilities that both parties have every time a bailment is created. For instance, what about the dry cleaner who ruins a dress, the courier company that loses a package, and the motel owner who learns that a burglar has stolen a guest's jewellery? In all these cases, it's necessary to turn to the law to discover just who's responsible for what.

There are three areas of law that determine the rights and responsibilities involved in bailments:

Common Law Standards: The backbone of the legal systems used in English-speaking countries all over the world is the common law. Basically, the common law is simply the collection of decisions judges have made in trials over the centuries. When a judge decides a case in a certain way, that decision becomes a precedent. Afterward, other judges in lower courts are required to follow that precedent in deciding similar cases. These precedents, taken together, make up the common law (also called case law or judge-made law). This law isn't written down in one spot like an Act of Parliament, but it does form the basis of our legal system.
Any statutes that may exist: A statute is simply an act passed by a government-in Canada by either the federal government or one of the provincial or territorial governments.
Examples of statutes you've likely heard of are the Criminal Code and the Youth Criminal Justice Act (both federal) and the School Act (Albertan). When a statute is passed, it takes priority over the common law; but if it's ever repealed (cancelled) or struck down by a higher court as unconstitutional, the common law automatically comes back into play.
Any specific contractual arrangements the bailor and bailee may have agreed upon: Individuals and organizations can, of course, make their own contracts whenever they create bailments. For example, the law may say that a bailee is responsible for a bailor's possession, but bailor and bailee may agree that in a particular case this won't be true.

So if, say, the common law says that innkeepers are responsible for guests' belongings but the government passes a statue saying they are not, the statue is the one to go by?

That's right. But anything the statute does not deal with or is unclear on will still be decided by the old common-law principles.