Inn in United Kingdom

Meaning of Inn

The following is an old definition of Inn [1]: A house where the traveler is furnished with everything which he hath occasion for whilst upon his way. A public house of entertainment for all who choose to visit it. A house kept open publicly for the lodging and entertainment of travelers in general, for a reasonable compensation. The leading ideas of all the definitions are, that an inn is a house for the entertainment of travelers and wayfarers, at all times and seasons, who properly apply and behave with decency, and this as guests for a brief period, not as lodgers or boarders, by contract, for the season. Synonymous with “tavern” and “hotel;” not with “boarding-house,” “restaurant,” or “lodging- house.” Innkeeper. A person who makes it his business to entertain travelers and passengers, and provide lodging and necessaries for them, their horses and attendants. He is a guest at an inn or hotel who is away from home and receives accommodations at the house as a traveler. See further Quest. An innkeeper’s liability for a loss to his guest is the same in character and extent as the liability of a common carrier. In the absence of proof that the loss was occasioned by the hand or through the negligence of the hotel keeper, or by a clerk or servant employed by him, the guest cannot recover the amount of the loss from the keeper. His responsibility approximates to insurance when an article (a valise) is entrusted by a guest to his keeping. An innkeeper impliedly engages to entertain all persons who apply; and an action on the case will lie against him for damages, if, without good reason, he refuses to admit a traveler. To frustrate, in that way, the end of the institution, was held to be disorderly behavior. Indeed, for an unreasonable refusal to receive travelers, the proprietor could even be indicted and his inn suppressed. The common-law liability of an innkeeper has been generally changed by statute. He is not now liable for money, jewelry, or other valuables, lost or stolen, if he provides a safe for their keeping and duly notifies guests thereof. Nor should he be held liable for goods stolen from a room furnished for the display of samples of merchandise. He is not liable as an innkeeper for the loss of money deposited with him for safe-keeping by a person not a guest. The owner of a steamship is not an innkeeper. See Board; Hotel; Lien, Common-law; Lodger; Reside; Restaukant; Right, 2, Civil Rights Acts; Tavern. Inns of court. Originally, town-houses in which the nobility and gentry resided when in attendance at court; later, schools for the study of law. The name was given to law societies which occupied certain ” Inns,” as Lincoln’s Inn, Gray’s Inn. The buildings were originally private residences, or hospitia – town-houses. They retained, in their new use, their former names; in them lectures were read, and degrees conferred in the common law. See Bencher.

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Notes and References

1. Concept of Inn provided by the Anderson Dictionary of Law (1889) (Dictionary of Law consisting of Judicial Definitions and Explanations of Words, Phrases and Maxims and an Exposition of the Principles of Law: Comprising a Dictionary and Compendium of American and English Jurisprudence; William C. Anderson; T. H. Flood and Company, Law Publishers, Chicago, United States)