2 So too a person to whom a thing is lent for use is laid under a
real obligation, and is liable to the action on a loan for use. The
difference between this case and a loan for consumption is considerable,
for here the intention is not to make the object lent the property of
the borrower, who accordingly is bound to restore the same identical
thing. Again, if the receiver of a loan for consumption loses what he
has received by some accident, such as fire, the fall of a building,
shipwreck, or the attack of thieves or enemies, he still remains bound:
but the borrower for use, though responsible for the greatest care in
keeping what is lent him--and it is not enough that he has shown as much
care as he usually bestows on his own affairs, if only some one else
could have been more diligent in the charge of it--has not to answer for
loss occasioned by fire or accident beyond his control, provided it
did not occur through any fault of his own. Otherwise, of course, it is
different: for instance, if you choose to take with you on a journey a
thing which has been lent to you for use, and lose it by being attacked
by enemies or thieves, or by a shipwreck, it is beyond question that you
will be liable for its restoration. A thing is not properly said to
be lent for use if any recompense is received or agreed upon for the
service; for where this is the case, the use of the thing is held to be
hired, and the contract is of a different kind, for a loan for use ought
always to be gratuitous.
3 Again, the obligation incurred by a person with whom a thing is
deposited for custody is real, and he can be sued by the action of the
deposit; he too being responsible for the restoration of the identical
thing deposited, though only where it is lost through some positive
act of commission on his part: for for carelessness, that is to say,
inattention and negligence, he is not liable. Thus a person from whom
a thing is stolen, in the charge of which he has been most careless,
cannot be called to account, because, if a man entrusts property to the
custody of a careless friend, he has no one to blame but himself for his
want of caution.
4 Finally, the creditor who takes a thing in pledge is under a real
obligation, and is bound to restore the thing itself by the action of
pledge. A pledge, however, is for the benefit of both parties; of
the debtor, because it enables him to borrow more easily, and of
the creditor, because he has the better security for repayment; and
accordingly, it is a settled rule that the pledgee cannot be held
responsible for more than the greatest care in the custody of the
pledge; if he shows this, and still loses it by some accident, he
himself is freed from all liability, without losing his right to sue for
the debt.
TITLE XV. OF VERBAL OBLIGATION
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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