/2/
It was to be expected that some action should be given to the
bailor as soon as the law had got machinery which could be worked
without help from the fresh pursuit and armed hands of the
possessor and his friends. To allow the bailor to sue, and to
give him trespass, were pretty nearly the same thing before the
action on the case was heard of. Many early writs will be found
which show that trespass had not always the clear outline which
it developed later. The point which seems to be insisted on in
the Year Books is, as Brooke sums it up in the margin of his
Abridgment, that two shall have an action for a single act,--not
that both shall have trespass rather than case. /3/ It should be
added that the Year Books quoted do not go beyond the case of a
wrongful taking out of the custody of the bailee, the old case of
the folk-laws. /4/ Even thus [173] the right to maintain trespass
is now denied where bailee has the exclusive right to the goods
by lease or lien; /1/ although the doctrine has been repeated
with reference to bailments terminable at the pleasure of the
bailor. /2/ But the modified rule does not concern the present
discussion, any more than the earlier form, because it still
leaves open the possessory remedies to all bailees without
exception.
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