In the next place, the strict rule is not confined to nautae,
caupones, and stabularii, nor even to common carriers; but is
applied to all bailees for reward, exercising a public calling.
In the next place, the degree of responsibility is precisely that
of bailees in general, as worked out by the previous decisions;
but quite unlike and much more severe [199] than that imposed by
the Roman law, as others have observed. /1/
And, finally, the exemption from liability for acts of God or the
public enemy is characteristically English, as will be proved
further on.
But it has been partially shown in this Lecture that the law of
to-day has made the carrier's burden heavier than it was in the
time of the Year Books. Southcote's Case, and the earlier
authorities which have been cited, all refer to a loss by
robbery, theft, or trespass, and hold the bailee liable, where,
in theory at least, he has a remedy over. It was with reference
to such cases, as has been seen, that the rule arose, although it
is not improbable that it would have been applied to an
unexplained loss; the writ against innkeepers reads absque
subtractionie seu amissione custodire. In later times, the
principle may have been extended from loss by theft to loss by
destruction.
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