It is not
true to-day that all bailees for reward exercising a public
calling are insurers. No such doctrine is applied to
grain-elevators or deposit-vaults. /1/
How Lord Holt came to distinguish between bailees for reward and
others has been shown above. It is more pertinent here to notice
that his further qualification, exercising a public calling, was
part of a protective system which has passed away. One adversely
inclined might say that it was one of many signs that the law was
administered in the interest of the upper classes. It has been
shown above that if a man was a common farrier he could be
charged for negligence without an assumpsit. The same judge who
threw out that intimation established in another case that he
could be sued if he refused to shoe a horse on reasonable
request. /2/ Common carriers and common innkeepers were liable in
like case, and Lord Holt stated the principle: "If a man takes
upon him a public employment, he is bound to serve the public as
far as the employment extends, and for refusal an action lies."
/3/ An attempt to apply this doctrine generally at the present
day would be thought monstrous. But it formed part of a
consistent scheme for holding those who followed useful callings
up to the mark.
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