SECTION 1. Any hotel keeper, inn-keeper, boardinghouse or lodging-house keeper, who shall have a lien for fare, accommodation, or board upon any goods, baggage or other chattel property, and in his possession for a period of three months at least after the departure of the guest or boarder leaving the same, or who, for a period of six months, shall have in custody any unclaimed trunk, box, valise, package, parcel, or other chattel property whatever, may proceed to sell the same at public auction, and out of the proceeds of such sale may, in case of lien, retain the amount thereof, and the expense of advertisement and sale; and, in case of unclaimed property, the expense of storage, advertisement and sale thereof; provided, in all instances, the notice specified in the next section be first given as therein directed.

SEC. 2. Fifteen days at least prior to the time of the sale, a notice of the time and place of holding the sale, and containing a brief description of the goods, baggage and articles to be sold, shall be published in a newspaper of general circulation, published in the city or town in which such hotel, inn or boardinghouse is situated; but if there be none, then in such newspaper published nearest said city or town; and shall also be served upon said guest, boarder or owner of such chattel articles and property, if he reside or can be found within the county where said hotel, inn, boarding-house or lodging-house is situated, by delivering the same to him personally, or leaving it at his place of residence with a person of suitable age in charge thereof. But if such guest, boarder or owner does not reside or cannot be found in said county, then said notice shall be deposited in

FORECLOSING THE LIEN.

189

the post-office of said city or town, with the postage prepaid thereon, fifteen days prior to said sale, and addressed to said guest, boarder or owner at his place of residence, if he left his address, or it be otherwise known to said hotel, inn, boarding-house keeper or lodging-house keeper. The sale shall take place between the hours of ten o'clock in the forenoon and four o'clock in the afternoon and all articles sold shall be to the highest bidder for cash.

SEC. 3. Such hotel keeper, inn-keeper, boardinghouse keeper or lodging-house keeper shall make an entry of the articles sold, and the balance of the proceeds of the sale, if any, and within ten days from such sale shall, upon demand, refund such balance and surplus to such guest, boarder or person leaving the articles sold.

SEC. 4. In case such balance shall not be demanded and paid as specified in the last section, within said ten days, then within five days thereafter said hotel keeper, inn-keeper, boarding-house keeper or lodging-house keeper shall pay said balance to the treasurer of the county, or chamberlain of said city, as the case may be, and shall at the same time file with said treasurer or chamberlain an affidavit made by him, in which shall be stated the name and place of residence, so far as they are known to him, of the guest, boarder or person whose goods, baggage or chattel articles were sold, the articles sold, and the price at which they were sold, the name and residence of the auctioneer making the sale, and a copy of the notice published, and how served, whether by personal service, or by mailing, and if not so served, the reason thereof.

SEC. 5. Said treasurer or chamberlain shall keep said surplus moneys for and credit the same to the persons named in said affidavit as said guest, boarder or person leaving the articles sold, and shall pay the same to said person, his or her executors or adminis trators, upon demand and evidence satisfactory to said treasurer or chamberlain furnished of their identity.

SEC. 6. Nothing herein contained shall preclude any other remedy now existing for the enforcement of hotel keepers', inn-keepers', boarding-house keepers' or lodging-house keepers' lien, nor bar their right to recover for so much of the debt as shall not be paid through said sale.

At common law the inn-keeper's lien did not give him a right to sell the goods of a guest to satisfy his charges against him; he was obliged to enforce the lien by an action in the nature of a bill in equity.' He may still pursue his common law remedy independently of the statute.

By chapter 738 of the laws of 1869, the keepers of inns, boarding-houses, etc., had the right to bring a specific action for the enforcement of a lien, and the foreclosure thereof. The act provided for the form of judgment, manner of sale, etc. It was repealed by chapter 245 of the laws of 1880.

The Code of Procedure of this State provides that an action may be maintained to foreclose a lien upon a chattel for a sum of money when such a lien exists at the commencement of the action, and provides the

I,

Fox vs. McGregor, 11 Barb., 41; 1 Str., 556; Pothonier vs. Dawson, 1 Holt N. P., 383, and see Edwards on Bailments, p. 414.

FORECLOSING THE lien.

I

191

manner of carrying on such action. Under this provision the liens of inn-keepers and boarding-house keepers can be foreclosed.

1, See Code Civil Procedure, sections 1737 to 1741 inclusive.

CHAPTER X.

BOARDING-HOUSES.

The boarding-house may be said to be a creature of the statute. All the privileges and immunities which proprietors of such houses now enjoy have been specifically conferred upon them by acts of the Legislature. At the common law the keeper of a boarding-house had none of the privileges of an inn-keeper; he could not detain the baggage and effects of adelinquent boarder which were in his house because he had no right of lien, and he often suffered great hardships, and was subject to gross impositions on this account. Consequently, his obligation to look after and preserve the effects of a boarder was very slight, if any existed. The Legislature of this State has given to boarding-house keepers the same privileges as are enjoyed by inn-keepers in regard to detaining the baggage of boarders who do not pay their bills, and as to arresting those who attempt to defraud them. This sweeping change in the legal status of boarding-house keepers, has brought with it some corresponding changes from the common law liability of the keepers of such houses.

WHAT IS A BOARDING-HOUSE?

It is not every house in which one or two additional members of the family are received for compensa