COLONIAL STATUTE. 23 sort of entertainment; and no man shall be compelled to pay above eight pence a meale (with small beere only) unless the guest shall make other agreement with the person so licensed. Every person licensed to keep an ordinary shall always be provided of strong and wholesome beere, of fower (4) bushels of malt at least to a hogshead, which hee shall not sell at above two pence the quart, under the penalty of twenty shillings for the first offence, forty shillings for the second and loss of license. It is permitted to any to sell beere out of doores, at a penny the alequart or under." CHAPTER II. INNS IN GENERAL. We now come to speak of the subject of inns in a general manner, and to consider what is essential to constitute an inn from a legal standpoint. INN DEFINED. There have been numerous answers to the question "What is an inn?" The most erudite jurists have defined it in varying terms. The most concise definition is that of Petersdorf, who says it is "a house for the reception and entertainment of all comers for gain." Bayley says it is "a house where the traveler is furnished with everything he has occasion for while on the way." An inn is also said to be a public place of entertainment for all travelers who choose to visit it. A hotel is an inn or house for entertaining strangers or travelers. An inn is a house for the lodging and entertainment of travelers.* An inn is "a house kept open publicly for the lodging and entertainment of travelers generally for a reasonable compensation."s Anyone who makes it 2, 3, Petersdorf's Abridg., Vol. 5, p. 159; Thompson vs. Lacy, 3 B. & Ald., 203; see also, Dickerson vs. Rodgers, 4 Humph., 179; Pinkerton vs. Woodman, 33 Cal., 557; 4. People vs. Jones, 54 Barb., 311; INN DEFINED. 25 his business to entertain travelers and passengers, and provide lodgings and necessaries for them, their horses and attendants, is a common innkeeper.1 An innkeeper is defined as "one who keeps an inn or house for the accommodation of travelers." The learned Best J., has given an excellent definition of an inn, in an opinion in which he says that an inn is a house, the owner of which holds out that he will receive all travelers and sojourners who are willing to pay a price adequate to the sort of accommodation provided, and who come in a state in which they are fit to be received. An inn was said by Kelly, Ch. B., to be "a place instituted for passengers and wayfaring men." A public house of entertainment for all who choose to visit it is the true definition of an inn.5 The able Chief Justice Daly, in the course of an exhaustive opinion on the subject of inns, says: "An inn is a house where all who conduct themselves properly, and who are able and ready to pay for their entertainment, are received, if there is accommodation for them, and who, without any stipulated engagement as to the duration of their stay, or as to the rate of compensation, are, while there, supplied, at a reasonable charge, with their meals, lodging, refreshments and such services and attention as are necessarily incident to the use of the house as a temporary home." I, Edwards on Bailments, section 450; 2, Burrill's Law Dictionary; 3, Thompson vs. Lacy, supra; 4, 5, Queen vs. Rhymer, L. R. 2, Q. B. Div., 136. p. 140; Wintermute vs. Clark, 5 Sandf., 242, 247; Walling vs. Potter, 35 Conn., 183; Wait's Act. & Def., 343; Bouvier's Institutes, § 1015; Redf. C. & Bal., § 584; Edw. on Bailm., § 455; Schouler on Bailm., 256; 6, Cromwell vs. Stevens, 2 Daly, 151; WHAT CONSTITUTES AN INN. The Courts have frequently been called upon to decide whether or not an establishment kept for the entertainment of the public, was legally an inn. It has been held that a hotel kept in a city for the entertainment of transient guests is an inn. A proprietor of a house or hotel, on what is called the European plan, where rooms are rented, and meals supplied at a restaurant in the hotel, is an innkeeper within the meaning of Chapter 421 of the laws of 1855. A person who makes it his business to entertain travelers and passengers, and furnish lodgings and necessaries for them, and their horses and attendants, is a common innkeeper.3 It should be done for a reasonable compensation.* A house for the reception and ente tainment of people, principally emigrants, who arrived at a port and stayed but a short time, is an inn. In order to legally constitute an inn it is not necessary that meals should be served at table d' hote. Generally speal ing, stables are not necessary for an inn. The New York statutes require stables for all inns, except in cities. A man may be an innkeeper though he keeps the inn imperfectly or combines that employment with others. If he is prepared and holds himself out to the public as ready to entertain travelers, strangers and transient guests, with their teams, although he may sometimes make special bargains, may not keep 1, Taylor vs. Mennott, 1 Abb., 325; 2, 3, 4, Bernstein vs. Sweeney, I J. & S., 271; Parker vs. Flint, 12 Mod., 255; Parkhurst vs. Foster, Overseers vs. Warner, 3 Hill, 157; 5, Willard vs. Reinhardt, 2 E. D. Smith, 148: 6, Krohn vs. Sweeney, 2 Daly, 200; WHAT IS NOT AN INN. 27 his house open in the night, and may not keep the stable at which he puts up horses at his house.' WHAT IS NOT AN INN. The keeper of a restaurant who has no beds for the accommodation of travelers is not an innkeeper. A mere lodging-house, in which no provision is made for supplying the lodgers with their meals, wants one of the essential requirements of an inn. A house which does not contain the means of preparing food for the table in the ordinary way has not the necessary accommodations to entertain travelers. A free lunch at the bar, or the occasional bringing of victuals from a neighboring restaurant, will not transform a drinking saloon into a hotel. A mere restaurant or eating-house is not an inn, nor a mere lodging-house, in which no provision is made for supplying the lodgers with their meals; and in respect to houses for the entertainment of travelers, of which there are many, where the pays so much a day for his meals or not, as he thinks proper, in the restaurant, paying separately for each meal, as he takes it, they are to be considered inns, if the restaurant forms part of the establishment, and the whole house is kept under one general management for the reception of all guests or travelers that may come there.3 At common law it was held that a house in which lodgers are received and provided with meat and drink under an agreement, at a stipulated rate, is not I, 2, 3, guest or traveler room, and takes his Carr vs. Weatherbee, 101 Mass., 214; Matter of Kelley vs. Excise Commissioners, 54 How. 332: |