Author: Ayushmaan Vashishth, Student at Symbiosis Law School, Pune.
INTRODUCTION
The term “bailment” originates from the French word “bailler,” which means “to deliver.” In legal parlance, bailment refers to the transfer of possession of goods from one individual to another for a specific purpose and under a contract wherein the goods must be returned or dealt with in accordance with the instructions of the person who delivered them, as per Section 148 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872. Bailment represents a temporary transfer of possession of goods from one party to another.
Bailment arrangements can take various forms and involve a range of parties. It typically involves a transfer of ownership to a third party to fulfil a pre-planned arrangement, which may require the bailee to undertake specific obligations or vice versa, in exchange for consideration that is not mandatory by law. While such goods are in the bailee’s custody, the bailor is usually not permitted to use them. The bailor is the person who owns and delivers the goods, while the recipient of the goods is the bailee.
The general provisions of bailment are encompassed in Chapter 9 (Sections 148–181) of the Indian Contract Act, 1872. A bailment is a specific kind of contract and must contain all the necessary components of a valid contract, including agreement, capacity, and so on. Nonetheless, a legal bailment may be established even in the absence of a formal agreement between the parties. For example, if someone finds a lost item, they become its bailee and are responsible for returning it to its rightful owner, the bailor, even in the absence of a written agreement between the parties.
