1. Personal Property and Bailments
Chapter 17.1
Personal Property and Bailments

2. Objectives Upon completing this section, you will know how to:
Identify tangible and intangible personal property
Decide when a gift of personal property is completed
Distinguish between lost, misplaced, and abandoned property
Explain the law that applies to stolen property
Discuss the law of patents, copyrights and trademarks

3. Personal Property
Personal property- anything that can be owned, other than real property
Tangible personal property- property that has substance and can be touched
Examples: clothing, books, and cars

4. Intangible personal property- property that has no substance and cannot be touched
Example: when someone owes you money, the right to receive the money is intangible personal property
Example 1

5. Gifts of Personal Property
3 Requirements:
donor- one making the gift-must intend to make the gift
must be delivered
donee- one receiving the gift-must accept the gift
Example 2

6. Lost Property
You have the legal duty to return the property to the owner if that person can be found.
If you can’t find—keep it
May use lost property
Check local law—advertise or property authority
Rewards- any finder of lost property is entitled to any reward offered if they knew about the reward when they surrender the property to its owner

7. Misplaced Property
If property is found in a public or semipublic place it is not considered to be lost, but misplaced
Must leave property with proprietor or manager
Example 3

8. Intellectual Property
Intellectual property- an original work fixed in a tangible medium of expression
Examples: patents, copyrights, and trademarks
Patent- exclusive right guaranteed by the federal government to make use or sell an invention
US Patent and Trademark Office
Lasts for 17 years
New principle or idea
Must be useful

9. Copyright- a right guaranteed to an author, composer, photographer, or artist to exclusively publish and sell an artistic or literary work
US Copyright Office in Washington DC
Lasts the life of the author + 70 years
Trademark- distinctive mark, symbol, or slogan used by a business to identify goods and to distinguish them from products sold by others
Lasts 10 years and must be renewed every 10 years

10. Bailments of Personal Property
*Property in possession of others.
Bailments- an agreement created by the delivery of personal property by the owner to someone who is not the owner for a specific purpose
Bailee- person who has possession of personal property that belongs to someone else
Bailor- person who owns the personal property in someone else’s possession

11. *The law of bailments defines rights and duties.
Example 4

12. Principal Types of Bailments
Business- contract with consideration
Example 5

13. Great care- implied promise
Example 6: George offered the use of his motorcycle to his friend, Andrea. This was a friendly gesture on George’s part with no thought to repayment. Andrea accepted the offer and borrowed the motorcycle to ride to a neighboring town. This is a bailment because Andrea made an implied promise to use the motorcycle with great care.

14. No agreement
Example 7: John found a watch lying on the sidewalk. He picked it up and put it in his pocket. He later advertised in the local paper to find the true owner. This was a bailment because John was in possession of a watch that he did not own.

15. Mutual Benefit Bailments
Mutual-Benefit Bailments- both the bailor and bailee receive some benefit
The most common mutual-benefit bailments:
1. service or repair
Example 8

16. 2. storage
Example 9

17. 3. parking cars in a lot- bailment or renting a space
bailment- the burden is on the bailee to prove that they were not negligent
renting a space- burden of proof is on the owner of the car to prove negligence of the lot owner to recover a loss

18. 4. security for a loan
Example 10

19. Property- pledge
Borrower- pledgor, owner of the property
Lender- pledgee

20. Martin- bailee of a good belonging to the equipment company
5. renting goods from others- pay for the use and return it in good condition
Example 11
Martin- bailee of a good belonging to the equipment company
Rental company- bailor obligated to give Martin a sprayer free of defects

21. 6. gratuitous bailment- free of charge
Example 12
Example 13

22. Rights and Duties in Bailments
The rights of the bailee are the duties of the bailor.
Bailor’s Rights and Bailee’s Duties:
receive services or money that was contracted for
protected from harm (reasonable care)
have the goods returned

23. Bailee’s Rights and Bailor’s Duties:
pay for services or storage costs
warn the bailee of any danger involved
notice of any special care
pick up the goods in a reasonable time

24. Bailee’s Rights and Duties
Old law-3 degrees of care:
great
ordinary
slight

25. New law- reasonable care under the circumstances
Reasonable care- degree of care that a reasonable person would exercise to prevent the goods from being harmed
If the bailee violates the terms of the bailment- bailee becomes an insurer of the goods

26. Insurer- one who is absolutely liable for any loss
Repairs- mechanic’s lien on the property
Lien- a right to hold the property until paid for and permission is granted from court to sell the goods
Tortuous bailee- wrongfully retains possession of the lost property of another or is knowingly in possession of stolen property

27. Burden of Proof
*Generally, when one person brings claim against another for negligence, the plaintiff has the burden of proving that the defendant was negligent.
Example 14

28. Recent decisions by state and federal courts have changed this rule in the case of bailments.
Many courts now say that the burden of proof should rest on the party who is in the best position to determine what actually happened to the goods.

29. Assignment
Page 367 #1-6