rom loss by fires
which are in no way caused by their own negligence or that of their
servants. If a horse dies while in the innkeeper's charge, he is
liable unless he can show facts that excuse him.

If the goods of a guest are stolen by the innkeeper's servants or
domestics, by another guest, or by someone outside the inn, the
innkeeper must make restitution, for it is his duty to provide honest
servants, and to exercise an exact vigilance over all persons coming
into his house as guests or otherwise. His responsibility extends to
all his servants and domestics, and he is bound in every event to pay
for them if stolen, unless they were stolen by a servant or companion
of the guest. Illness or absence of the innkeeper does not excuse him.
An innkeeper is not liable for the loss of a guest's property when
this loss is due to the fault or negligence of the guest himself. Thus
an unnecessary display of money or valuables, or leaving them where
they would tempt thieves, may be negligence. But failure to lock or
bolt his door is not necessarily negligence on the part of a guest. It
is only evidence of negligence. Nor is an innkeeper exonerated when a
theft is committed by a fellow guest with whom the owner of the
property stolen had consented to occupy the same room.

An innkeeper may make needful and reasonable regulations that are to
be observed by his guests to secure the safety of his property. When
they are made and brought to the knowledge of a guest he is bound by
them. By contract, custom and statute the responsibility of an
innkeeper may be changed. In many states by statute an innkeeper
avoids liability for the valuables of his guest unless they are
deposited with him. These statutes are construed strictly in favor of
the guest. Nor can an innkeeper even by these exempt himself from
everything, for if a guest were required to deposit all he had to
secure such protection, he would be in a strange fix. Said a Georgia
court: "Is the guest to deposit his valise there, and go and send for
it to get out a clean shirt?"

If a guest goes away, leaving his valise or other things with an
innkeeper, he is not required after a reasonable time to observe such
diligence in keeping them as he receives nothing in the way of
compensation for so doing.

Keepers of lodging and boarding houses are not innkeepers, nor subject
to their liabilities. The proprietor of such a house does not hold
himself out to the world as prepared t