Bailment and the Property/Contract Interface

Abstract

This article seeks to contribute to both the theory of private law and our understanding of bailment doctrine. Building on earlier work by Thomas Merrill and Henry Smith, I offer a revised model of the interplay between property and contract, one that incorporates the concept of license. Applying this model to bailment doctrine, I find that it resolves certain problems that have long vexed the field, including the nature of a constructive bailment and the standard of liability for so-called “contractual deviation.”

Keywords: bailment, property, contract, property theory, private law theory, property/contract interface

JEL Classification: K11, K12