A Bailment is a special contract defined under section 148 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872. It is derived from a French word i.e., “bailer” which means “to deliver”. The etymological meaning of bailment is “handing over” or “change of possession of goods”. By Bailment, we mean delivery of goods from one person to another for a special purpose on the contract that they shall reimburse the goods on the fulfillment of the purpose or dispose of them as per the direction of the bailor.

Definition: Contract of Bailment (Sec. 148)

A ‘bailment’ is the delivery of goods by one person to another for some purpose, upon a contract that they shall, when the purpose is accomplished, be returned or otherwise disposed of according to the directions of the person delivering them. The person delivering the goods is called the “bailor”. The person to whom they are delivered is called the “bailee”. the property bailed is known as bailed property.

Bailment can also be described as ‘the delivery of goods to another person for a particular use’. Only ‘goods’ can be bailed and thus, only movable goods can be the subject matter of bailment. Current money or legal tender cannot be bailed. Deposition of money in a bank is not bailment as money is not ‘goods’ and the same money is not returned to the client. But the coins and notes that are no longer legal tender and are more or less just objects of curiosity, then they can be bailed.

Example: A man drops off his clothes for dry cleaning. He is the bailor and the purpose of bailment is to have the particular set of clothes cleaned. The dry cleaner is the bailee – he is the temporary custodian of the clothes and is responsible for keeping them safe and to return them to the bailor once they have been cleaned.

Essential elements of bailment

(1) Delivery of possession of goods :

 Delivery of goods from one person to another person for some purpose is an essential elements of bailment.  According to Section 149 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 the delivery to the bailee may be made by doing anything which has the effect of putting the goods in the possession of the intended bailee or of any person authorised to hold them on his behalf.

 (2) Delivery of possession upon a contract : 

There can be no bailment without a contract. all conditions for valid contract are to be satisfied, such as Competent parties, free consent lawful object etc.

 (3) Return or dispose of goods according to the direction : 

In bailment the goods are delivered for specific purpose. after the purpose is accomplished the goods may be returned to the bailor in the same or altered direction, condition or maybe disposed of as directed by bailor. If the person to whom the goods are delivered is not bound to restore them to the person delivering them or to deal with them according to the mandate their relationship will not be that of bailor and bailee.