IN SEARCH OF A HORSE. 389 



might have maintained him bond fide, and as the 

 horse might have died for want of food, if he had 

 refused to receive him, it seems, on principles of 

 common sense, that he is entitled to detain him for 

 his keep. 



The case of livery-stable keepers stands on very 

 different grounds. The inn-keeper is compellable 

 by law to take in strangers and their cattle for rea- 

 sonable compensation ; as, therefore, he has no option 

 to refuse the accommodation, it is equitable that he 

 should be entitled to indemnify himself; but this 

 obligation does not attach to livery-stable keepers ; 

 with them it is matter of choice whether they will 

 receive a stranger's horse : it has, therefore, been 

 held that a special contract is necessary, but, at the 

 same time, where that special contract has been 

 made, it is strictly enforced. The authority on this 

 point, is the case of Wallace v. Woodgate, in 1 Car- 

 rington and Payne, 575. "A stable keeper, by 

 special agreement, may acquire a lien on horses for 

 their keep ; and if the owner, to defeat such lien, 

 gets them away by fraud, the stable keeper has a 

 right to get possession of them, and for so doing, he 

 will not be answerable in trover ; for the lien is not 



