O.C.G.A.
O.C.G.A.

O.C.G.A. § 43-21-9 (2019)

Acts constituting entrustment of property to innkeeper

✓ O.C.G.A. (archive.org 2024 item): print volumes of 2004-2024, per-volume vintage; older volumes partly replaced by 2019 Release 73 text; no 2025 or 2026 Acts
Code text and O.C.G.A. statutory annotations on this page reflect the 2019 Official Code of Georgia Annotated (Public.Resource.Org Release 73, 2019-08-21; public domain per Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). The Syfert case-law annotations in Notes of Decisions, below, are current.
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It shall not be necessary to show actual delivery of property to the innkeeper before such property shall be deemed to have been entrusted to the innkeeper. Depositing goods in a public room set apart for such articles or leaving them in the room of the guest shall be a delivery to the innkeeper. However, if the guest shall deliver his goods to a servant under special charge to him to keep the same, the innkeeper shall not be liable therefor.

History

Orig. Code 1863, § 2097; Code 1868, § 2092; Code 1873, § 2118; Code 1882,

§ 2118; Civil Code 1895, § 2936; Civil Code 1910, § 3509; Code 1933, § 52-109.

Annotations

JUDICIAL DECISIONS Presumption of entrustment not applicable to strangers. - Expressions, “depositing goods in a public room set apart for such articles,” as used in this statute are to be understood as relating to such acts of a guest as distinguished from such acts by a mere intruder or stranger having no relation of guest to the innkeeper, and at no time establishing such a relation. Brewer v. Caswell, 132 Ga. 563, 64 S.E. 674, 1909 Ga. LEXIS 359 (1909). Hotel may open unlocked items to determine owner. - It is not an unau-

thorized search for hotel management personnel, including security personnel, to open unlocked items found on their premises in an attempt to determine ownership so that the lost or misplaced property can be returned to the proper owner. Berger v. State, 150 Ga. App. 166, 257 S.E.2d 8, 1979 Ga. App. LEXIS 2168 (1979), cert. denied, 445 U.S. 927, 100 S. Ct. 1312, 63 L. Ed. 2d 759, 1980 U.S. LEXIS 1125 (1980).

RESEARCH REFERENCES ALR. Liability of innkeeper for property left by departing guest who intends to return, 22 A.L.R. 1194. Liability of hotel company for loss of or damage to guest’s baggage while being transported to or from hotel, 76 A.L.R. 1106. Construction, scope, and application of

words descriptive of property in statute relating to liability of innkeeper to guest loss or damage to property, 115 A.L.R. 1088. Liability of hotel, motel, or similar establishment for damage to or loss of guest’s automobile left on premises, 52 A.L.R.3d 433.