In the contract of bailment the person who delivers the goods to bailee is called the bailor.
His rights and duties are as follows

Duties of bailor

•Disclose faults in goods

As per section 150 of The Indian Contracts Act of 1872, the bailor is bound to disclose to the bailee about the faults of the goods which are in knowledge of him. The bailor is bound to disclose all the information which interferes with the use of goods in a significant way or expose the bailee to extraordinary risk.

In order to understand the duty of bailor in respect of disclose the faults in the goods being delivered, we need to first understand that there are two types of bailment on the basis of reward that are gratuitous and Non- gratuitous. The duty of bailor in both cases is not exactly the same.

For gratuitous bailment the conditions of bailor’s liability are:
1)Bailor should have knowledge of the defect and the bailee should not be aware of such defect.
2) The defect in the goods must be such that they expose the bailee to extraordinary risks or interfere with the use of the goods in a significant way.

For example, X asks Y to take his car for few days and Y gave the car without asking for any charges so Y would be a gratuitous bailor. But, Y forgot to inform X that the breaks of the car were not working properly for past few days. In this case, Y would be held liable for any damage incurred to X as a due to faulty breaks of the bike because faulty breaks would expose the bailee to an extraordinary circumstances.


In case of non gratuitous bailment the duty of the bailor is much greater as compared to his duty in gratuitous bailment . When bailment is made for some benifit than unawareness about the defect is not a valid defence. Section 150 of the Indian Contract Act 1872 clearly specify that “if the goods are bailed for hire, the bailor is responsible for such damage, whether he was or was not aware of such faults in the goods bailed”. In simple words the bailor is liable for damages caused to bailee due to any fault in good that is bailed. It is the duty of bailor to examine the goods and remove defects that reasonable examination would have disclosed.

For example, X asks Y for his car for few days and Y gave the car on rental basis so Y would be a non gratuitous bailor . The breaks of the car were not functioning properly but Y was not aware of the fact so if the faulty brakes of the car led to an mishap. Y will be held liable regardless of his knowledge about the fault in the break.

•Bear expenses
As per section 158 of the Indian Contract Act 1872 “the bailor shall repay to the bailee the necessary expenses incurred by him for the purpose of the bailment.”

In case of gratuitous Bailment
The bailor is obliga to reimburse the bailee for all necessary expenses incurred for the purpose of bailment.

Example: X lends his cow to Y . X is not paying anything to y to take care of his cow so he needs to pay him for all the ordinary expenses born by Y to feed the cow . However, if the cow gets sick than and Y called for doctor than X has to pay Y for all the additional medical expenses incurred by him for treatment of cow.

In case of non gratuitous bailment

The Bailor is liable to repay only extraordinary expenses to bailee and there is no need to pay the ordinary expenses.

For example X leaves his cow with Y and pays to him for the same . So A is not required to bear the ordinary expenses like food but if the cow suffered from fever and Y had to call a doctor than X has to repay all the medical expenses born by Y.

Aishwarya Says:

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