Chap. XIII
A debt sometimes arises when a thing is borrowed;388 as if I lend a thing to you gratuitously, to be made use of in your service. The service being finished, you are bound to restore my property to me, without deterioration,389 if it be in existence.
But, if the thing itself be destroyed, or has by any means been lost, whilst in your Custody, you are absolutely bound to return me a reasonable price. But by what, or whose proof,390 it is to be shewn—or if any one has lent his property to be used in a certain place, or for a certain Term, and he who thus received it has used it, either in another place, or at another time, the extent to which he ought to make a recompense, or upon what proof, or whose property it is to be adjudged, are points that may be questioned. The party, indeed, shall be absolutely excused from the imputation of Theft, by reason that his possession of the thing detained originated through the owner of the property.
It may also be doubted, whether the Owner can recall his property so lent to another, within the time or place allotted, especially if he himself should have occasion to use it in the interval.391