224. Remedies and measure of damages.

There is a choice of remedies in bailment as it is a transaction sui generis¹ and a claim against a defaulting bailee may (according to circumstance) lie in contract, tort or bailment². The measure of damages is that appropriate to the cause of action. A restitutionary claim, grounded on either the bailor's or the bailee's unjust enrichment at the expense of the other, may also be available³.

Negligence and conversion are the principal torts committed by a defaulting bailee⁴. Whenever they constitute the particular causes of action upon which the bailor sues, damages are awarded according to the specific rules governing those torts. In each case, damages are normally compensatory⁵, the object being to