Bizarre Laws: They’ve Taken My Horses!

In this new series we are going to investigate some current (and still in force) laws that seem either quite outdated or downright silly in the current era. To do this, we will use our legislative research skills. First, we will trace back the law and see if we find any clear sense of legislative intent. Then we will note up the statute to see if any case law can shed some light onto why it might still be in force.

The first law we are going to look at is part of the Innkeepers Act, RSO 1990, c. I.7. If you scroll down to s. 3, you will find this:

When I first saw this section, I was confused. A lien on horses? In 2026? Why hasn’t this section been repealed and/or replaced? I decided to do some investigation and trace this section back as far as it would go.

As I traced this section back using the source notes, I was surprised (or maybe not that surprised) to learn that I had to go all the way back to 1904 before I found a change. This means that the current s. 3 has read essentially the same since 1904 (minus some small editorial changes). The Statute Law Amendment Act, SO 1904, c. 10, s. 44 changes s. 2 (s. 3 in the current act) by adding a subsection:

The note on the right-hand side tells me that this section goes back further, so I continued to trace it back until I came across the Act to Amend the Act respecting the Rights and Liabilities of Innkeepers, SO 1882, c. 16, s. 1:

Unfortunately, we have now gone so far back in time that there are no official Hansards to explore in our attempt to discover why this section was first added. Instead, we have to look at Scrapbook Hansard, which are newspaper clippings of what reporters found interesting in the legislature from 1867 – 1946. I had a look at the Scrapbook Hansard from the period this statute was given royal assent, but predictably, no one found it interesting enough to report on. I can only imagine that the ability to put liens on horses was the same as someone putting a lien on a car: just in case they didn’t want to pay the innkeeper for their services.

What about cases? Do cases still consider or refer to s. 3 of the Innkeepers Act? My first instinct is to scoff at the idea. When would an innkeeper have a chance to put a lien on a horse in this day and age? Using Westlaw and Lexis+, I noted up s. 3 of the Innkeepers Act to see what cases (if any) cited this section. I was surprised to learn that the most recent case to consider s. 3 is from 2014.¹

Much to my dismay, these cases didn’t have anything to do with a disgruntled innkeeper who stabled someone’s horse overnight. It turns out that I shouldn’t have let the outdated terms of this section distract me. A livery-stable or boarding-stable keeper can refer to anyone who boards horses, such as equestrian schools or even farms and slaughterhouses.

So, the next time you find yourself needing to board your hobby horse, remember to pay your bills, or your horse might find itself the subject of an unexpected lien.