A bailor is a person or party who delivers a bailment. A bailor entrusts personal goods or other property to a bailee until its restoration to the bailor. That entrustment is temporary, and the bailor only relinquishes possession of the good or property, not the ownership. In other words, a bailor would hand over the control of their personal property to the bailee with a specific purpose (e.g., safekeeping) based on their agreement on the matter. Sometimes a bailor is not the owner of the property but a keeper for the owner or a finder who puts the property in the hands of the bailee until the owner is identified. A bailor must act with good faith interacting with the bailee, and the bailor can at least benefit from the performance of the duty in good faith from the bailee.
A bailor is also a person who provides bail as a surety for a criminal defendant’s release.
[Last updated in July of 2022 by the Wex Definitions Team]