Liability for Hotel Crockery Lost from One’s Room

Question

A gentleman took tea from our hotel, and after the round of tea he put the cups and saucers outside the room, and someone carried them off. By leaving them in an unattended place in this way, does liability (daman) fall on those who drank the tea or not? Kindly let us know the answer.

Answer

If he had the tea brought from the hotel to his room, somewhere separate, drank it, and then put the cups outside his room, and they disappeared, then liability (daman) is binding on that gentleman. If he drank it in the hotel itself and put them in such a place that the hotel staff would pick them up, and informed them, and then they disappeared, there is no liability on him.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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