“As some compensation for this _compulsory hospitality_, the
innkeeper is allowed certain privileges.”[193]
Thus is the innkeeper under constraint of law, which he must obey;
“bound to take in all travellers and wayfaring persons”; “nor can he
impose unreasonable terms upon them”; and liable to an action, and even
to an indictment, for refusal. Such is the law.
With this peremptory rule opening the doors of inns to all travellers,
without distinction, to the extent of authorizing not only an action,
but an indictment, for the refusal to receive a traveller, it is plain
that the pending bill is only declaratory of existing law, giving to it
the sanction of Congress.