BOARD (O. Eng. bord)  , a plank or long narrow piece of timber . The word comes into various compounds to describe boards used for special purposes, or objects like boards (drawing-board, ironing-board, sounding-board, chess-board, cardboard, back-board, notice-board, scoring-board) . The phrase " to keep one's name on the boards," at Cambridge University, signifies to remain a member of a college; at Oxford it is " on the books." In bookbinding, pasteboard covers are called boards . Board was early used of a table, hence such phrases as " bed and board," " board and lodging "; or of a gaming-table, as in the phrase " to sweep the board," meaning to pocket all the stakes, hence, figuratively, to carry all before one . The same meaning leads to " Board of Trade," " Local Government Board," &c . From the meaning of border or side, and especially ship's side, comes " sea-board," meaning sea-coast, and the phrases " aboard " (Fr. abord), " over-board," " by the board "; similarly " weather-board," the side of a ship which is to wind-ward; " larboard and starboard " (the former of uncertain origin, Mid . Eng. laddeboard or latheboard; the latter meaning " steering side," O . Eng. steorbord, the rudder of early ships working over the steering side), signifying (to one standing at the stern and looking forward) the left and right sides of the ship respectively . BOARDING-HOUSE, a private house in which the proprietor provides board and lodging for paying guests . The position of a guest in a boarding-house differs in English law, to some extent, on the one hand from that of a lodger in the ordinary sense of the term, and on the other from that of a guest in an inn . Unlike the lodger, he frequently has not the exclusive occupation of particular rooms . Unlike the guest in an inn, his landlord has no lien upon his property for rent or any other debt due in respect of his board (Thompson v .

Lacy, 1820,3 B. and Ald . 283) . The landlord is under an obligation to take reasonable care for the safety of property brought by a guest into his house, and is liable for damages in case of breach of this obligation (Scarborough v . Cosgrove, 1905, 2 K.B . 803) . Again, unlike the innkeeper, a boarding-house keeper does not hold himself out as ready to receive all travellers for whom he has accommodation, for which they are ready to pay, and of course he is entitled to get rid of any guest on giving reasonable notice (see Lamond v . Richard, 1897, I Q.B . 541, 548) . What is reasonable notice depends on the terms of the contract; and, subject thereto, the course of payment of rent is a material circumstance (see LANDLORD AND TENANT) . Apparently the same implied warranty of fitness for habitation at the commencement of the tenancy which exists in the case of furnished lodgings (see LODGER AND LODGINGS) exists also in the case of boarding-houses; and the guest in a boarding-house, like a lodger, is entitled to all the usual and necessary conveniences of a dwelling-house . The law of the United States is similar to English law . Under the French Code Civil, claims for subsistence furnished to a debtor and his family during the last year of his life by boarding-house keepers (maitres de pension) are privileged over the generality of moveables, the privilege being exerciseable after legal expenses, funeral expenses, the expenses of the last illness, and the wages of servants for the year elapsed and what is due for the current year (art .

2101 (5)) . Keepers of taverns (aubergistes) and hotels (hoteliers) are responsible for the goods of their guests—the committal of which to their custody is regarded as a

deposit of necessity (depot necessaire) . They are95 liable for the loss of such goods by theft, whether by servants or strangers, but not where the loss is due to force majeure (arts . 1952–1954) . Their liability for money and bearer securities not actually deposited is limited to I000 francs (law of 18th of April 1889) . These provisions are reproduced in substance in the Civil Codes of Quebec (arts . 1814, 1815, 1994, 2006) and of St Lucia (art . 1889) . In Quebec, boarding-house keepers have a lien on the goods of their guests for the value or price of any food or accommodation furnished to them, and have also a right to sell their baggage and other property, if the amount remains unpaid for three months, under conditions similar to those imposed on innkeepers in England (art . 1816 A; and see INNS AND INNKEEPERS); also in the Civil Code of St Lucia (arts . 1578, 1714, 1715) . (A .

W . R.) BOARDING-OUT

SYSTEM, in the English poor law, the boarding-out of orphan or deserted children with suitable foster-parents . The practice was first authorized in 1868, though for many years previously it had been carried out by some boards of guardians on their own initiative . Boarding-out is governed by two orders of the Local Government Board, issued in 1889 . The first permits guardians to board-out children within their own union, except in the metropolis . The second governs the boarding-out of children in localities outside the union . The sum payable to the foster-parents is not to exceed 4S. per week for each child . 'The system has been much discussed by authorities on the administration of the poor law . It has been objected that few working-men with an average-sized family can afford to devote such an amount for the maintenance of each child, and that, therefore, boarded-out children are better off than the children of the independent (Fawcett, Pauperism) . Working-class guardians, also, do not favour the system, being suspicious as to the disinterestedness of the foster-parents . On the other hand, it is argued that from the economic and educational point of view much better results are obtained by boarding-out children; they are given a natural life, and when they grow up they are without effort merged in the general population (Mackay, Hist . Eng .

Poor Law) . See also POOR LAW . The " boarding-out " of lunatics is, in

Scotland, a regular part of the lunacy administration . It has also been successfully adopted in Belgium .