Robert Carson Jarvis, Also Known as Virgil C. Dehavilland v. United States

Jarvis, on November 9, 1961, rented a Ford car at Winston-Salem, North Carolina, from a local agency, Dixie Rental Service, Inc. The rental was made under a written rental agreement which fixed the rights and duties of Jarvis and his bailor, Dixie. Jarvis was authorized to take the car “out of state,” and agreed “I will return car by DATE 11-13-61 TIME 12:00,” all in the written contract. The ambiguity of “12:00,” should be resolved in favor of Jarvis and assumed to be 12:00 midnight, November 13,1961.

At the appointed hour Jarvis had not returned the car and by the terms of the contract he no longer had a right to keep it. Where he was and where the car was at 12:00 midnight on November 13, 1961, the record does not tell. But late in the evening of November 22, 1961, Jarvis was in San Simon, Arizona, which is located on a transcontinental highway a few miles west of the Arizona-New Mexico border. The speedometer indicated that in 13 days the car had gone 5,087 miles. Obviously, it had crossed a lot of state lines.

Jarvis, when first observed by Arizona state officers, was in a cafe in San Simon. They became suspicious that “something was wrong” and were satisfied “he was…