Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

AVERAGE

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 55 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

AVERAGE , a See also:

term found in two See also:main senses. (I) The first, which occurs in old See also:law, is from a Law-Latin averagium, and is connected with the Domesday See also:Book avera, the " See also:day's See also:work which the See also:king's tenants gave to the See also:sheriff "; it is supposed to be a See also:form of the O. Fr. ovre (ceuvre), work, affected by aver, the O. Eng. word for See also:cattle or See also:property, but the See also:etymology is uncertain. As meaning some form of feudal service rendered by tenants to their superiors, it survived for a See also:long See also:time in the Scottish phrase " See also:arria,ge and See also:carriage," this form of the word being due to a contraction into " arage." (2) The second word, which represents the See also:modern usages, is also uncertain in itsderivation, but corresponded with the Fr. avarie, and was See also:early spelt " averays," recurring also as " avaria," " averia," and meaning a certain tax on goods, and then more precisely in maritime law any See also:charge additional to " See also:freight " (see See also:AFFREIGHTMENT), payable by the owner of goods sent by See also:ship. Hence the modern employment of the term for particular and See also:general average (see below) in marine See also:insurance. The essential of equitable See also:distribution, involved in this sense, was transferred to give the word " average " its more colloquial meaning of an equalization of amount, or See also:medium among various quantities, or nearest See also:common See also:rate or figure. (For a discussion of the etymology, see the New See also:English See also:Dictionary, especially the concluding See also:note with reference to authorities.) In See also:Shipping.—Average, in modern law, is the term used in maritime See also:commerce to signify See also:damages or expenses resulting from the accidents of See also:navigation. Average is either general or particular. General average arises when sacrifices have been made, or expenditures incurred, for the preservation of the ship, See also:cargo and freight, from some peril of the See also:sea or from its effects. It implies a subsequent contribution, from all the parties concerned, rateably to the values of their respective interests, to make See also:good the loss thus occasioned. Particular average signifies the damage or partial loss happening to the ship, goods, or freight by some fortuitous or unavoidable See also:accident.

It is See also:

borne by the parties to whose property the misfortune happens or by their insurers. The term average originally meant what is now distinguished as general average; and the expression " particular average," although not strictly accurate, came to be afterwards used for the convenience of distinguishing those damages or partial losses for which no general contribution could be claimed. Although nothing can be more See also:simple than the fundamental principle of general average, that a loss incurred for the See also:advantage of all the coadventurers should be made good by them all in equitable proportion to their stakes in the See also:adventure, the application of this principle to the varied and complicated cases which occur in the course of maritime commerce has given rise to many diversities of usage at different periods and in different countries. It is soon discovered that the principle cannot be applied in any settled or consistent manner unless by the aid of rules of a technical and sometimes of a seemingly arbitrary See also:character. The difficulty, which at one time seemed nearly insuperable, of bringing together the rules in force in the several maritime countries, has been to a large extent overcome—not by legislation but by framing a set of rules covering the See also:principal points of difference in such a manner as to satisfy, on the whole, those who are practically concerned, and to See also:lead them to adopt these rules in their contracts of affreightment and contracts of insurance (see INSURANCE: Marine). The See also:honour of the achievement belongs to a small number of men who recognized the See also:History of need of uniformity. The work began in May 186o at the See also:York-a See also:congress held at See also:Glasgow, under the See also:presidency of Xe erp See also:Lord See also:Brougham, assisted by Lord Neaves. Further congresses were held in See also:London (1862), and at York (1864), when a See also:body of rules known as the " York Rules " was agreed to. There the See also:matter stood, until it was taken up by the " Association for the Reform and Codification of the Law of Nations " at conferences held at the See also:Hague (1875), See also:Bremen (1876) and See also:Antwerp (1877). Some changes were made in the " York Rules "; and so altered, the body of rules was adopted at the last-named See also:conference, and was styled the " York and Antwerp (or York-Antwerp) Rules." The value of these rules was quickly perceived, and See also:practical use of them 'followed. But they proved to be insufficient, or unsatisfactory, on some points; and again, in the autumn of 189o, a conference on the subject was held, this time at See also:Liverpool, by the same Association, under the able presidency of Dr F. Sieveking, See also:president of the Hanseatic High See also:Court of See also:Appeal at See also:Hamburg.

Important changes were then made, carrying further certain departures from English law, already apparent in the earlier rules, in favour of views prevailing upon the See also:

continent of See also:Europe and in the See also:United States. The new rules were styled the York- Antwerp Rules 189o. In practice they quickly displaced those of 1897; and in 1892, at a conference of the same Association held at See also:Genoa, it was formally declared that the onlyinternational rules of general average having the See also:sanction and authority of the association were the York-Antwerp Rules as revised in 189o, and that the See also:original rules were rescinded. It is this later body of rules which is now known as the York-Antwerp Rules. Reference is now to be found in most English contracts of carriage and contracts of insurance, to these rules, as intended to govern the See also:adjustment of G.A. between the parties; with the result that (so far as the rules See also:cover the ground) adjustments do not depend upon the law of the See also:place of destination, and so do not vary according to the destination, or the place at which the voyage may happen to be broken up, as used formerly to be the See also:case.

End of Article: AVERAGE

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
AVENZOAR, or ABUMERON [Abu Merwan 'Abdal-Malik ibn ... 		[next]
AVERNUS

Site © 2006 - Net Industries