WHAT NOT CONTRIBUTORY.

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cases of ransom. And such general exemption and the exception also are good policy. By this exceptional regulation a fearless resistance against enemies or pirates may be encouraged and secured. In cases of ransom, therefore, compulsory average contribution from sailor's wages may be the price of safety against capture even; whilst in all other cases, the exemption of wages from contribution tends to secure the utmost efforts of the sailor to effect the general good; and, being sure of his wages, the sailor will not be restrained from exertion by any vague or unreal apprehension of personal loss.

Ship's provisions are also exempt from average contribution. These, for trading purposes, are dead stock; being put on board, not for mercantile exchange, but exclusively for consumption; and, therefore, ought not to become a source of pecuniary profit; or be applied by sale, to furnish the means of purchasing produce for a return cargo even.

Interest on money is not contributory; nor is the wearing apparel of passengers liable to average contribution.

Thus, by enumerating what on shipboard are not contributory, it may readily be perceived what articles are subject to average contribution.

Some articles, not entitled to contribution, may, nevertheless, become liable to contribute. Of this class may be goods laden on deck, whatever be their description.

Improper stowage or careless lading sometimes become important elements in the decision of average

cases.

With the few exceptions, already stated, cargo may

comprise any other species of goods, all of which are treated as goods or merchandise, which shall be contributory in cases of general average.

The leading cases are to be found already cited in the text. But for convenience, other cases are collected here. 3 M. & Sel. 482, Plummer v. Wildman; 4 Mass. 548, Padelford v. Boardman; 6 ibid. 125, Whittredge v. Norris; 8 ibid. 467, Nickerson v. Tyson; 14 ibid. 74, Spafford v. Dodge; 1 Caines, 196, Maggrath v. Church; ibid. 573, Leavenworth v. Delafield; 3 Fairf. 190, Crockett v. Dodge; 14 Pick. 13, Scudder v. Bradford; 2 Met. 140, Giles v. Eagle Insurance Company; Olcott's Rep. 89, The Ship George; Ware, 14 & 15, The Nimrod; ibid. 322, The Paragon; 12 Coke, 63, Mouse's case; 1 Rob. 289, The Copenhagen; 3 ibid. 257, The Gratitudine; 4 Bing. N. C. 134, Gould v. Oliver; S. C. 5 Scott, 445; 4 M. & Sel. 141, Power v. Whitmore; 3 B. & A. 398, Butler v. Wildman; 2 B. & C. 805, Simonds v. White; 2 T. R. 407, Da Costa v. Edmonds; 4 Whart. 360, Meech v. Robinson; 2 Pick. 1, Bedford Insurance Company v. Parker; 21 ibid. 456, Orrock v. Commercial Insurance Company; 22 ibid. 197, Reynolds v. Ocean Insurance Company; 8 Johns. 307, Barker v. Phoenix Insurance Company; 11 ibid. 85, Heyleger v. New York Fireman's Insurance Company; 14 ibid. 138, Salters v. Ocean Insurance Company; 4 Taunt. 123, Price v. Noble; 6 ibid. 608, Taylor v. Curtis.

These citations, and the cases referred to in them, with the other references already made in the text, will enable the diligent student to explore the whole subject of general average.

II. A second inquiry arises, For what is contribution

JETTISON, REGULAR AND IRREGULAR.

149

to be made? And here it may not be inappropriate to notice that the books generally refer to two kinds of jettison: regular and irregular.

Regular jettison occurs where there has been deliberation and previous consultation with the officers, crew, or merchant, if on board, by the master. This premeditation may be useful to repel any suspicion of impru dence or rashness on the part of the master. But Mr. Justice Story (13 Peters, supra,) repudiates the idea that it is necessary; for, after all, it must mainly depend on the master's judgment; and he is ultimately responsible for any mistake or error in such proceeding. To hold too strictly to forms would not only embarrass a master but might materially defeat the purpose of a jettison, in time of great peril.

And so, on the other hand, irregular jettison is where there has been no previous consultation; but where all was done by the order of a master, acting upon his own judgment, and doing what he deemed most prudent and beneficial to all concerned. And under this class may be found all the principal cases of jettison which have been heard or argued in the English or American courts. Indeed, the distinction between regular and irregular jettison, though recognized by the text-writers, is scholastic and rather shadowy than useful. For practical purposes indeed, it has been pronounced (by Targa, the Genoese magistrate, of sixty years' experience in maritime courts), as substantially prejudicial. That judge gives it, as the result of his long service, that he had never known but four or five cases of a regular jettison, and those, from their very formality, gave rise to suspi

cion.

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150

PRACTICE IN ADJUSTING LOSSES.

If, then, this distinction has not been abolished, might it not be just as well to acquiesce in the dictum of the Supreme Court in 13 Peters, supra, that "the rule of consulting the crew is rather founded in prudence, in order to avoid dispute, than in necessity"?

To return, then, to our second inquiry, the damages, losses, and expenses which become objects of contribution, are sacrifices of ship or cargo, part or the whole, voluntarily incurred in time of peril, for the common benefit and producing partial or general security from further actual or apprehended damage.

In such case, the sacrifice so made should be restored by a common contribution from all: "Omnes conferre debent." And the loss or gain should be equally shared by all having property at hazard; for "Nemo debet locupletari aliena jactura." And this is a clear, just, and well-established principle in maritime jurisprudence.

III. The third inquiry is, as to the mode of adjusting general average losses. The practice by underwriters at Lloyd's, in England, and the usage of merchants, adjusters, and insurers, in the United States, is now well known in all commercial countries.

During the first part of the present century, more has been effected by courts, to settle the principles of maritime and insurance law, than in all previous periods of history. So much, indeed, has a knowledge of these departments of law been advanced and extended, that the diligent student, by consulting the cases adjudged, and the text-writers, with care, may safely arrive at a sound conclusion as to what the law now is; notwithstanding the conflict, known to have heretofore existed, among writers and judges on this subject of general average, as well as that of salvage.

LLOYD'S AND OTHER AGENCIES.

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The establishment of the coffee-house (known as Lloyd's) in England, and the wisely managed insurance companies of America, in employing intelligent brokers or adjusters, who have made the business of adjusting losses a specialty, have doubtless materially facilitated the progress of this peculiar legal science and greatly extended the study and knowledge thereof.

In London, marine assurance is a great business; differing from other branches in this, that, save what is done by established corporations, it is chiefly carried on by private parties (called underwriters), who congregate at Lloyd's, as their head-quarters. Their association, originally voluntary, has now become a widely extended and useful organization. At all principal seaports, there is a resident agent of Lloyd's to take charge of wrecks and give information of shipping movements, to be published in Lloyd's List daily. Lloyd's Register contains a statement of all British or foreign shipping, to be assured by them; and the association keep regular records of ship-news, accessible to its members. Insurable ships are classified as A 1, etc., by the society and its local surveyors, at different sea-ports. The direction of the affairs of this society is confided to a committee in London of twenty-four members, consisting of merchants, ship-owners, and underwriters. This committee is a shifting body, changed by rotation; a portion of its members being retired annually. But the association is nevertheless in high repute in the commercial world.

With this agency, and the intelligence of American insurers, the business of adjusting average and other marine losses has become well known and understood; and the mode of adjustment rendered easy through the