Abandonment

The surrender, re- The giving up a thing absolutely, without reference to any particular person or purpose; as throwing a jewel into the highway; leaving athing to itself, as a vessel ab sea; desertion, or dereliction. (2 Bl. Comm. 9, 10.) Burrill. In marine insurance. A relinquishment or cession of property by the owner to the insurer of it, in order to claim as for a total loss, when in fact it is so by construction only.

2 Steph. Comm. 178.

The exercise of a right which a party having insured goods or vessels has to call upon the insurers, in cases where the property insured has, by perils of the sea, become so much damaged as to be of little value, to accept of what is or may be saved, and to pay the full amount of the insurance, as if a total loss lad actually happened. Park, Ins. 143; 2 Marsh. Ins, 559; 3 Kent, Comm. 318-335, and notes. Abandoument is the act by which, after a constructive total loss, a person insured by contract of marine insurance declares to the insurer that he relinquishes to him his interest in the thing insured.

Civil Code Cul. § 2716.

The term is used only in reference to risks in navigation; but the principle is applicable in fire insurance, where there are remnanis, and sometimes, also, under stipulations in life policies in favor of creditors.

In maritime law

The surrender of a vessel and freight by the owner of the same toa person having a claim thereon arising out of a contract ade with the master.

See Poth. Chart. § 2, art. 3, § 51.

By husband or wife. The act of a husband or wife who leaves his oz her consort willfully, and with an intention of causing perpetual separation. “ Abandonment, in the sense in which it is used in the statute under which this proceeding was commenced, may be defined to be the act of willfully leaving the wife, with the intention of causing a palpable separation between the parties, and implies an actual desertion of the wife by tue husband.”

60 Ind. 279.

In French law. The act by which a debtor surrenders his property for the benefit of his creditors. Merl. Repert. “Abandonment.”