General Average
A Dictionary of Law · Henry Campbell Black · 1891
A Dictionary of Law
In commercial law. A contribution made by the proprietors in general of a ship or cargo, towards the loss sustained by any individual of their number, whose property has been voluntarily sacrificed for the common safety; as where, in a storm, jettison is made of any goods, or sails or masts are cut away levandae navis causa, (to lighten the vessel.) 2 Steph. Comm. 179. The term expresses that contribution to a loss or expense voluntarily incurred for the preservation of the whole, in which all who are concerned in ship, freight, and cargo are to bear an equal proportion.
4 Mass. 548.