deviation
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 210 U.S. 1 - Empire State Cattle Company v. Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company No 178 Minnesota & Dakota Cattle Company · 1908Most cited · 236 citing opinions
maritime/carrier law
By the admiralty law, a departure from the regular course of a shipment, when done under the usage of trade, is no deviation. ... In the law maritime a deviation is defined as a 'voluntary departure, without necessity or any reasonable cause, from the regular and usual course of the ship insured.
How the Supreme Court has restated “deviation”
Each Supreme Court definition of “deviation,” sized by how often later courts cited it. “Change” is measured by wording overlap with earlier definitions — a rough signal, not a semantic judgment.
How often courts cite the cases defining “deviation”
Court decisions citing the 6 opinions that defined “deviation” — 883 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining cases as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.
All 7 definitions, chronological · 1812–1927
- ORIGINAL
The discharge of the underwriters from their liability in such cases, depends, not upon any supposed increase of risk, but wholly on the departure of the insured from the contract of insurance. The consequences of such violation of the contract are immaterial to its legal effect, as it is, per se, a discharge of the underwriters, and the law attaches no importance to the degree in cases of voluntary deviation; necessity alone can sanction a deviation in any case; and that deviation must be strictly commensurate with the vis major producing it.
marine insurance
any unreasonable delay in the ordinary progress of the voyage avoids the policy on this account. But what delay will constitute such a deviation, depends upon the nature of the voyage, and the usage of the trade. It may be a very justifiable delay, to wait in port, and sell by retail, if that be the course of business, when such delay would be inexcusable in a voyage requiring or authorizing no such delay.
delay in port
A deviation from the direct route may be excusable if rendered necessary to execute repairs for the preservation of the ship, or the prosecution of the voyage, or to avoid a storm, or an enemy, or pirates, or for the purpose of obtaining necessary supplies of water and provisions, or, in the case of a steamer, to obtain necessary supplies of wood or coal for the prosecution of the voyage, or for the purpose of assisting another vessel in distress.
Unless it becomes necessary to deviate for the purpose of making repairs or to avoid a storm, or an enemy or pirates, or to obtain necessary supplies, or for the purpose of assisting another vessel in distress, no deviation from the direct and usual route can in general be justified, nor will any other cause be admitted, except under very special circumstances, as a valid defence for any such delay in the transportation of the goods shipped under the bill of lading or other legal contract of shipment
An emergency sufficient to excuse a departure cannot arise out of circumstances deliberately planned nor from gross negligence.
emergency exception
In the law maritime a deviation is defined as a 'voluntary departure without necessity, or any reasonable cause, from the regular and usual course of the ship insured.