have only issued £1000 or less; and it should be remembered that it is only the portion issued that is actually subscribed-which has become available for the purposes of the co. AUTHORS, LONGEVITY OF.-This subject we shall refer to under influence of occupation upon the duration of human life.

AUXILIARY (From Latin auxilium, aid).—Helping; assisting; a helper; an assistant. AUXILIARY TABLES.-In 1785 Prof. Tetens, of Kiel, pub. at Leipzig, a work in German, the translated title of which is An Introduction to the Computation of L. Annu. and Rev. which depend on the life or death of one or more persons, with Tables for practical use. The author described his method as follows:

By means of a new auxiliary table, which can be made in accordance with the table of mort., by which it is to be reckoned, and at the rate of int. proposed for its foundation, the whole labour as well for life annu. as for the mean duration of life, may be reduced to one division. The preparation of that table requires nothing more than an easy addition, when regard is had to the duration of life only; but demands somewhat more trouble if it be extended to the calculation of life annu. It would not be desirable therefore to make it for one single ann, of the kind. But then it gives simultaneously all values of life annu,, as well as all durations for every age at once.

It is contended that in the method which he proceeds not only to describe, but to illustrate, he really invented the Columnar method, which will be fully spoken of under that title.

The first paper which appeared in the first No. of the Assu. Mag. (1850) was one by Mr. Frederick Hendriks-Memoir of the Early Hist. of Auxiliary Tables for the Compu tation of Life Contingencies. The production was one worthy of the name and fame of its distinguished author.

In the second No. of the same Mag. there appeared: Supplementary Remarks, by Mr. Frederick Hendriks, On Auxiliary Tables for Life Contingencies, including notice of a recent Table by W. T. Thomson, Esq.

All the preceding pub. will be spoken of more in detail under COLUMNAR METHOD, and LIFE CONTINGENCIES.

AVENS, WILLIAM, was Sec. of People's Provident in 1853.

AVENTURE.-A mischance causing the death of a man, as where a person is suddenly drowned, or killed by any accident, without felony. This is now sometimes called adventure, but more generally misadventure: as the finding of a coroner's jury, "died by misadventure."

AVERAGE.-The word "average," as used in common parlance, is synonymous with mean, or medium, and signifies a rate or result, derived from several quantities. It has the same form, whether used as an adjective or a noun. We speak of the average time, or the mean time; of the average price, or the medium price; an average of several years, or the mean of many obs.-Hopkins.

But the word has another meaning, in relation to maritime commerce-a meaning of very extended application. In this relation it always includes the idea of contribution, in addition to that of common ratio or result. There is no exception to this. It is in this latter sense that we shall have to treat of it in some detail under its appropriate heads. AVERAGE-ADJUSTERS (frequently called average-staters).-These are persons who, in the event of damage to cargo, apportion the loss in its proper degree amongst the several persons interested. It is a recognized profession, but of limited numbers; according to the City of Lond. Directory, 1871, there are but 17 persons so engaged here. These form an asso., "having for its object the promotion of correct principles in the adjustment of averages, and uniformity of practice among average-adjusters." There are other average-staters in Liverpool, Glasgow, and other outports; and many of these gentlemen are members of the asso.; while others residing abroad are associates thereof. Average.. adjusters stand in the position of administering even-handed justice between the underwriters and the insured. They make out claims against the underwriters or co. from materials supplied by the insured. In 1870 a discussion was raised as to whether it was just that the underwriters should continue to pay the entire fee for "stating" the claim; but we believe no change was made. Mr. Hopkins (himself an average-adjuster), in his Hand-Book of Average, speaks of the importance of always defining the class of average, in respect of which a contribution has to be made. In support of this necessity he cites the case of Oppenheim v. Fry, finally disposed of in the Exchequer Chamber in 1864.

a

In some of the MARINE INS. CLUBS it is provided by the rules that all claims shall be made up by a "professional average-stater "; in others that the claims must be stated by "Lloyd's average-adjuster": thus implying two grades in the profession, but we believe there is only one body. [GENERAL AVERAGE.] [SETTLEMENTS.] AVERAGE CLAUSE-It is by means of what is usually called the "average clause" that the principle of average contribution is incorporated into fire ins. policies in Gt. Brit. The expression is not happily chosen, because it is not distinctive; and for this reason, that an "average clause" and "average clauses" is and are introduced into marine pol. under a variety of circumstances to be presently explained. We propose, therefore, to speak of average in F. ins. under the head of AVERAGE POLICIES. AVERAGE CLAUSES (MARINE).-There are various special clauses, technically called "occasional clauses," introduced into marine ins. pol. in practice, with a view to modify the risk, or rather with the view of causing the pol. correctly to define the risk actually

agreed upon and undertaken. The necessity for these arises mainly in the circumstance of one uniform blank pol. only being provided for the use of underwriters. A uniform pol. unquestionably has many advantages: the chief being this, that the risk will be the usual one unless some specific agreement has been made for altering it. These special clauses are of two classes: 1. Those limiting the underwriter's liability. 2. Those extending it. In Law these are termed "WARRANTIES," and under that head we shall discuss them fully. AVERAGE, MARITIME.—Average in this sense properly means, a contribution made by all the parties concerned in a sea adventure; to make good a specific loss or expense incurred by one or more of them for the general benefit.

The custom is of very ancient date, possibly originating in a rude form with the first disaster to a vessel laden on joint account; and developing itself with that promptitude pertaining to all matters associated with the rights and obligations of commerce. It must however be remembered that in the very earliest periods of commerce vessels were of small size, and that the owner, as a rule, embarked with his goods.

There has been a good deal of speculation, naturally, as to which were the first people to settle the principles of maritime average in the form in which they have been handed down from nation to nation, for say something like 3000 years. We find nothing approaching the subject of average in the ancient Hindoo Laws. The Koran (admittedly of much more modern date) is silent thereon. The Sidonians, great in commerce, leave no trace of having understood maritime average. The Athenians do leave some traces; but all that we really do know, or have ground for believing, is that the rules which fixed the reciprocal obligations of the owners of the cargo of a vessel to contribute towards the reparation of sacrifices made for the common safety in a storm, were the same as those of the Rhodians, who next succeeded them in the greatness of commercial enterprise. The Rhodian practice of maritime average has happily been preserved to us in an authentic form; but this only from the circumstance of the Romans having fallen back upon it for guidance in the formation of their mercantile code. While this is a testimony to the perfection of the Rhodian custom, it has also been the means of extending the practice of maritime average to every civilized country. The doctrine of average, and also that of salvage, are expounded in the chapter of the Digest-De Lege Rhodia de Factu (Dig. xiv. 2). We propose very briefly to state that doctrine, and for this purpose we fall back upon Gravina's Summary of the Doctrine of Mercantile Average of the Rhodian Laws-furnishing the very best translation thereof we can command. We have the assurance of the compiler of this summary, "that of all the laws of Rhodes, the purport of this chapter has alone come down to us in its entirety":

If by the force of winds or storms a tempest should arise, which 'should bring the ship into danger, and to set it free from such danger it should be necessary to lighten it, and to relieve it by jettison of the cargo, the loss to the owner of the wares so jettisoned shall be made up by all the owners of the wares saved, by an equable contribution-the chief sailor [i.e. captain or owner] himself, too, contributing his proportion.

But into the calculation of the contribution also comes the proportion of wares thrown overboard [jettisoned]: so that the owner of them can exact so much less from the rest in proportion as he suffers in respect of the wares thrown overboard.

Wherefore, if two men should each of them own a hundred [parts] in the cargo, and Caius, the owner of the goods thrown overboard, shall own two hundred, Caius on a loss of the cargo should receive fifty from each of them: losing his other hundred by shipwreck-because he had just as large a stake in the wares lost as they together had in the wares preserved.

Hence as the share of Caius, which represented 200, was in excess of the share of each of them, which represented [respectively] 100, in the same proportion after the disaster, the share of Caius, which represents 100, will be in excess of the share of each which is represented by 50, just as both before and after the disaster, the share of Caius exceeds by a half the share of each of the others. On the other hand, if Caius should throw over wares to the value of 50, but each [of his partners] shall have kept his own, estimated as 100, Caius shall suffer a loss of 10; but these other two shall contribute double each, namely, 20; so that just as his 50 answered to the 100 of each of his partners, in like manner his 40 may answer to the 80 a piece that each of them retains.

It has been justly said that the wisdom and equity of the rule will do honour to the memory of the state from whose code it has been derived as long as maritime commerce shall endure.

We do not intend to follow here those writers who have assumed to discover in this principle of average the origin of the contract of mutual marine ins. There was indeed the germ of the principle of mut. contribution: but only as a means of adjusting the rights of the shipowner and the merchant. As a matter of fact, the apportionment for the general contribution is-or, as Stevens has pointed out, ought to be made without reference to any pol. being effected; and if the practice of marine ins. were discontinued to-day, the principle of average, which in this sense is average contribution, would continue until maritime commerce itself became extinct.

This custom of the Rhodians becoming, as we have seen, incorporated into the Roman Civil Law as embodied in the Pandects-and the Civil Law being adopted by nearly all the Admiralty Courts of Europe-and especially so by our own, its spirit is embodied in many of the decisions of our Courts even down to the present day.

The connecting link, so far as England is concerned, is directly obtained in the fact that William the Conqueror made, and Henry I. ratified, a law concerning goods cast overboard by mariners in a storm founded upon, or, as Molloy says, “in imitation of,” the ancient Rhodian Law. [JETTISON.]

But admitting that the Rhodian-or as it will now be more convenient to call it the Roman -law of average contribution was generally adopted at the early period of which we are now speaking, it was not so adopted without various modifications; and it will be instructive to ascertain, as briefly as may be, what were the modifications successively introduced. In the Digest of the Basilica, compiled by the Byzantine Emperor Basilius and his son Leo, A.D. 867-880, the following provision was contained regarding average contribution: And when of different parcels or quantities of goods, mixed and confounded, prob. in consequence of their being of the same kind, a part had been thrown overboard for the safety of the vessel, and the rest preserved, it was provided that what was saved should be divided between the proprietors, in proportion to their shares and interests in these goods.

This provision differed from that embodied in the Rhodian law, or perhaps was rather a refinement upon it. [BASILICA.]

By the laws of the Crusaders, promulgated by Godfrey de Bouillon and his followers after the conquest of Jerusalem in the 11th century, contribution was admitted, and enforced, only when jettison had saved the ship-following in this respect the Roman law and the Basilica. [CYPRUS, MARITIME LAW OF.]

The Statutes of Pisa, for the regulation of maritime affairs, promulgated about 1160, admitted contribution only when the jettison had saved the ship. [PISA, MARITIME STATUTES OF.]

In the Jus Navale Rhodiorum, a Greek compilation of maritime laws, and concerning the date of which we can approach no nearer than to say that it was anterior to A. D. 1167, the legal doctrine relative to jettison and contribution is altogether opposed to that of the Digest and the Basilica, for it made no distinction between general and particular average; or, as Mr. Reddie puts it, "It rejects the fundamental distinction between the averages which are called general, or common, Removendi communis periculi causa, and those which are called particular, Cum cæteris, in communi periculo, non est consultum ; and prescribes contribution in both cases." [JUS NAVALE RHODIORUM.]

The Statute of Marseilles, promulgated 1253 and 1255, for the regulation of maritime affairs, admitted contribution only when the jettison had saved the ship. [MARSEILLES, MARITIME STATUTES OF.]

The Capitular Nauticum of Venice, under date 1255, extended the contribution to shipwreck and to pirates-following in this respect the Jus Navale Rhodiorum, [VENICE, MARITIME LAWS AND USAGES OF.]

The Maritime Ordin, of Barcelona, promulgated 1258, admitted of contribution only when the jettison had saved the ship. This Ordin. was quite distinct from the Consolato, of which we have next to speak. [BARCELONA, INS. ORDIN. OF.]

We now arrive at a period of change. The 13th century was essentially a transition period, as will be seen more fully in our Hist. of Marine Ins.

In the Consolato del Mare, generally admitted to have been compiled in the 13th century, the subject of contribution is treated in a different manner from any of the preceding, both with regard to the kind of sacrifices which give rise to average contribution, and with regard to the mode of valuing the articles which were to contribute. We have seen that the Roman law, the Basilica, and the law of the Crusaders, admitted contribution only when the jettison had saved the ship; and the same rule was adopted at Pisa, Marseilles, and Barcelona. The Greeks, in their Jus Navale Rhodiorum, and the Venetians, in their Capitulare Nauticum, had extended the contribution to shipwreck, and to capture by pirates. The Consolato admitted both systems: the first as legal, the second as conventional, viz., as taking place only so far as the parties interested had entered into an agreement called Germanimento, by which all losses from any accident whatever gave rise to contribution, even when the law did not otherwise require or enforce it. [CONSOLATO DEL MARE.] [GERMANIMENTO.]

The Consolato thus made a sort of compromise between the ancient law, preserved in most maritime countries during the Middle Ages, and the law more recently introduced into others of these countries during those ages. But for the mode of valuation of the articles sacrificed, and of those which behoved to bear contribution, the Consolato adopted a system not to be found in any anterior or contemporaneous legislation. The Roman law and the Basilica caused the things sacrificed to be valued at their prime cost; and the things saved according to what they were worth at the place where the contribution was made. The maritime States of the Mediterranean, such as Pisa and Marseilles, and the Ordin. of Arragon, substituted for this imperfect system a more just rule, directing that the valuation of the things lost, and of the things preserved, should be made according to their worth at the time of their contribution. But instead of choosing between these two systems, the Consolato directs that the goods shall be valued at the prime cost, if the jettison has been made during the first part of the voyage; and if during the second part of the voyage, at the price of the port of arrival.-Pardessus, Reddie.

The Roles d'Oleron-concerning the origin of which so many fabulous stories have been circulated—and the date of which we cannot place anterior to A.D. 1266-appear to follow more generally the Roman law. It is from this compilation, mythically attributed to our own King Richard I., that our maritime usages have in a considerable measure been formed, [ÖLERON, MARITIME Laws of.]

The Maritime Laws of Wisby, to which we cannot assign an earlier origin than the 14th century, appear in the main to follow, on the subject of contribution, the Roles d'Oleron, modified in some degree by the usages of the Hanseatic League. [WISBY, MARITIME LAWS OF.]

There is then abundant evidence that the practice of raising contributions by way of average for services in relation to the transport of merchandize was in force in many of the maritime States of Europe at a very early period. In the vols. of Venetian State Papers relating to trade with England, pub. by that accomplished scholar Mr. Rawdon Brown, it will be found recorded under date 1406: "A present of 60 ducats for Dino de Rapundis is to be paid by average on the merchandize of the Flanders Galleys." In 1408 there is a decree of the Venetian Senate authorizing an expenditure of 200 golden ducats for presents to the King of England and the Duke of Burgundy, to be paid by average on goods by the Flanders Galleys. This Mr. Hopkins considers was prob. for safe conduct. In 1438 there is a missive from the Venetian Senate to the Vice-Captain of the London Galleys, Ser Lorenzo Moro, concerning an average of 240 ducats for goods which he had been compelled to throw overboard.

There is still, however, a wide gulf to bridge over between the use of the term Average Contributions, in the sense of providing for a common casualty incident to maritime commerce; or even the use of the word " Average" in the sense indicated in these Venetian documents; and the use of the word in its modern sense, as applying to and embracing nearly every casualty 'to which either ship or merchandize is liable. It cannot fail to prove instructive to follow this latter phase through its several gradations. In the Ins. Ordin. of Florence, under date 28th January, 1523, we do not find any specific mention of average, but the principle is embodied, thus:

Item. For defraying the expenses they may be at for that purpose [saving and recovering the ship or goods], they shall assess the merchants and insurers concerned in the ship and cargo; taking the necessary measures to compel them to pay their quotas.

In the Ins. Ordin. of Spain, made by Philip II., 14th July, 1556, direct mention is made of "gross average":

X.-Jettisons made for a common benefit, unloading and lightening a ship to pass the shallows in the river of Seville and other parts, and all other common risks, shall be understood as a gross average, to be paid by the ship, freight, and goods; if the occasion was unavoidable, and without fault of the

master.

The Ins. Ordin. of Antwerp, under date 1563, makes direct mention of average : VI. And in order to ascertain the damage which shall have happened by reason or in consequence of the above-mentioned jettisons, stranding or cutting away for the effectual preservation of life, ship, and cargo, all the goods, whether lost or saved, shall be valued altogether, according to the prices of the market where the goods saved shall be disposed of, for money or money's worth (first deducting from thence the freight and other charges), and then adding thereunto the true value of the ship, or the whole freight agreed for by the master, at the option and choice of the merchant; all which being added together, every one shall from the whole sum be rated in proportion to the goods which he has lost or were saved; which estimation and calculation of such averages shall be made by masters of ships and merchants experienced therein, and that are impartial.

In the Ins. Ordin. of the City of Middelburg, under date 30th September, 1600 (and renewed 10th December, 1689), we find the following:

XVII.-An action for the damage or decay of any ship or goods that are ins.. generally called average, must be brought within a year and a half at furthest, if such average happened within the limits of Europe or Barbary; or within three years when at a further distance; the respective times of one year and a half, and of three years, beginning after the ships are entirely unloaden.

XVIII. Further, if the loss either by way of average or otherwise does not exceed one p.c., the assurer shall not be obliged to make good the damage, nor make any return.

Cowell, in his famous Law Dict. pub. 1607, says the word average, when applied to maritime commerce, means "a certain contribution that merchants and others proportionably make towards the losses of such as have their goods cast overboard for the safety of the ship, of the goods, and of the lives of those in the ship, in a tempest; and this contribution seems to be so called, because it is proportioned after the rate of every man's average, or goods carried."

In the Civil Statutes of the Republic of Genoa, under date 1610 (book iv. c. xvi.), title of "Jettisons and how to behave on such occasions," there occurs the following:

Everything that is thrown overboard, in the form as above described, shall be looked upon as a general average, and be divided into equal proportions upon the ship, freight, and cargo; among which are to be included money, gold, silver, jewels, slaves, whether male or female, horses and other cattle.

In 1622 Gerard Malynes, merchant, pub. the first ed. of his Consuetudo, vel Lex Mercatoria; or the Ancient Law Merchant, and therein he treats of "Contributions or Averidges. He speaks of contributions to be made in case of capture by "Pirats;" contribution for "spoyled goods;" contribution for lightening the ship; and also of contribution for pilots; but manifests no familiarity with the term average, which indeed he only uses in combination, or alternatively as above.

In 1676 Mr. Charles Molloy pub., De Jure Maritimo et Navali: or, a Treatise of Affairs Maritime, and of Commerce, in three Books; and therein he treats of "Averidges and Contributions," under the following heads :

1. Of goods and merchandize when subject to be cast overboard. 2. Of the account rendered of such ejected goods and by whom. 4. What goods must come into the averidge and what are exempt. 6. The ship's apparel, whether within the averidge. 7. The residue of the goods, where tacitly

obliged to answer the averidge. 8. Of goods remaining on shipboard spoiled by reason of the ejection of others, where subject to averidge. 9. Where ship and loading are both made liable to the averidge. 10. Of misfortunes, not subject to an averidge. 11. Where the remainder of the goods are exempted from the averidge, and the damage of the ejected goods falls on the master. 12. Damage to the ship where the lading contributes, and the standard rate of contributions. 13. The master becomes a captive for the redemption of ship and lading, where liable to the averidge and where discharged. 14. What goods are subject to the averidge. 15. Contribution for pilotage, and where the remaining goods not subject to averidge. 16. Rules general for settling the averidge.

In the Ins. Ordin. of France, generally styled L'Ordonnance de Louis XIV. touchant a Marine, and "donné à Fontainbleau du mois d'Août, 1681," there is not only a division relating to averages, but there is an attempt to define the different classes of average:

I. All extraordinary charges made for ship and goods, jointly or separately, and all damage that may happen after the lading and departure, to their return and unlading, shall be reputed average. II. The extraordinary charges for the vessel alone, or for the goods alone, and the particular damage that may happen to them, are particular and simple averages. The extraordinary expenses made, and the damage suffered, for the common good and safety of the whole, both goods, and ship, are gross, or general averages.

III. Simple or particular averages shall be borne and paid by that thing which has suffered damage or caused the expense. The gross or general averages shall fall as well on the ship as on the goods, and shall be so much p.c. on the whole.

In the Ordin. "concerning assu. and averages for the city of Rotterdam," under date 28th January, 1721, there is a special chap. treating "of average," consisting of 36 clauses. We cannot follow all these, but may give one or two examples:

LXXXIII. All damage arising from anything that is voluntarily done for the preservation of ship and goods, or for preventing greater and more apparent mischief, shall be deemed general average, and be borne by ship and cargo.

LXXXIV. Consequently, when any goods are thrown overboard, or otherwise flung away, or emptied, in order to lighten the ship, it shall be particularly esteemed such.

CXIV. In order to make up the general average, the goods that are lost, as well as those that are saved, must be valued together, and the freight and other charges to be from thence deducted; then to add thereunto in the general average the value of the ship, or the whole freight, which of the two shall amount to the most: the freight in this respect to be calculated as well upon the goods that were saved, as upon those that were flung overboard, or otherwise lost.

CXV. And consequently every one is to receive or pay, out of this general stock, in proportion to the goods lost or saved.

CXIX. Nobody however shall, with regard to average, be further answerable than for the ship and goods that are liable to the same; and on relinquishing the same, every one to be free from any further demand.

In the Prussian Maritime Laws, promulgated about 1730, c. vi. treats of ins. These laws are generally known as the Ordin. of Konigsberg. In them is a chap. on average divided into four parts. 1. Of community between ship and goods. 2. Of jettison, and other average damages. 3. Of contributions in gross averages. 4. Of common on the lesser averages. The chap. opens as follows:

1. The goods designed for a ship being actually put on board, and stowed, they, together with the ship, come under the general average; so that whatever damage any of them may afterwards incur for the general advantage, must be made good by the several parties concerned, according to the prescrip. tions of this chapter.

The provisions which follow are remarkable for their detail and clearness; and show that at this date at least the application of the "average" to marine losses was understood almost in its fullest modern sense.

In the "Ordin. of the City of Hamburg concerning ins. and average," under date 1731, title 21 treats "of averages, and how they are to be settled":

I. All damages that happen to ships or cargoes, with all the ordinary and extraordinary expenses that are required, from the beginning of a voyage to the end of it, are deemed average.

II. Averages are divided into the lesser or ordinary, and the larger or extraordinary, commonly called general and gross average, as likewise into particular average.

III. The assu. never contribute anything to the lesser or ordinary average, under which denomination are comprehended all the usual payments, such as the ordinary pilotage, light-buoy and pile moneys, or hire of hoys, lighters, and boats, anchorage, ordinary quarantine charges, and such like; whereof the cargo bears two-thirds, reckoned according to the Lasts, but not according to the value, and the ship one-third.

It says that "to the general and extraordinary average belong particularly "

1. All damages that happen to a ship, its equipage, or the goods on board, or are occasioned by a defence it makes in engagements with enemies, privateers, and pirates. 2. The extraordinary pilotage and other charges, which a master is obliged to pay, when by reason of the ship having sprung a leak, or received other damages, he is obliged to seek and run into some harbour. 3. When a ship runs aground, and in order to get off again is forced to have the assistance of strangers, or be unloaded. 4. All what a master agrees for with any privateers or pirates, for the salvage of the ship and cargo, or what he is forced to give them, or otherwise let them have by consent for the redemption of the ship. 5. All what is required for the cure, attendance, and extraordinary maintenance of those officers and sailors, which are wounded or maimed in the defence of the ship, as likewise what is given to the widows and orphans of such husbands and parents as are killed in the engagement. 6. All what a master promises to a ship's company in an engagement or other dangerous accidents, in order to encourage them to a brave defence, and the preservation of the ship. 7. All cables and other ship's materials that are cut away, slipped, or worn out in the preservation of the ship. 8. All that is thrown overboard for the common benefit, or is damaged by such jettisons, or other means used for the preservation of the ship and cargo [except such as are exempted by other clauses of the ordin.] 9. When in time of war, goods or any other things are taken out of the ships by a privateer or other cruiser under commission, not being of the enemy's side, for which payment is promised, but not complied with. 1o. The charges incurred by extraordinary quarantines, or other unavoidable accidents.