Nom de la clauses

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Name of the Clause :
Short history about the first international rules for General Avarege
Subject of the Clause :
Self explanatory
Category :
History
Number :
Country :
Date :
United Kingdom
1860 & 1864
Issued by :
Comments :
Extract from the “Law of General Average – English and foreign” by Richard Lowndes, fourth
edition, 1888
THE INTERNATIONAL GENERAL AVERAGE CONGRESSES.
In the years 1860 to 1864, a vigorous effort was made to establish throughout Europe, and for
the Continent of North America, a uniform system of general average.
It was commenced under distinguished patronage. On the 3rd of May, 1860, a circular, signed,
amongst others, by the Chairmen of Lloyd's, the Chairman of the London General Shipowners
Society, the Chairman of Lloyd's Salvage Association, and the Chairmen of the Chambers of
Commerce, the Underwriting Associations, and other mercantile bodies of Liverpool, Glasgow,
Hull., and Bristol, was sent out, by way of invitation, to all the maritime countries of Europe,
and to the United States. In this circular were set forth the serious evils which resulted from the
want of uniformity in the legislation affecting general average; and a place and Lime were
appointed for a meeting of delegates front the various English and foreign mercantile bodies,
and others supposed to be most competent to discuss the subject.
This invitation was pretty largely responded to. The delegates who appeared at the first
meeting represented the Netherlands' Trading Company of Amsterdam ; the Board of Trade of
Boston (U.S.)) ; the Chambers of Commerce of Antwerp, Bremen, Bristol, Copenhagen,
Edinburgh, Glasgow, Hamburg, Liverpool, Mobile, and New York ; the Committee of Lloyd's ;
the Salvage Associations of London and Liverpool ; the Boards of Underwriters of Boston,
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Copenhagen, Liverpool, New Orleans, and New York ; and the Shipowners' Associations of
Amsterdam, Dundee, Glasgow, Greenock, and Liverpool. There were also present average
adjusters, underwriters, and lawyers from Amsterdam, Glasgow, London, Liverpool, and
Manchester.
The first meeting took place at Glasgow, under the presidency of Lord Brougham, assisted by
Lord Neaves. Papers were read, discussions ensued, and, finally, a series of resolution s were
passed known as Glasgow Rules.
Having drawn rap their rules in language which appears not ill adapted for conveying their
meaning, the Glasgow meeting fell info the natural yet grievous error of employing an English
Parliamentary draughtsman -to put it into legal form -an error which cost them four years, and
was, perhaps, fatal to their enterprise. Their concluding resolution was, that a Bill should be
drawn up on the basis of these eleven rides, with the expectation that eventually steps might be
taken for obtaining for their Bill such legislative sanction in this and other countries as would
attain the object they had in view.
The Committee for managing the affairs of Lloyd's, on receipt of the report of their
representative who was present at Glasgow, passed, at their meeting of October 10, 1860, two
resolutions, the first of which expressed the thanks of the Committee to the several gentlemen
who had come from abroad to attend this conference, and the second declared, " That this
Committee Lake a strong interest in the subject discussed at Glasgow, and that they will gladly
co-operate in the endeavour to carry out the very desirable object sought to be attained."
Six months had been assigned by the Glasgow meeting as the Lime to be given for turning their
eleven resolutions into Parliamentary language. The task occupied two years, and the result
was a very long, very obscure, and perfectly unsatisfactory Bill of 126 clauses. What was,
perhaps, worst of ail, the Committee of Lloyd's did not like the Bill, and appear to have
extended their dislike to the whole scheme.
In 1862, many of the same delegates crossed the Atlantic and the Channel, with a real beyond
all praise, to meet their English colleagues in London. No representative of Lloyd's was this
time present to welcome them. Not permitting themselves to be discouraged by a reception so
different from that which the previous attitude of Lloyd's Committee had led them to expect,
the members steadily addressed themselves to their task, and, under the presidency of Sir
Travers Twiss, for several days laboured through the clauses of the obnoxious Bill. Codemaking, it was evident, was not an English accomplishment. Eventually, the Bill was found
unmanageable, and the London Congress separated, after passing a. resolution that another
method of procedure should, for the future, be adopted; that a Committee should be appointed
to decide upon and being into shape a Bill or series of resolutions, having for their object the
establishing one uniform system of general average throughout the mercantile world.
This Committee consisted of the following members :-E. E. Wendt, of London, chairman ; L. R.
Baily, Liverpool ; J. R. Bradford, Boston ; L. C. Driebeck, Rotterdam ; T. C. Engels, Antwerp ; S.
Gram, Copenhagen ; G. W. Hastings, London ; W. J. Lamport, Liverpool ; E. Van Peborgh,
Antwerp ; E. N. Bahusen, Amsterdam ; P. H. Rathbone, Livorpool ; R. M. Smith, Edinburgh ; J. J.
Svensen, Copenhagen ; E. Thune, Copenhagen ; J. Wertheim, Amsterdam ; and B. Lowndes,
Liverpool, Secretary.
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The Committee, consisting of persons living at a distance from one another, carried on an
interchange of argumentative discussion by means of a number of papers or pamphlets, which
were printed and circulated amongst themselves. The ground being thus cleared, they were
prepared for a third meeting or congress, which took place in the summer of 1864, at York. Sir
Fitzroy Kelly, afterwards Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer, presided; and there were present,
besides the members of the Committee, many of the gentlemen who had attended the Glasgow
meeting ; amongst whom I must not omit to mention the Hon. W. Marvin, formerly judge of the
Admiralty Court of Florida, who Look an important part in the proceedings, and has since
published a valuable report addressed to the American Boards of Underwriters, whom he
represented, giving an account of our proceedings, and appending much useful information as
to foreign laves of average, some of which I have made use of in these appendices.
At the York meeting, the following code of rifles, dealing with the principal points as to which
there is at present a diversity of practice in different countries, was drawn up.
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