Because time begins to run from the date when a cause of action arises, it is necessary to consider what is the nature of an action for general average contribution.
Lord Denning MR said: ‘We so rarely have to consider the law of general average that it is as well to remind ourselves of it. It arises when a ship, laden with cargo, is in peril on the sea, such peril indeed that the whole adventure, both ship and cargo, is in danger of being lost. If the master then, for the sake of all, throws overboard some of the cargo, so as to lighten the ship, it is unjust that the owner of the goods so jettisoned should be left to bear all the loss of it himself. He is entitled to a contribution from the shipowner and the other cargo-owners in proportion to their interests: see the exposition by Lord Tenterden quoted by Cresswell J. in Hallett v Wigram (1850) 9 C.B. 580, 607-608 and Burton v English (1883) 12 Q.B.D. 218. Likewise, if the master, for the sake of all, at the height of a storm, cuts away part of the ship’s tackle (as in Birkley v Presqrave (1801) 1 East 218) or cuts away a mast (as in Attwood v Sellar and Co. (1880) 5 Q.B.D. 286), or, having sprung a leak, puts into a port of refuge for repairs and spends money on them (as in Svendsen v Wallace Bros. (1885) 10 App. Cas. 404), it is unfair that the loss should fall on the shipowner alone. He is entitled to contribution from the cargo owners for the loss or expenditure to which he has been put. In all such cases the act done by the master is called a ‘general average act’: and the loss incurred is called a ‘general average loss’.’
Judges:
Lord Denning MR
Citations:
[1971] 1 QB 456
Cited by:
Cited – Total Transport Corporation v Arcadia Petroleum Ltd (‘the Eurus’) CA 18-Nov-1997
Arcadia chartered the Eurus, and had succeeded in their application for an award in arbitration proceedings against Total. The award had been reversed, and they now appealed against that order. The parties disputed whether the amount was an award of . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Contract, Transport
Updated: 06 May 2022; Ref: scu.462289