ABSTRACT
The Sydney Conference of 1994, the British delegation proposed on the grounds of equity and modern practice to reverse the emphasis of Rule I so that it would read: Jettison of cargo, wherever stowed, shall be made good as general average when made for the common safety. At the Liverpool Conference of 1890, therefore, the British Association of Average Adjusters proposed an amendment to Rule I accordingly, but this proposal was not accepted. It was not until the 1924 Stockholm Conference, therefore, that a modified version of the British proposal was accepted and the present text emerged, without reference to what constitutes the deck of a vessel. In English law there is little in the way of authority to establish what constitutes a recognised custom of the trade. The law as it developed in various countries of the world displayed considerable differences as to the allowance in general average, if any, for the jettison of cargo carried on deck.
