iscovered that the principle cannot be
applied in any settled or consistent manner unless by the aid of rules of a
technical and sometimes of a seemingly arbitrary character. The difficulty,
which at one time seemed nearly insuperable, of bringing together the rules
in force in the several maritime countries, has been to a large extent
overcome--not by legislation but by framing a set of rules covering the
principal points of difference in such a manner as to satisfy, on the
whole, those who are practically concerned, and to lead them to adopt these
[Sidenote: History of the York-Antwerp rules.] rules in their contracts of
affreightment and contracts of insurance (see INSURANCE: _Marine_). The
honour of the achievement belongs to a small number of men who recognized
the need of uniformity. The work began in May 1860 at the congress held at
Glasgow, under the presidency of Lord Brougham, assisted by Lord Neaves.
Further congresses were held in London (1862), and at York (1864), when a
body of rules known as the "York Rules" was agreed to. There the matter
stood, until it was taken up by the "Association for the Reform and
Codification of the Law of Nations" at conferences held at the Hague
(1875), Bremen (1876) and Antwerp (1877). Some changes were made in the
"York Rules"; and so altered, the body of rules was adopted at the
last-named conference, and was styled the "York and Antwerp (or
York-Antwerp) Rules." The value of these rules was quickly perceived, and
practical use of them followed. But they proved to be insufficient, or
unsatisfactory, on some points; and again, in the autumn of 1890, a
conference on the subject was held, this time at Liverpool, by the same
Association, under the able presidency of Dr F. Sieveking, president of the
Hanseatic High Court of Appeal at Hamburg. Important changes were then
made, carrying further certain departures from English law, already
apparent in the earlier rules, in favour of views prevailing upon the
continent of Europe and in the United States. The new rules were styled the
[v.03 p.0055] York-Antwerp Rules 1890. In practice they quickly displaced
those of 1877; and in 1892, at a conference of the same Association held at
Genoa, it was formally declared that the only international rules of
general average having the sanction and authority of the association were
the York-Antwerp Rules as revised in 1890, and that the original rules were
rescinded. It is this later body of rule