AVERAGE ADJUSTER. The problems involved in giv ing effect to the ancient law of general average are very complex, and hardly less difficult are those arising out of the application of the law of marine insurance. The professional average ad juster undertakes the duties of applying these laws, subject to the business usages involved, to individual cases, and to deter mining the liabilities of the respective parties to a maritime ad venture and to contracts of marine insurance. He embodies his findings in adjustments which may vary in bulk from a single sheet of foolscap to a volume of several thousand folios.
In the British Empire the adjuster has no official position, and the adjustments he prepares are subject, in case of dispute, to legal adjudication. Until the middle of the 19th century, adjust ing was generally based upon the adjuster's individual interpre tation of law and usage. With the increase in overseas trade which followed the termination of the Napoleonic wars, the necessity for uniform interpretation became evident, with the result that in 1872 the Average Adjusters Association was formed in Great Britain. The rules of practice of the association, in which have been embodied the original customs of Lloyds, have no legal sanction, but their value has been recognized by the law courts, and it is rarely that they have been overridden.