Case Name: Brown v. Cornwell
Court: Connecticut Superior Court
Jurisdiction: Connecticut
Decision Date: 1773-12
Citations: 1 Root 60
Docket Number: 
Parties: Brown v. Cornwell.
Judges: 
Reporter: Connecticut Reports
Volume: 1
Pages: 60–61

Head Matter:
HARTFORD ADJOURNED SUPERIOR COURT,
DECEMBER, A. D. 1773.
Brown v. Cornwell.
Stock on deck thrown overboard to save the vessel and cargo, entitled to an average loss.
Action upon the statute for the average loss of five horses thrown overboard in a storm to save the vessel and cargo. Not guilty plead.
The jury find a special verdict — That the vessel sailed the Utli of ETovember, sprung a leak on the 24th of December, that the water gained upon the primps, the horses then all well and secure, etc. and that upon consultation on board, it was determined that all the horses, hay and oats must be thrown overboard in order to save the vessel, the lives of the people and the rest of the cargo; and in pursuance of said consultation, the plaintiff’s five horses were thrown overboard and lost; that said vessel and cargo was saved, and arrived in safety at St. Croix, her destined port, and the defendant sold said cargo and received the avails.
The question put to the court was — Whether stock shipped upon the deck in case it is thrown overboard to save the vessel and the rest of the cargo, will entitle the owners to an average upon the goods^jstc. shipped in the hole of the vessel, that were saved.

Opinion:
The court determined that the law was so, that it did; and judgment was for the plaintiff to recover. That although stock upon deck is more exposed to danger, and in a storm exposes the vessfel to greater risk than goods in the hole, yet-as it is the universal custom to ship goods in. the hole, with stock upon deck; when the stock upon deck is thrown overboard for the express purpose of saving from destruction the cargo in the hole, it is but reasonable that the cargo saved should bear a proportion of the loss, which was the price of its ransom.