1. The act of voluntarily throwing cargo overboard to lighten or stabilize a ship that is in immediate danger.
— Also termed equitable jettison; jactura; jactus mercium navis levandae causa. See general average under AVERAGE.
2. JETSAM. — jettison, vb.
“The goods must not be swept away by the violence of the waves, for then the loss falls entirely upon the merchant or his insurer, but they must be intentionally sacrificed by the mind and agency of man, for the safety of the ship and the residue of the cargo. The jettison must be made for sufficient cause, and not from groundless timidity. It must be made in a case of extremity, when the ship is in danger of perishing by the fury of a storm, or is laboring upon rocks or shallows, or is closely pursued by pirates or enemies; and then if the ship and the residue of the cargo be saved by means of the sacrifice, nothing can be more reasonable than that the property saved should bear its proportion of the loss.” 3 James Kent, Commentaries on American Law *232–33 (George Comstock ed., 11th ed. 1866).
