John Weskett was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

underwriter and merchant who contributed to the understanding of

insurance law Insurance law is the practice of law surrounding insurance, including insurance policies and claims. It can be broadly broken into three categories - regulation of the business of insurance; regulation of the content of insurance policies, especial ...

in the eighteenth century. Weskett was probably born in

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...

. It is believed to have lived between 1730 and 1800.

Marine insurance average

Weskett offered a definition of the term

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7 ...

in ''A Complete Digest of the Theory, Laws, and Practice of Insurance'', (1781): :"Average means the accidents and misfortunes which happen to ships and their cargoes, from the time of their lading and sailing till their return and unlading. It is divided into three kinds : first, the simple, or particular, average, which consists in the extraordinary expenses incurred, either for the ship alone, or for the merchandize alone. Such is the loss of anchors, masts, and rigging, occasioned by the common accidents at sea ; the damages which happen to merchandize by storms, capture, shipwrecks, wet, or rotting: all which must be paid by the thing that suffered the damage. Secondly, the large, or common, called gross, or general average, being those expenses incurred, and damages sustained, whether by ship or by goods, or by both, for the common good, security, and preservation both of the merchandize and vessel ; consequently to be borne by the ship, freight, and cargo, and to be regulated and proportioned upon the whole. Thirdly, the small, or petty average, which means expenses for towing and piloting the ship out of or into harbours, creeks, or rivers, and other port charges : one-third of these must be charged to the ship, and two-thirds to the cargo. It also signifies a small duty which merchants who send goods in another man's ship pay to the master for his care of them, over and above the freight ; hence it is expressed in the bills of lading, as paying so much freight for the said goods, with primage and average as accustomed."

Criticism

Weskett has been criticised for normalising the

dehumanisation Dehumanization is the denial of full humanness in others and the cruelty and suffering that accompanies it. A practical definition refers to it as the viewing and treatment of other persons as though they lack the mental capacities that are c ...

and commodification of

enslaved Africans The Atlantic slave trade, transatlantic slave trade, or Euro-American slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of enslaved African people, mainly to the Americas. The slave trade regularly used the triangular trade route and i ...

, for example Robin Pearson and David Richardson (2019) in "Insuring the Transatlantic Slave Trade" or

Saidiya Hartman Saidiya Hartman (born ) is an American writer and academic focusing on African-American studies. She is currently a University Professor at Columbia University. Early life Hartman was born in and grew up in Brooklyn, New York. She earned a B. ...

in ''Lose Your Mother: A Journey Along the Atlantic Slave Route'' (2007)

Works

* 1781 ''A Complete Digest of the Theory, Laws, and Practice of Insurance'', London: Frys, Couchman and Collier, 1781.

References

English merchants {{Authority control