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TONNAGE Definition & Legal Meaning

Definition & Citations:

The capacity of a vessel for carrying freight or other loads, calculated iu tous. But the way of estimating the tonnage varies iu different countries. Iu England, tonnage denotes the actual weight in tous which the vessel can safely carry; in America, her carrying capacity estimated from the cubic dimensions of the hold. See ltoberts v. Opdyke, 40 N. Y. 259. The “tonnage” of a vessel is her capacity to carry cargo, and a charter of “the whole tonnage” of a ship transfers to the charterer only the space necessary for that purpose. Thwing v. Insurance Co.. 103 Mass. 405, 4 Am. Rep. 507. The tonnage of a vessel is her internal cubical capacity, in tons. Inman S. S. Co. v. Tinker, 94 U. S. 238, 24 L. Ed. 118.

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