Part of team receiving ERC Consolidator Grant for project: "the development of General Average laws and procedures during the Early Modern period". The project is led by prof. Maria Fusaro (University of Exeter)

General Average (GA) is the practice, still in use today, of apportioning costs arising from the jettison of cargo or of intentionally damaging a ship (for example, by cutting its mast) to prevent greater damage or even the loss of the entire vessel and its cargo (typically during a storm). This topic has been almost entirely neglected by scholars, despite the survival of rich Early Modern documentary evidence in the archives of Genoa, Venice, Livorno, Amsterdam, and elsewhere. The multi-disciplinary project will research the development of GA across Europe from economic, legal and political perspectives.
Go’s contribution will consist of analysis of the development of the GA legislation in the Netherlands, particularly the workings of the Amsterdam Chamber of Insurance and Average. This court was an essential part of the commercial framework of Amsterdam during its golden age, but its influence reached well beyond the United Provinces. The grant totals €1.8 million, and the team includes scholars from the UK, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Spain. The project will be completed in five years.