lighters

1 definition found

lighters - Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) :

  LIGHTERS, commerce. Small vessels employed in loading and unloading larger 
  vessels. 
       2. The owners of lighters are liable, like other common carriers for 
  hire; it is a term of the contract on the part of the carrier or lighterman, 
  implied by law, that his vessel is tight and fit for the purpose or 
  employments for which he offers and holds it forth to the public; it is the 
  immediate foundation and substratum of the contract that it is so: the law 
  presumes a promise to that effect on the part of the carrier without actual 
  proof, and every principle of sound policy and public convenience requires 
  it should be so. 5 East, 428; Abbott on Sh. 225; 1 Marsh. on Ins. 254; Park 
  on Ins. 23; Wesk. on Ins. 328.