1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Adjustment

ADJUSTMENT (from late Lat. ad-juxtare, derived from juxta, near, but early confounded with a supposed derivation from justus, right), regulating, adapting or settling; in commercial law, the settlement of a loss incurred at sea on insured goods. The calculation of the amounts to be made good to and paid by the several interests is a complicated matter. It involves much detail and arithmetic, and requires a full and accurate knowledge of the principles of the subject. Such adjustments are made by men called adjusters, who make the subject their profession. In Great Britain they are for the most part members of the Average Adjusters’ Association (1870), a body which has done much careful work with a view to making and keeping the practice uniform and in accord with right principles. This association has gradually formulated, at their annual meetings, a body of practical rules which the individual members undertake to observe. (See Average and Insurance, Marine.)