Hey,

Somewhere in the Mediterranean, around 800 BC, a merchant ship runs into a storm. The captain faces a choice: jettison part of the cargo to lighten the vessel and save the ship — or risk losing everything.

He throws the cargo overboard. The ship survives. But the merchant whose goods went into the sea has lost everything, while the merchant whose cargo stayed dry loses nothing. Is that fair?

The sailors of Rhodes didn't think so. Their answer — that everyone who benefited from the sacrifice should share in its cost, proportionally — became the Lex Rhodia de Iactu. The law of jettison. The oldest known principle of maritime law.

Three thousand years later, it's still in your bill of lading.