Definition
A term of Norwegian origin used in maritime law and charter-party instruments to denote passage by sea or water. In the context of charter-parties specifically, farvand carries the meaning of a voyage or passage by water — encompassing the full journey rather than merely the act of crossing. Standing alone, the word signifies passage by sea in its general sense.
Why It Matters in Research
Farvand appears almost exclusively in the maritime contract context, particularly in charter-parties that originated in or were influenced by Scandinavian or North Sea commercial practice. Researchers working through 19th-century admiralty records, freight disputes, or charter-party litigation may encounter the term in instrument language without explanation, since drafters of the period often reproduced foreign commercial terms directly from trading custom.
The single English case citation shared by both Burrill and Bouvier — 18 C.B. 880 — anchors the term's legal meaning firmly in mid-19th-century English common law reporting. Researchers should note that the Common Bench Reports (C.B.) are the relevant series; the parenthetical "9 J. Scott" in Burrill refers to the reporter, helping to locate the volume precisely. This is a narrow body of authority, and the term does not appear to have generated extensive independent case law beyond this reference point.
Because farvand is a loan term from Norwegian maritime vocabulary, it should be searched in historical sources under variant spellings and without assuming any anglicized form. Researchers using corpus tools should also check charter-party form books from the 18th and 19th centuries, where Scandinavian trade terminology was sometimes reproduced verbatim.
Historical Dictionary Support
Burrill and Bouvier are in close agreement on substance, both tracing farvand to Norwegian roots (fare, to travel; vand, by water) and both citing the same English case for authority. Burrill's entry is the more etymologically precise, supplying the component word analysis; Bouvier's is the more practically oriented, drawing out the distinction between the word's general maritime meaning and its specific application in charter-party instruments.
Neither dictionary offers meaningful discussion of how farvand interacts with surrounding charter-party terms, nor do they address whether English courts treated it as a term of art carrying defined legal consequences distinct from ordinary words like "voyage" or "passage." This is a notable gap: the operational question — whether farvand in a charter-party imposed obligations or limitations beyond what "voyage" alone would imply — is left unresolved by the historical authorities.
Jurisdictional Note
The term's documented legal use is grounded in English admiralty and common law courts. Its presence in American legal dictionaries reflects scholarly borrowing rather than established domestic case law. Researchers working in American maritime disputes should treat farvand as a foreign commercial term requiring contextual construction rather than a settled term of art with domestic doctrinal history.