Legal Definitions - discarcare

Discarcare is a historical legal term that refers to the act of unloading cargo, typically from a ship or other vessel. It describes the process of removing goods that have been transported and bringing them ashore or transferring them to another mode of transport.

Here are some examples illustrating the application of this term:

• Imagine a 17th-century merchant ship, laden with exotic spices and textiles, arriving at a bustling European port. The crew and dockworkers would then commence the laborious task of removing these valuable goods from the ship's hold and placing them onto the docks or into warehouses. This entire operation of taking the cargo off the vessel would historically be referred to as discarcare.

• Consider a historical maritime contract from the 15th century between a ship owner and a merchant. This contract might specify that upon the ship's arrival in Venice, the merchant is responsible for the discarcare of the olive oil barrels. This clause would legally obligate the merchant to arrange and pay for the unloading of the cargo from the ship.

• In the records of a colonial trading company from the 18th century, there might be entries detailing the arrival of a vessel carrying timber from the Americas. The process of moving the large logs from the ship's deck and hold onto the riverbank for transport to a sawmill would be documented as discarcare, highlighting the physical act of offloading the raw materials.