32 CFR § 842.73 - Definitions.

---
identifier: "/us/cfr/t32/s842.73"
source: "ecfr"
legal_status: "authoritative_unofficial"
title: "32 CFR § 842.73 - Definitions."
title_number: 32
title_name: "National Defense"
section_number: "842.73"
section_name: "Definitions."
chapter_name: "DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE"
subchapter_number: "D"
subchapter_name: "CLAIMS AND LITIGATION"
part_number: "842"
part_name: "ADMINISTRATIVE CLAIMS"
positive_law: false
currency: "2026-04-05"
last_updated: "2026-04-05"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
authority: "Sec. 8013, 100 Stat. 1053, as amended; 10 U.S.C. 8013, except as otherwise noted."
regulatory_source: "55 FR 2809, Jan. 29, 1990, unless otherwise noted."
cfr_part: "842"
---


# 842.73 Definitions.

(a) *Admiralty contracts.* A contract covering maritime services or a maritime transaction such as vessel procurement and space for commercial ocean transportation of DOD cargo, mail, and personnel is an admiralty contract.

(b) *General average.* General average is the admiralty rule that when someone's property is thrown overbaord to save a ship, the ship owner and all owners of the cargo must share the loss.

(c) *Maritime torts.* A maritime tort is one committed in navigable waters or on land or in the air where a substantial element of the damage, personal injury, or death occurred in navigable waters. The activity causing the tortious act must bear some significant relationship to traditional maritime activity.

(d) *Vessel.* Every description of watercraft used or usable as a means of transportation on water is a vessel. (1 U.S.C. 3)

[55 FR 2809, Jan. 29, 1990. Redesignated at 81 FR 83695, Nov. 22, 2016]