Allowance - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition allowance

Definition :

Allowance [fr. locare, Lat.; allocare, allogare, It.; alogar, Prov.; louer, allouer, Fr., to place or assign], a deduction, an average payment, a portion.

Also in selling goods, or in paying duties upon them, certain deductions are made from their weights, depending on the nature of the packages in which they are inclosed, and which are regulated in most instances by the custom of merchants, and the rules laid down by public offices. These allowances, as they are termed are distinguished by the epithets draft, tare, tret, and cloff.

Draft is a deduction from the original or gross weight of goods, and is substracted before the tare is taken off.

Tare is an allowance for the weight of the bag, box, cask, or other package in which goods are weighed.

Real, or open tare, is the actual weight of the package.

Customary tare is, as its name implies, an established allowance for the weight of the package.

Computed tare is an estimated allowance agreed upon at the time.

Average tare is when a few packages only among several are weighed, their mean or average taken, and the rest tared accordingly.

Super-tare is an additional allowance or tare where the commodity or package exceeds a certain weight.

The remainder, after the allowance of tare, is called the suttle weight; but if treat be allowed, the remainder is called the net weight.

Tret is a deduction of 4 lb. From every 104 lb. Of suttle weight. This allowance, which is said to be for dust or sand, or for the waste or wear of the commodity, was formerly made on most foreign Articles sold by the pound avoirdupois; but it is now nearly discontinued by merchants, or else allowed in the price. It is wholly abolished at the East India warehouses in London, and neither tret nor draft is allowed at the Custom-house.

Cloff, or Clough, is another allowance that is nearly obsolete. It is stated in arithmetical books to be a deduction of 2 lb. From every 3 cwt. F the second suttle, that is, the remainder when tret is substracted; but merchants, at present, know cloff only as a small deduction, like draft, from the original weight, and this only in the case of two or three Articles. See Kelley's Cambist, art. 'London,' and McCull. Comm. Dict.

Allowances.--Deductions or payments allowed by law or in equity to persons such as trustees, personal representatives, tenants for life, mortgagees in possession, receivers, and others liable to account, also the admission of claims or items in an account, also payments of a non-obligatory nature by persons sui juris or the Court acting in the exercise of its discretion; and see DEATH DUTIES AND FINANCE ACTS.

Allowances to Agricultural Tenants.--The term 'allowances' is also used to designate the payments made, under custom of the country or agreement, by landlord to tenant on the determination of agricultural tenancy, to compensate the tenant for outlay on seed, labour, or crops, of which he cannot reap the benefit in kind. See AGRICULTURAL HOLDINGS.

Allowances to Witnesses in Prosecutions.--The term 'allowances' is also used to designate payments to witnesses for both prosecution and defence in criminal matters. These are now provided for by the Costs in Criminal Cases Act, 1908 (8 Edw. 7, c. 15), and the regulations made thereunder. For allowances to witnesses in Civil Proceedings in the High Court, see Annual Practice; in the County Courts, see County Court Rules.