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20-549: The Vääksy canal, Vesijärven kanava , is located in Vääksy. Its length is 1,315 m and the height difference is 3.10±0.25 metres. Nowadays it is the most popular freshwater canal in Finland. The canal was built during the great hunger years in 1869-71 and completed in 1903–06. 61°10′20″N 025°32′50″E  /  61.17222°N 25.54722°E  / 61.17222; 25.54722 This Southern Finland location article

40-431: A case as: "what is denominated in the law of Scotland damnum fatale — occurrences and circumstances which no human foresight can provide against, and of which human prudence is not bound to recognize the possibility; and which, when they do occur, therefore, are calamities that do not involve the obligation of paying for the consequences that may result from them." In the law of torts , an act of God may be asserted as

60-619: A common carrier is not liable for the unforeseeable forces of nature. See Memphis & Charlestown RR Co. v. Reeves , 77 U.S. 176 (1870). One example is that of "rainmaker" Charles Hatfield , who was hired in 1915 by the city of San Diego to fill the Morena reservoir to capacity with rainwater for $ 10,000. The region was soon flooded by heavy rains, nearly bursting the reservoir's dam, killing nearly 20 people, destroying 110 bridges (leaving 2), knocking out telephone and telegraph lines, and causing an estimated $ 3.5 million in damage in total. When

80-409: A contract could lead to an order for specific performance or internment in a debtor's prison . In 1863, this harsh rule was softened by the case of Taylor v Caldwell which introduced the doctrine of frustration of contract , which provided that "where a contract becomes impossible to perform and neither party is at fault, both parties may be excused their obligations". In this case, a music hall

100-648: A general principle of act of God, epidemic can be classified as an act of God if the epidemic was unforeseeable and renders the promise discharged if the promisor cannot avoid the effect of the epidemic by exercise of reasonable prudence, diligence and care, or by the use of those means which the situation renders reasonable to employ. An act of God is an unforeseeable natural phenomenon. Explained by Lord Hobhouse in Transco plc v Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council as describing an event: In Tennant v Earl of Glasgow (1864 2 M (HL) 22) Lord Chancellor Westbury described

120-562: A promisingly warm midsummer, freezing temperatures in early September ravaged crops; as a result, the harvest was about half the average. By the autumn of 1867, people were dying by the thousands. In addition to hunger, 1866–68 saw what was thought of at the time as typhus killing 270,000 people in the region. Municipalities that were particularly badly hit were Eno, Ilomantsi , Pielisjärvi and Rautavaara in North Karelia , and Ostrobothnia , Satakunta and Häme . The government of

140-426: A type of intervening cause, the lack of which would have avoided the cause or diminished the result of liability (e.g., but for the earthquake, the old, poorly constructed building would be standing). However, foreseeable results of unforeseeable causes may still raise liability. For example, a bolt of lightning strikes a ship carrying volatile compressed gas, resulting in the expected explosion. Liability may be found if

160-521: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Finnish famine of 1866%E2%80%9368 The Famine of 1866–1868 was the last famine in Finland , and (along with the subsequent Swedish famine of 1867-1869 ) the last major famine in Northern Europe . In Finland, the famine is known as "the great hunger years", or suuret nälkävuodet . About 8.5% of the entire population died of hunger; in

180-508: The English-speaking world , an act of God , act of nature , or damnum fatale ("loss arising from inevitable accident") is an event caused by no direct human action (e.g. severe or extreme weather and other natural disasters ) for which individual persons are not responsible and cannot be held legally liable for loss of life, injury, or property damage . An act of God may amount to an exception to liability in contracts (as under

200-568: The Grand Duchy of Finland was ill-equipped to handle a crisis of such magnitude. There was no money readily available to import food from largely monopolized Central European markets, and the government was slow to recognize the severity of the situation. Finance minister Johan Vilhelm Snellman , in particular, did not want to borrow, lest Finland's recently introduced currency, the Finnish markka , be weakened because of high interest rates. When money

220-525: The Hague–Visby Rules ), or it may be an "insured peril" in an insurance policy . In Scots law , the equivalent term is damnum fatale , while most Common law proper legal systems use the term act of God . It is legally distinct from—though often related to—a common clause found in contract law known as force majeure . In light of the scientific consensus on climate change , its modern applicability has been questioned by legal scholars. In

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240-427: The carrier did not use reasonable care to protect against sparks—regardless of their origins. Similarly, strict liability could defeat a defense for an act of God where the defendant has created the conditions under which any accident would result in harm. For example, a long-haul truck driver takes a shortcut on a back road and the load is lost when the road is destroyed in an unforeseen flood. Other cases find that

260-561: The fields, and conditions for sowing grain in the autumn were unfavourable. When stored food ran out, thousands took to the roads to beg. The following winter was hard, and spring was late. In Helsinki , the average temperature in May 1867 was +1.8  °C (35.2  °F ), about 8 °C (14 °F) below the long-time average and by far the coldest May in the meteorological record of Helsinki since observations commenced in 1829. In many places, lakes and rivers remained frozen until June. After

280-419: The hardest-hit areas up to 20%. The total death toll was 270,000 in three years, about 150,000 in excess of normal mortality. The worst-hit areas were Satakunta , Tavastia , Ostrobothnia , and North Karelia . Parts of the country had suffered poor harvests in previous years, most notably in 1862. The summer of 1866 was extremely rainy, and staple crops failed widely: potatoes and root vegetables rotted in

300-459: The law of contracts , an act of God may be interpreted as an implied defense under the rule of impossibility or impracticability . If so, the promise is discharged because of unforeseen occurrences, which were unavoidable and would result in insurmountable delay, expense, or other material breach . Under the English common law , contractual obligations were deemed sacrosanct , so failure to honor

320-555: The obligation, even if the events are relatively rare: e.g. , the year 2000 problem in computers. Under the Uniform Commercial Code , 2-615, failure to deliver goods sold may be excused by an "act of God" if the absence of such act was a "basic assumption" of the contract, and the act has made the delivery " commercially impracticable ". Recently, human activities have been claimed to be the root causes of some events previously considered natural disasters. In particular: As

340-502: Was burned down by act of God before a contract of hire could be fulfilled, and the court deemed the contract frustrated. In other contracts, such as indemnification , an act of God may be no excuse, and in fact may be the central risk assumed by the promisor—e.g. , flood insurance or crop insurance —the only variables being the timing and extent of the damage. In many cases, failure by way of ignoring obvious risks due to "natural phenomena" will not be sufficient to excuse performance of

360-483: Was directed mainly at local officials. No significant working class political movement had developed yet that could have capitalized politically on the crisis. The urban population was small, and for the people of the countryside, the first priority was to resume normal lives. In short, the famine did not threaten the social order , but its memory cast a long shadow. Because of the famine, many Finns immigrated into Murmansk. Act of God In legal usage in

380-586: Was finally borrowed from the Rothschild bank of Frankfurt in late 1867, the crisis was already full blown, and grain prices had risen in Europe. In addition, it was difficult to transport what little aid could be mustered in a country with poor communications. A number of emergency public works projects were set up, foremost among them the construction of the railway line from Riihimäki to Saint Petersburg . The weather returned to normal in 1868, and that year's harvest

400-435: Was somewhat better than average, yet, contagious diseases that had spread in the previous year took many additional lives. Programs were launched to increase the diversity of Finnish agriculture, and rapidly improving communications made a recurrence of such a famine less likely. In general, ordinary Finns at the time saw the famine as an act of God . Few would have expected the crown to be able to do much more, and blame

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