If minor or collateral differences be disregarded, there are amongst civilized nations four different ways of dealing with collision damage where both ships are in fault.
1. To mass the total damage and divide it equally between the two ships.[[188]]
This is the British rule, and has been the American rule....
2. To leave the loss where it falls.
This is the rule in Germany, Holland, Italy, Spain, and those of the South American States which have derived their law from Spain, and was the rule in Great Britain in our Courts of Common Law previous to the Judicature Act, 1873.
3. To divide the loss proportionally to the value of the vessels in collision.
A kind of general average principle obtaining in Turkey and Egypt.
4. To divide the loss proportionally to the faults of the two vessels.
This is the rule of France, Belgium, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Portugal, Greece, and Roumania.
See Franck, Collisions at Sea in Relation to International Maritime Law, 12 Law Quarterly Review, 260.