RATE

Proportional or relative value, measure, or degree; the proportion or standard by which quantity or value is adjusted. Thus, the rate of interest is the proportion or ratio between the principal and interest. So the buildings in a town are rated for insurance purposes; i. e., cla ified and individually estimated with reference to their insurable qualities. In this sense also we · speak of articles as being in "first-rate" or "second-rate" condition. Absolute measure, value, or degree. Thus, we speak of the rate at which public lands are sold, of the rates of fare upon railroads, etc..See Georgia R. & B. Co. v. Maddox, 116 Ga. 64, 42 S. E. 315; Chase v. New York Cent. R. Co.,. 26 N. Y. 526; People v. Dolan, 86 N. Y. 67. The term is also used as the synonym of "tax;" thirt is, a sum a e ed by governmental authority upon persons or property, by proportional valuation, for public purposes. It Is chiefly employed In this sense In England, but ls there usually confined to taxes of a local nature, or those raised by the parish; such as the poor-rate, borough rate, etc. It sometimes occurs In a connection which gives it a meaning synonymous with "a e ment;" that is, the apportionment of a tax· among the whole number of persons who are responsible for it, by estimating the value of the taxable property of each, and making a proportional distribution of the whol.e amount. Thus we speak of "rating" persons and property. In marine insurance, the term refers to the cla ification or scaling of ve els based oµ their relative state and condition in regard to insurable qualities; thus, a ve el in the best po ible condition and offering the best risk from the underwriter's standpoint, is "rated" as "A 1." See Insurance Companies v. Wright, 1 Wall. 472, 17 L. Ed. 505. -Rate of exchange. In commercial law. The actual ·price at which a bill, drawn in one country upon another country, can be bought or obtained in the former country at any given time. Story, Bills, § 31.-Rate-tithe. In English law. When any sheep or other cattle, 1 are kept in a parish for le time than a year, the owner must pay tithe for them pro rata, according to the custom of the place. Fitzh. Nat. Brev. 51: [s. 997]