deviation

Departure from established or usual conduct or ideology. A change made in the progress of a work from the original terms or design or method agreed upon. Ward v. City of Monrovia, 16 Cal.2d 815, 108 P.2d 425, 429.

A voluntary departure by railroad carrier, without necessity or reasonable cause, from the regular or usual route or from a stipulated or customary mode of carriage. Ward v. Gulf, M. & N. R. Co., 23 Tenn.App. 533, 134 S.W.2d 917, 924.

A wandering from the way, variation from the common way, from an established rule, standard, or position. S. J. Groves & Sons Co. v. West Virginia Turnpike Commission, D.C.W.Va., 164 F.Supp. 816, 821.

In employment, departure of employee from his course of employment and duties to employer for purposes entirely personal. Such term comes into use and is applied in workers' compensation cases and in actions against employer by third persons for injuries caused by employee.

See also scope of employment.

In insurance, term refers to variance from the risks insured against, as described in the policy, without necessity or just cause, after the risk has begun. Such deviation may void the liability or responsibility of the insurer. In shipping, a voluntary, unnecessary or unexcused departure without reasonable cause from the course of the voyage insured, or an unreasonable delay in pursuing the voyage, or the commencement of an entirely different voyage. The Willdomino v. Citro Chemical Co. of America, 272 U.S. 718, 47 S.Ct. 261, 262, 71 L.Ed. 491