Read the following passage:
In analyzing the historical development of maritime risk allocation, legal historians often point to the ancient Mediterranean principle of general average, codified in Roman jurisprudence through the Lex Rhodia de iactu. Under this doctrine, when cargo is intentionally jettisoned during a tempest to preserve the vessel, the resulting financial loss is apportioned proportionally among all stakeholders whose property survived. While conventional legal treatises characterize this principle primarily as an early form of mutual insurance, legal historian Elena Vance argues that its essential historical function was procedural rather than compensatory. Vance contends that without a mandated pre-contractual rule of contribution, merchants aboard a foundering ship would inevitably engage in protracted, self-interested disputes over whose goods should be cast overboard first, paralyzing emergency decision-making. Thus, Vance observes that Roman praetorian edicts specifically penalized shipmasters who attempted to calculate exact property valuations prior to executing emergency jettisons.
Statement: In the context of the passage, the reference to Roman praetorian edicts penalizing pre-jettison property valuations serves primarily to offer historical evidence supporting Vance's claim that the doctrine prioritized rapid emergency action over precise compensatory accounting.
Answer: Answer