What the recent developments in Britain clearly show, however, is that British fund companies are less beholden to this principle than their American counterparts.

A close reading of their prospectuses reveals blunt language that gives the investment manager every right to halt redemptions under “extraordinary circumstances” to protect the interests of investors with a longer-term investment horizon.

British fund companies, more so than their American counterparts, are also ready to take drastic steps, beyond just blocking the door, to prevent investors from leaving their funds.

Aberdeen Asset Management, one of the largest fund managers in Britain, has marked down the value of the assets in its property fund (as well as its related feeder fund) by 17 percent, a bold move that in effect tells investors: Go ahead and take your money out if you want, but you will pay a price to do so at this time.

The hope is that investors in Aberdeen funds will choose to ride out the storm and that the investment climate for the British property market will soon improve. Those investors have until Monday to decide.

Hedge funds routinely have rules that lock up investors’ money for a period of time. But American mutual funds are granted such restrictions by the Securities and Exchange Commission only in the most extreme circumstances — as was the case with Third Avenue.

What the moves by these British fund managers have also highlighted is the extent to which fund companies around the world are willing to take risks to satisfy rising investor demand for high-yielding returns when interest rates hover near zero.