first received in the United Kingdom on payment of the duty only. (2) Provided that a policy of sea insurance shall for the purpose of production in evidence be an instrument which may legally be stamped after the execution thereof, and the penalty payable by law on stamping the same shall be the sum of £100. 96. Nothing in this Act shall prohibit the making of any alteration which may lawfully be made in the terms and conditions of any policy of sea insurance after the policy has been underwritten; provided that the alteration be made before notice of the determination of the risk originally insured, and that it do not prolong the time covered by the insurance thereby made beyond the period of six months in the case of a policy made for a less period than six months, or beyond the period of twelve months in the case of a policy made for a greater period than six months, and that the articles insured remain the property of the same person or persons, and that no additional or further sum be insured by reason or means of the alteration. 97. (1) If any person (a) Becomes an assurer upon any sea insurance, or enters into any contract for sea insurance, or directly or indirectly receives or contracts or takes credit in account for any premium or consideration for any sea insurance, or knowingly takes upon himself any risk, or renders himself liable to pay, or pays, any sum of money upon any loss, peril, or contingency relative to any sea insurance, unless the insurance is expressed in a policy of sea insurance duly stamped, or (b) Makes or effects, or knowingly procures to be made or effected, any sea insurance, or directly or indirectly gives or pays, or renders himself liable to pay, any premium or consideration for any sea insurance, or enters into any contract for sea insurance, unless the insurance is expressed in a policy of sea insurance duly stamped, or (c) Is concerned in any fraudulent contrivance or device, or is guilty of any wilful act, neglect, or omission, with intent to evade the duties payable on policies of sea insur ance, or whereby the duties may be evaded, he shall for every such offence incur a fine of £100. (2) Every broker, agent, or other person negotiating or transacting any sea insurance contrary to the true intent and meaning of this Act, or writing any policy of sea insurance upon material not duly stamped, shall for every such offence incur a fine of one hundred pounds, and shall not have any legal claim to any charge for brokerage, commission, or agency, or for any money expended or paid by him with reference to the insurance, and any money paid to him in respect of any such charge shall be deemed to be paid without consideration, and shall remain the property of his employer. (3). If any person makes or issues, or causes to be made or issued, any document purporting to be a copy of a policy of sea insurance, and there is not at the time of the making or issue in existence a policy duly stamped whereof the said document is a copy, he shall for such offence, in addition to any other fine or penalty to which he may be liable, incur a fine of £100. [54 & 55 Vict.] SCHEDULE STAMP ACT 1891 [Ch. 39.] Stamp duties on policies of sea insurance-(1) Where the premium or consideration does not exceed the rate of 2s. 6d. per cent of the sum insured . (2) In any other case (a) For or upon any voyage— In respect of every full sum of £100, (b) For time In respect of every full sum of £100, Particulars of Adventure. It is clear that the particulars of the adventure, the underwriters and the amounts underwritten, which are by § 93, 3 essential to the validity of a policy of sea insurance, are only what one would expect to find in such a document. They are, in fact, the particulars given in an abbreviated conventional form on the slip already described. Limit of Time Policy. The special limitation of policies for time to a period not exceeding twelve months is one for which no cause or motive can be found in the nature of the contract, it is simply a matter of revenue regulation. Consideration. The requirements of English Statute Law for the expression of certain particulars in a policy of sea insurance seem, without doubt, to be based on the requirements of Louis XIV.'s Ordonnance de la Marine. The earlier document differed from the later in making no restriction of time policies to a period of twelve months, and in requiring a great number of additional particulars, among them the amount of premium. The absence of this requirement in the English statute is all the more striking because no policy is issued in England or America without some mention of consideration. Still that occurs, not in consequence of any special legislation, but in conformity with the general contract law of England, by which, without consideration, a promise or agreement cannot be construed into a contract valid at law. If such genuine consideration can be proved, no question will be raised regarding its adequacy or reasonableness, it being always provided that the promise or agreement has been made in good faith and between competent parties. Meaning of "Sea Risk."—In the interpretation of the Stamp Acts dealing with marine insurance the question has arisen, what constitutes a sea risk? From examination of the Customs Regulations, and of correspondence with the Board of Inland Revenue, it appears that the Board do not regard as sea risks the following:-risks by canal or risks on navigable rivers or inland lakes not extending to tidal waters. No doubt this decision was come to after consideration of the topography of the United Kingdom and the parts of the Continent of Europe nearest to it; within these limits there is little to say against it. But it is worth remarking that this interpretation leaves all insurances effected in the United Kingdom on the hulls, freights, cargoes, disbursements, etc., of vessels engaged in trade on the vast inland lakes of North America subject to no duty beyond Id. per policy. Slip Stamped.-—As a slip or an insurance note almost invariably contains the three essentials of a policy prescribed by the Stamp Act (particulars of the venture, names of the underwriters, and the amounts insured), it seems not impossible that a slip or an insurance note, if properly stamped, may become legal evidence of a contract of sea insurance. This question suggested itself to Lowndes (Law of M. I., 2nd ed., p. 73), but only as affecting the case in which it becomes necessary to submit to the penalty for stamping a document after execution; such a case as would arise if, for instance, an underwriter refused to issue a policy covering a risk for which he had signed a slip or insurance note. Lowndes remarks, "This may be here left as a matter of curiosity"; but it is believed that in at least one case the opinion that stamping and payment of the stipulated penalty are all that is needed to render a note or slip of that character equivalent to a policy, helped to induce an underwriter to issue his policy and pay a loss occurring before submission of the risk, but reported after submission. Practical Difficulties.-The difficulties which occur in daily business in connection with the application of the Stamp Act to marine insurance arise not so much from any obscurity in the Act as from the immense variety of cir cumstances to which it has to be applied. There is also to be considered the diversity of the interests of the assured to whom the stamp is charged; he wishes to have a legally valid document, and yet he has no desire to waste money in unnecessary stamps. Spoiled or Unused Stamps.—In the Stamp Management Act of 1891 liberal regulations are announced for the recovery of spoiled or unused stamps. Of these, however, it is frequently impossible to avail oneself, owing to the delay probably inseparable from the proper accurate procedure of a public department, and sometimes from the difficulty of tendering absolute proof of the identity of goods insured by error on more than one policy, or perhaps misdescribed in a policy for which another is later substituted. Correspondence with Board of Inland Revenue. A useful collection of correspondence between the Board of Inland Revenue and underwriters on matters connected with the interpretation of the Stamp Acts may be found in E. K. Allen's Stamp Duties on Sea Insurances. That book appeared before the Act of 1891, which consequently is only dealt with in an addendum issued with the copies published after the Act passed. Suggestions. It seems a pity that there should be such difficulty in the correct carrying out of the Stamp Act as regards marine insurances. The amount of revenue brought into the Exchequer is comparatively insignificant, and the period of time within which documents arriving from abroad must be stamped is so restricted that undoubtedly some portion of the tax is irretrievably lost. Neither assured nor assurer desires to evade the duty on any policy to which effect may need to be given in this country; but it often happens that in the ordinary course of business the policy does not come into the hands of the beneficiary in this country till after the period within which the document can be stamped. All this delay in paying stamp, and consequent occasional loss to the Exchequer, could be avoided if it were made incumbent on the holder of the policy to get it impressed on receipt with a stamp of small value, say id. or |