insurers. 76. EVERY person capable of making a contract may be an Who may be insurer, and may authorize any person capable of being an agent to underwrite policies in his name and on his behalf. The practice of insuring with individuals was the earliest in use anywhere, and long continued to be followed in this country. 77. In the time of William III. and of Queen Anne, Lloyd's Lloyd's Coffee-house, at the corner of Abchurch Lane, in underwriters. Lombard Street, became the celebrated resort of seafaring men, and those that did business with them. There, and subsequently in Pope's Head Alley, and ultimately on the west side of the old Royal Exchange, at this coffee-house congregated the underwriters of London. For some time they had no organization; but in the latter part of the eighteenth century they formed themselves into an association or club with a committee of management, which became famous under the name of Lloyd's. In connection with this association they have developed a ramified system of agency radiating everywhere to the ports of the world, which is now become of imposing magnitude, essential to the business of marine insurance whether in the hands of individuals or of companies, and to the general interests of British commerce. Sect. 77. Lloyd's rooms. Lloyd's agents. Shipping Lloyd's List. Lloyd's underwriters now meet and carry on their business in spacious rooms over the Royal Exchange. In the underwriting rooms the underwriters sit at tables of the coffeehouse type, while the brokers and other subscribers pass from one underwriter to another and submit their "slips." slips." There are also (1) an apartment in which the latest telegrams are exhibited for the information of members, and (2) a large room called the reading room, where all this information is carefully tabulated in volumes ranged alphabetically from one end of the room to the other. The corporate affairs of members, as distinguished from their underwriting business, are managed by a committee, elected by and from the members of Lloyd's and presided over by a chairman and deputy-chairman, the latter being the acting president. The committee, on the recommendation of an agency committee, on which the insurance companies are also represented, appoint agents of the corporation (generally called Lloyd's agents) in all the principal ports of the world, whose business it is regularly to forward to Lloyd's accounts of all departures from and arrivals at their ports, as well as of losses and casualties; and also general information bearing upon shipping and insurance (a). This information, which is now of course largely transmitted by telegraph, is posted up, when received, in the apartment mentioned above. The information thus received during each day is forthwith published in the "Shipping and Mercantile Gazette," a newspaper in which is incorporated what was formerly known as Lloyd's List. The columns of this "Gazette" are numbered, and the information is immediately indexed in the volumes referred to above-the date and column number of the Gazette being recorded against each entry (6). There is also at Lloyd's a register of captains, giving the record of every master during his whole career. It should be noted that Lloyd's agents, who, as has just been said, are appointed by the corporation, are not the agents of the individual underwriters. Still, they perform very important functions, e.g., as surveyors of damaged cargo, and in many ways render assistance where vessels put into a port of distress. The development of the telegraphic system, however, which enables masters of ships in most cases to communicate quickly with their owners, and through them to obtain instructions from the underwriters, has relieved the agents of much responsibility. Sect. 77. Lloyd's underwriters individually sign their names at the Form of underwriting. foot of the policy, and opposite thereto the sum insured by each in figures and also in words, with the date of so doing (c). Each thereby makes a separate contract in the terms of the instrument with the assured of the particular amount set opposite to his name. The right of action in the assured is consequently against each separately, and not against all jointly (d). The committee of Lloyd's now require a deposit to cover the engagements of each member in his capacity as an underwriting member of the minimum amount of 5,0007., with a view to maintaining the credit of the room. Formerly the committee were satisfied with a written guarantee to cover C. J., presiding, to be official news: (c) Rule 4 in the Sched. to the special Act (34 Vict. c. xxi.), incorporating the Society of Lloyd's, is as follows: "An underwriting member shall not, by himself or by any partner or other substitute, directly or indirectly. underwrite in the city of London a policy of insurance as follows: (1) In the name of a partnership, or other- (d) See ante, s. 26. Sect. 77. these engagements. The corporation of Lloyd's being thus constituted trustees of the benefit of the guarantee on behalf of those who had sustained damage by the failure of the underwriting member in respect of his engagements in that capacity, were held entitled to put it in suit, although they had themselves suffered no loss (e). The two Old Consequences A 78. By virtue of an Act of 1719 (6 Geo. 1, c. 18), two companies, the Royal Exchange Assurance Corporation and the London Assurance Corporation, were incorporated, with the exclusive right of making sea insurances in their corporate capacity, and all others were restrained from granting insurances as companies or partnerships on a joint capital. subsequent Act, 8 Geo. 1, c. 15, relieved them of any liability to double damages or costs at law, at that time an important privilege; and the 11 Geo. 1, c. 30, s. 43, gave them the right of pleading the general issue to all actions of debt and covenant on their policies (ƒ). Their main privilege of exclusively granting marine policies as corporate bodies was retained by them until the year 1824, when the 5 Geo. 4, c. 114, repealed so much of the 6 Geo. 1, c. 18, as restrains "any corporation or body politic, society or partnership, or persons acting in any society or partnership," from underwriting sea-policies or lending money on bottomry. 79. The repeal of the monopoly formerly possessed by the of the repeal two old companies was succeeded by the rapid multiplication of the mono poly. (e) Lloyd's v. Harper (1880), 16 Ch. D. 290. (f) The right to plead the general issue and give special matter in evidence was also given to the two companies when the insurance is on inland navigation by 41 Geo. 3, cc. lvii., lviii. respectively, but the latter Act was repealed by the London Assurance Act, 1891 (54 & 55 Vict. c. cxxvi.). This right of pleading the general issue was not affected by the 5 & 6 Vict. c. 97, s. 3 (Carr v. Royal Exch. Ass. (1861), 1 B. & S. 956; 31 L. J. Q. B. 93), and it is clearly not affected by the Public Authorities Protection Act, 1893, s. 2 (e). Whether, however, it survived the changes in pleading effected by the Rules under the Judicature Acts is a matter of some doubt. Mr. Maclachlan expressed the view that the privilege remains unchanged. (Arnould, 6th ed. vol. i. p. 151, n. (2). of public companies, some of them incorporated by special Sect. 79. statutes, some by charter from the Crown, and others formed upon the provisions of a partnership deed, for the purpose of granting marine policies (g). under the By the Joint Stock Companies Act, 1844 (7 & 8 Vict. Companies c. 110), it was enacted that every company insuring ships Companies and their cargoes against loss and damage must be regis- Act. tered (). This Act was repealed by the Companies Act, 1862, which provides that every insurance company completely registered under the Act of 1844 shall register itself under the Act of 1862 (i). By such registration these companies obtain the advantages suitable to each as provided by the Act of 1862 (k). By doing so, they retain all property, and all rights, interests, and obligations in connection with property, their rights and liabilities in respect of debts, obligations, and contracts; and the peculiar modifications impressed on their constitution-and their rights and liabilities in connection therewith-by the statute, charter, or deed, under which they may have been formed (1). Moreover, any stipulation or condition in any policy affecting the liability of members, or of the funds of any company, remains in full force and effect, notwithstanding registration of the company under that Act (m). Any company registered under the 7 & 8 Vict. c. 110, if not registered under the Companies Act, 1862, is not illegal, but subjected to the following consequences:-1. It is incapable of suing, yet not incapable of being sued, either at law or in equity; 2. No dividend is payable to any of its shareholders; and 3. Each director or manager incurs a penalty (g) See Hallett v. Dowdall (1852), 18 Q. B. 2, 17. (h) The Act of 1844 extended to companies established in England, Wales, or Ireland, or if established in Scotland, having an office in the former country: s. 2. (i) 25 & 26 Vic. c. 89, s. 209. For the purposes of this Act, a company that carries on the business of insur- (k) 25 & 26 Vict. c. 89, ss. 6, 180, 206. (1) Ibid. ss. 193, 194, 196. |