valued policy settled first. For under the present state of the law it is a great question whether the assured could recover from the underwriters of the lowest valued policy, if they had received from the underwriters of any higher valued policies the amount stated to be the value in the lowest valued policy.

In all probability before they could do so at law, they would have to take the case, by way of appeal, to the Exchequer Chamber, or perhaps to the House of Lords.

WHAT MAY BE INSURED.

As before stated, whoever insures must have an interest in the subject matter of the insurance.

At the common law it was not requisite that the insured should have an interest in the goods insured any more than it was necessary that the party insuring should be a natural born subject. But by the statute 19 Geo. II, cap. 37, sec. 1, it is provided "that no assurances shall be made by any person, bodies corporate or politic, on any ship belonging to his majesty, or any of his subjects, or on any goods, merchandises, or effects laden or to be laden on board such ships, interest or no interest, or without further proof of interest than the policy, or by way of gaming or without benefit of salvage to the assurer, and that every such assurance shall be void."-A policy effected in violation of the provisions of this Act is called a Wager Policy.

In order that there should be a compliance with the requisites of this Act, the subject matter of the insurance must be one in which the insured is interested, or such as it is possible to have an interest in, therefore, if the insured has, prior to the loss, assigned his interest over to another as purchaser, he cannot sue upon the policy for his own benefit, nor even as trustee for the assignee, unless the policy was expressly or impliedly assigned.

The owner of a ship may insure his interest therein. The policy on the ship will not cover the cargo; it will cover only the stores and outfit. The mortgagee of a ship may insure his interest in the mortgaged property. He need not state on the policy the amount of his interest; but he cannot at law recover more than his mortgage debt.

The shipowner may insure his freight whether the ship be or be not chartered; and whether the freight be future, expected, or contingent. He may also insure the dead freight to which he may become entitled.

In order, however, to enable the shipowner to recover upon an insurance for freight, there must have been an actual commencement of the voyage on which the insured freight depended, except where the ship is under charter and prepared to earn the freight pursuant to the terms contained in the charter, but is prevented doing so by the perils insured against.

Also for the purpose of recovering under a policy

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upon freight, the assured is bound to prove that but for the intervention of a peril insured against, some freight would have been earned by showing either that a portion of some goods were put on board, or that there existed some contract for so doing.

Freight is the payment made for the conveyance of the merchandize to its destination-it signifies the price of carriage, not of receiving goods to be carried.

A cargo may be insured by the shipper or by the consignee on behalf of the shipper, or the purchaser himself may insure as soon as the cargo becomes vested in him. A person advancing money on cargo can insure, as also the persons' advancing money on respondentia bonds.

The purchaser or owner of goods may likewise insure his expected profits upon those goods, and that either by an "open" or "valued" policy, and a person

entitled to commission can insure the amount of his commission.

Lenders of money on bottomry bonds may insure the amount of their loan.

But, notwithstanding the interest which an underwriter acquires in the subject matter of insurance, it is by the 4th section of the above-mentioned Act, 19 Geo. II. c. 37, enacted, that it shall not be lawful to make re-assurance unless the assurer shall be insolvent, become a bankrupt, or die; in either of which cases such assurer, his executors, administrators, or assignees may make re-assurance to the amount of the sum

before by him assured, provided it shall be expressed in the policy to be a re-assurance.

Salvors may insure the amount claimed by them for the salvage services rendered; but if they do so they should be very careful to avoid the implied warranty of seaworthiness* by an express warranty in the policy that the ship is not seaworthy, otherwise they will not be able to recover, although it may appear on the face of the policy that the interest insured is for salvage services.

By a recent Act of Parliament insurances may be effected by shipowners to cover loss of life or personal injury sustained by any individual who may happen to be in any ship belonging to such shipowner; loss of life or personal injury, which by reason of the improper navigation of a ship, may be caused to any person carried in any other ship; or which by reason of the improper navigation of any ship may result in loss or damage to any other ship or boat or its cargo, or the cargo of the ship doing the damage. This is a most valuable provision for shipowners, and has set at rest the question of the legality of such insurances, which until the passing of the last-mentioned Act was very much questioned.

* Seaworthiness-a relative term-a seaworthy ship is a ship which is in a condition in all respects to render it reasonably safe where it happens to be at the particular time, and well fitted and capable of performing the voyage contemplated.

THE POLICY.

Policies of insurance are of four kinds, and are called voyage policies, time policies, open policies, and valued policies.

Voyage policies are policies effected on any particular voyage from one point to another without regard to the time it may take to effect it.

Time policies are policies effected for a stated period whether the ship makes many or few voyages, as from the 1st of January, 1869, to the 1st of January, 1870. Ships employed in the home trade are generally insured in this manner.

Open policies are policies in which the value of the subject-matter of the insurance is left to be proved by the assured in case of loss.

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Valued policies are those in which the value of the subject matter of the insurance is stated on the face of the policy, and is the measure of damages to be recovered in the event of a total loss happening. The only difference therefore between an open" and a "valued" policy, is that in the event of a total loss happening you have to prove the amount of it if the policy is an "open" one, but if it is a valued policy, you recover the amount stated therein, and for this purpose it is only required to show an interest in the goods lost, and not the value, since that is admitted by the insurer. There is no difference whatever in recovering for a partial loss.