In 1838 was passed the 31 & 32 Vict. c. 86-An Act to enable Assignees of M. Pol. to sue thereon in their own names; called: Pols. of Marine Assu. Act, 1868. The assignment may be by indorsement as follows: "I, A. B., of etc., do hereby assign unto C. D., etc., his executors, administrators, and assigns, the within pol. of assu. on the ship, freight, and the goods therein carried [or ship, or freight, or goods, as the case may be]. In witness whereof, etc." It is to be hoped the practice will by means of this Act be improved. It will be observed that the preceding forms are each for absolute assignments. Where there is a conditional assignment only, by way of mortgage, or temporary lien, the form must be modified to meet the circumstances in each case. The assignment of a pol. operates, when upon a sale, as a contract which equity will specifically perform, that the purchaser shall be entitled to the entire benefit of the policy; when upon a mortgage, that the lender shall be entitled to the benefit of it as a security for his advances. Settlements made upon a valuable consideration do not differ from sales, except in the fact that the settlor may retain either an ultimate or some other interest thereunder. When simply voluntary, they will be found to involve points of more than ordinary difficulty.—Bunyon. [CONDITIONS OF INS.] [FOREIGN RESIDENCE.] [FOR FEITURE.] ASSIGNMENT OF INS. POL., STAMPS ON.-Regarding the stamps to be used on the assignment the following rule will apply. Where the assignment is absolute, a conveyance stamp of 10s. for each £100 of the purchase-money, which is altogether different from the sum ins., will be required. Where the purchase-money is below 100, the stamps will be according to the scale given under ANNU. POL. STAMPS. Where the assignment is by way of mortgage or security, then the scale of stamps will be as follows:-Sum to be repaid not exceeding £25, 8d.; exceeding £25 and not exceeding £50, Is. 3d.; £50 and not exceeding £100, 2s. 6d. ;£100 and not exceeding £150, 35. 9d.: 150 and not exceeding 200, 55.; 200 and not exceeding £250, 6s. 3d.; £250 and not exceeding £300, 7s. 6d. ; and 2s. 6d. for each add. £100 or part of £100. ASSIGNOR.-The person who makes an assignment, or assignation; correlative of assignor, sometimes called ASSIGNER. ASSIGNS.-Persons to whom the property or interest described in a deed, pol. of ins. or other document, may happen at any future time to be assigned, either by deed, or by operation of law; assignees. Now used only in the plural, but formerly used in the singular, as synonymous with assignee.—Burrill. ASSOCIATION.-A so. formed for a special object; a co.-Worcester. ASSOCIATIONS.-Mut. Marine Ins. Clubs are always technically called "associations," to distinguish their action from that of proprietary cos.-Hopkins. In these pages we use the word "associations" when we speak of ins. offices generally, because it embraces alike proprietary and mut. offices. Most of the early ins. projects founded in Gt. Brit.-always excepting those formed between 1710 and 1720-the greater number of which may appropriately be termed "oneman" enterprises-were simple asso. or partnerships, formed in accordance with the Common Law of the land; having no special, legal, or other privileges: being governed solely by the provisions of their own D. of sett., as their art. of partnership were termed, and holding themselves together by their own common interest. Such asso. were almost powerless in the face of the many legal difficulties by which they were surrounded—a few of which we must now proceed to notice. It is a rule of law that no action can be brought by one partner against another for money due in respect of any partnership transaction, on the ground that a Court of Law cannot in such case do complete justice, since the forms of action will not permit it to enter into such an investigation of the entire state of the partnership accounts as is necessary to ascertain the real and fair claims of the contracting parties. Such being the rule, a call could not be enforced by action; for if brought in the name of the directors it failed, as being an action brought by one partner against another; whilst if brought in the name of the firm, it was equally unsuccessful, as the law ignored altogether the existence of such a body. Little aid was afforded in this difficulty by recourse to Equity; for the taking of general account being a necessary preliminary to compel a partner to pay money at the suit of other partners, it followed that even if a Court of Equity would entertain a bill for an account, it would be practically impossible to expose the whole affairs of a co. to a judicial investigation in order to enforce contributions from two or three shareholders. Secondly, with respect to the adjustment of the rights of the shareholders among themselves. The settlement of partnership disputes is the peculiar province of Courts of Equity. Those Courts, however, regarded joint-stock cos. with no less disfavour than Courts of Law. They required all the partners to be parties to a suit for dissolution, and at the same time were unwilling to take partnership accounts, or to interfere in partnership matters, unless a dissolution were the object of the suit. A striking example of the injustice resulting from these rules of equitable procedure was afforded in 1826, in the case of Vansandau v. Moore. In that case a shareholder in the British Annu. Co., complaining that the D. of sett. contained provisions inconsistent with the prosp., on the faith of which he had accepted shares, filed a bill against the directors and other shareholders to have the Co. dissolved, and the proper accounts taken. Fourteen of the directors appeared and filed fourteen separate answers, with long schedules to each, and the Court held that the defendants could not be compelled to answer jointly, and that there was no reason in fact why the whole 300 shareholders might not answer separately. The result was that it became impossible to proceed with a suit in which the plaintiff, as a preliminary measure, might have had to pay for copies of 300 answers each, with a long schedule. The effect of this case obviously was to render it impossible for individual shareholders to obtain a dissolution of the partnership, or an adjustment of the claims subsisting between themselves and their co-partners. Similar difficulties occurred in the relations between joint-stock cos. and third parties. The law held that an action by or against a co. was defective unless all the partners were before the Court as plaintiffs or defendants. An action therefore by a co. consisting of numerous partners became an impossibility. These inherent difficulties in the way of trading asso, generally had become intensified in the case of ins. asso. by the passing, in 1720, of the BUBBLE ACт—6 Geo. I. c. 18— of which we shall have occasion to speak at large hereafter. Hence the ins. asso. were from time to time driven to seek from Parl., in the form of special or private acts, the powers necessary for carrying on their bus. Many of these were obtained, of which we shall speak fully under LEGISLATION FOR INS. Asso. Mr. Thring, in his excellent work on joint-stock cos., reviewing the special legislation called in force under the circumstances stated, says: The difficulties which gave rise to the interference of the legislature were caused by the persistence of the Courts in placing large public cos. on the same level as private partnerships, and applying to asso. consisting of numerous members, and managed by boards of directors, rules of procedure and principles of law adapted only to firms composed of a few active partners. Mr. Bunyon, writing of these early asso. generally, says: Being empowered neither by statute, nor by the Crown, they are formed by D. of Sett. alone, and do not differ, except in number of the shareholders, from ordinary partnerships. The D. is a covenant made between a few of the shareholders chosen as trustees for that purpose, and the others, by which each of the latter covenants with the trustees, and each of the trustees covenants with the rest of the shareholders, for the due performance of a series of articles which are thereafter specifically set forth. These art. define the objects of the Co., the duties of the directors, trustees, and auditors, and other officers; the powers of general meetings, the remedies given to the directors for breaches of covenant, the limitations under which proprietors are to hold their property in the concern, namely as regards the number of shares to be held by each member; the right of transfer, and the mode of descent of each share, and a variety of other provisions suited to the particular asso. In 1825 the monopoly created, and the restrictions imposed by the Act of 1720, were removed by the repeal of that Act; but with the exception of two temporary measures passed respectively in 1834 and 1837, no steps were taken by the legislature to give to ins. and other asso. legal constitutions suited to their actual requirements until 1844, when there was enacted the JOINT-STOCK COS. REGIS. ACT, which led to very important results in the hist. of ins. enterprise. It is enough for our present purposes to add that since 1844, no asso. of the old type have been founded-although many of those founded previously still exist: indeed the greater part of our most flourishing ins. institutions are in that category. Since the passing of the JOINT-STOCK COS. ACT, 1862, all newly-formed ins. asso. are compelled to regis. under it; and all the previously existing offices may regis. under it if they please to do so. [LEGISLATION FOR ÎNS. ASSO.] [MUT. INS. Asso.] [PROPRIETARY INS. Cos.] [SPECIAL LEGISLATION.] 66 ASSURANCE.-A deed or instrument of conveyance. Thus common assu. are modes of conveyance estab. by the law of England, called common, because thereby every man's estate is assured to him.-Burrill. Sheppard, in his learned Touchstone of Common Assurances, first pub. 1641, while instancing directly or incidentally every description of deed or instrument coming under the title of "assu.," does not make the slightest mention of pol. of ins. The same may be said, we believe, of all the early compilers of Law Dictionaries. We have not met with one in which assu. " is used otherwise than in the sense above indicated. The early lexicographers followed the same rule. But they define assurance also to mean "a pledge of truth or certainty;" "ground of confidence ;" while they render assure, "to make certain or sure." The more modern ones (see Worcester) say that its legal meaning is "to agree to indemnify for loss; to insure.' We think it not difficult to see how the term assurance may have come to have its modern meaning. If we take the word assure in its most general signification, "to make safe," then you have assurance the act or process of making safe. There is, however, another assumption, and this is that we may have borrowed the name, as we adopted the practice, from abroad. It is quite remarkable how the word has preserved its identity through various languages. Thus : France, L'Assurance. Germany, Assekuranz, and Versicherung. Holland, Assurantie, and Verzekering. Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Assecurans. Italy, Assicuranza, Assicurazione, or Si curezza. Spain, Seguro, or Aseguracion. The argument against this assumption must be the comparatively modern use of the word assurance in the sense of ins. in Gt. Brit. In view of a suggestion we are about to offer, we propose to pass in review what has been said by English writers on the distinction between assurance and insurance. The first writer who drew the distinction was Mr. Babbage. In his Comparative View of the various Inst. for the Assu. of Lives, pub. 1826, he says: "Assurance is a contract dependent on the duration of life, which must either happen or fail. Insurance is a contract relating to any other uncertain event which may partly happen or partly fail: thus, in adjusting the price for ins. of houses and ships, regard is always had to the chance of salvage arising from partial destruction." Dr. Farr, in 12th R. of Reg.-Gen. (1853), says :—Ins. is the operation of engaging to pay, and of paying, for a prem., a certain sum of money in the event of a loss. The word is universally written in this form (Insurance') as applied to fire and ship ins.; but for some years assurance has been commonly used in cases where life is concerned. . . But the operations in both cases are fundamentally the same; and as assurance has already a distinct and appropriate meaning, the phrase L. ins.' is in every respect preferable to 'L. assu.' Mr. Manley Hopkins, in his Manual of M. Ins. (1857), says: The words ins. and assu., their meaning being identical, imply a making sure or certain: or the state of being made secure. Mr. Sharman, in his Handy-book for Life Agents, says: "Ins. is no doubt the proper term; for on turning to the word 'Assurance' in Johnson, we find it has twelve separate significations assigned to it, the last and remotest of its meanings being 'Assurance.'" A writer in the Edinburgh Review, in 1859, reviewing the Ins. Guide and Hand-book, (wherein we had endeavoured to adopt Mr. Babbage's distinction) with other works, said: By a purely arbitrary, and not very defensible, application of the terms, "Assurance" is now commonly employed to designate security on lives, and insurance," security against fire. The use of the word assurance in this sense is in truth a Gallicism, for it is thus made to convey the French, and not the English meaning of the word. 6.6 Mr. Sprague, in Assu. Mag. (xvi. p. 77), 1870, offers the following more extended observations: It will be noticed that I do not accept the distinction laid down by some authors as to the use of the words assurance and insurance, by which the former is restricted to life, and the latter to fire risks. The more correct distinction I believe to be that a man insures the life of himself, or of some other person, or his house, or his ships, or the fidelity of his servants; and that the office assures to him in each of these cases a sum of money payable in certain contingencies. Hence the office is called the assurer, or assurers, and the man the assured; while we may speak of the life assured, or the life insured; also of the sum assured, or the sum insured; according as we take the point of view of the office or the individual. So also we may speak either of "life ins.," or of "life assu. ;" as for instance we may say a man believes in the duty and advantage of life ins., or that a co. finds the bus. of life assu. very profitable. After a careful consideration of the question, we have come to the conclusion that Mr. Babbage's distinction is entirely fanciful and untenable; and should therefore be discontinued. We believe the correct distinction to be that "assurance" represents the principle; "insurance" the practice. In the main this would seem to harmonize to a considerable extent with the views of the writers quoted. Throughout these pages this is the distinction we have set up. We shall be glad to see that it finds any response on either or both sides of the Atlantic. The principle has taken deep root in the Anglo-Saxon mind. The practice has become part of our social system-a branch of economic and financial science. It will extend in proportion as it is watched over and properly cultivated. Our American cousins are already wresting the palm of progress from our grasp. They have gone a-head with it in a manner far outstripping all former experience; and probably at a ratio they will not be able fully to maintain. In Canada, in Australia, and in other English Colonies, the principle finds favour; and the practice grows with the growth of the people. The Germans are next to us in their rapid adoption of Ins. in all its branches. In the course of these pages the perfection of the principle, and the extension of the practice, will be traced with considerable detail. We purpose under the present head merely to enumerate the objects and purposes, to and for which the principle has been reduced to practice. The history and progress of each particular branch will be followed out under its proper distinctive title. The principle of assu. has been applied to the following practical purposes-maintaining as far as possible chronological order: 1. Ins. of ships, cargoes, and freight against the perils of the sea. [MARINE INS.] 2. Ins. the life of the captain against misadventure. [CASUALTY INS.] 3. Ins. of the safety of travellers into distant countries; and adventurers upon danger. ous and difficult enterprises. [CASUALTY INS.] 4. Ins. against captivity-a branch of the preceding. [CAPTIVITY INS.] 5. Ins. of goods and merchandize sent overland, against robbers, and misadventure. [TRANSPORT INS.] 6. Ins. against loss of property by fire. [FIRE INS.] 7. Ins. of loss of profits consequent upon fires. [TRADE PROFITS, INS. OF] 8. Ins. of income arising from places of profit or trust, formerly called SERVICE INS. 9. Ins. against death of public men, in times of panic and excitement. [GAMBLING INS.] 10. Ins. of the prices of the public stocks and funds. [GUARANTEE INS.] 11. Ins. of apprentices, viz., for securing to them a capital with which to commence bus. [APPRENTICESHIP INS.] 12. Ins. of contingencies, arising in connexion with births, marriages, and burials. [BIRTH INS.] [MARRIAGE INS.] [BURIAL FUNDS.] 13. Ins. against capture of ships by an enemy. [CAPTURE.] 14. Ins. of adventurers in the success of their enterprise. [GAMBLING INS.] 15. Ins. of annuities upon lives. [ANNUITIES.] 16. Ins. of lottery tickets. [LOTTERY INS.] 17. Ins. of lives from year to year. [SHORT TERM INS.] 18. Ins. of life during its natural term. [LIFE INS.] 19. Ins. of one life against another, or others. [JOINT LIFE INS.] 20. Ins. of sums of money by way of endowment. [ENDOWMENTS.] 21. Ins. against surrender of a fortress. [INS. WAGERS.] 22. Ins. against robbery and theft. [ROBBERY INS.] 23. Ins. of health, against total disablement from any cause. [HEALTH INS.] 24. Ins. against specific infirmities, such as blindness, insanity, paralysis. [CASUALTY INS.] 25. Ins. of the lives of persons afflicted with disease-Diseased LIVES. [DISEASED LIVES.] 26. Ins. against issue of particular marriages. [ISSUE, INS. AGAINST.] 27. Ins. of cows. [CATTLE INS.] [Cow CLUBS.] 28. Ins. of horses against death from all causes. [HORSE INS.] 29. Ins. against accidents of all kinds. [ACCIDENT INS.] 30. Ins. against railway accidents. [ACCIDENT INS.] 31. Ins. of compensation during non-fatal injury. [ACCIDENT INS.] 32. Ins. of passengers by sea and land. [MARITIME INS.] 33. Ins. of the baggage and effects of passengers. [BAGGAGE INS.] 34. Ins. on emigrants, covering the risk of voyages, localities, gold diggings, etc. [EMIGRANT INS.] 35. Ins. of parcels sent by railway. [PARCELS INS.] 36. Ins. of live stock, for the purpose of securing the farmer against the diseases and casualties to which live stock is exposed. [CATTLE INS.] 37. Ins. or guarantee of fidelity in situations of trust; such transactions being some. times combined with life ins. [FIDELITY INS.] 38. Ins. of plate-glass windows, and windows in private dwellings. 39. Ins. against losses by hail-storms. [HAIL INS.] [GLASS INS.] 40. Ins. against defective titles, where the title, though good for holding, is unmarketable by reason only of such defects. [TITLES, INS. OF] 41. Ins. of the value of mortgaged property. [MORTGAGE INS.] 42. Ins. or guarantee of debts. [SOLVENCY INS.] 43. Ins. of dividends, and compensation from embarrassed and bankrupt estates. [DIVIDENDS, INS. OF] 44. Ins. repayment of sums borrowed from building societies on death of borrower. [BUILDING SO. INS.] 45. Ins. against collision at sea. [COLLISION, INS. AGAINST.] 46. Ins., or guarantee of rents, securing punctual payment whether the property be or be not occupied. [RENT INS.] 47. Ins. against trade losses; for the efficient prosecution of the offenders; and for the detection and prevention of crime. [TRADE PROTECTION SOCIETIES.] 48. Ins. of forests against destruction by fire. [FOREST INS.] 49. Ins. of growing crops, as vines, etc., against frost. [FROST INS.] [WEATHER INS.] 50. Ins. against dilapidations, ecclesiastical, and otherwise. [DILAPIDATION INS.] 51. Ins. against inundations. [INUNDATIONS, INS. AGAINST] 52. Ins. of racehorses under special conditions. [HORSE INS.] 53. Ins. of bodies of workmen, exposed to hazardous risk. [COLLECTIVE INS.] 54. Ins. of officers of army against war risk. [WAR RISK.] 55. Matrimonial ins., providing portions to persons who may marry, and making provision for them at a certain age if they do not marry. [MARRIAGE ENDOWMENTS.] 56. Ins. on infants, to take effect after a particular age. [ENDOWMENT INS.] 57. Ins. of steam-boilers against explosions. [STEAM BOILER Ins.] 58. Ins. against colliery explosions. [COLLIERY INS.] 59. Ins. of specific compensation for specific injuries. [ACCIDENT INS.] 60. Ins. of life and against accidents, combined. [COMBINED INS ] 61. Ins. of horses against death or injury. [HORSE INS.] 62. Ins. of carriages. [CARRIAGE INS.] 63. Ins. of mortgages: so as to protect mortgagee from death of mortgagor and all other causes. [MORTGAGE INS.] 64. Ins. for repairs of houses, etc. [DILAPIDATION INS.] ASSURANCE BANK, Lim., THE.-This project was set on foot at the close of 1868, apparently by the Directors and Managers of the Progress. Its authorized capital was £150,000 in 15,000 shares of £10. It was proposed to transact ordinary banking bus. ; and the art. authorized the making advances upon (inter alia) pol., ships, or shares of ships, bills of lading, delivery orders, warehousemen and wharfingers' certificates and notes, dock warrants, annu., rev., etc. We are not aware if the project be now in existence. ASSURANCE Co.-By the Pol. of Assu. Act, 1867-30 & 31 Vict. c. 144-the expression 'assu. co." is declared to mean and "include every corp., asso., so., or co., now or hereafter carrying on the bus. of assu. lives or survivorships, either alone or in conjunction with any other object or objects.' 66 ASSURANCE EXCHANGE CO.-A project under this title was provisionally regis. in Nov., 1855. It never appears to have made further progress. Mr. Wm. Jno. Taylor was the promoter. ASSURANCE MAGAZINE.-In 1851 was commenced the pub. of the Assu. Mag., the design of which was to supply the members of the ins. and actuarial professions with information on topics having a special interest for them; as also a medium for the interchange of ideas on questions of theoretical or practical interest. From the first it took a high position, and made its usefulness felt. It was orig. pub. quite independently of the Inst. of Act. ; but by the time it had reached its 3rd vol. it had commended itself so much to that body, that it was adopted as the organ of the Inst., and has so remained up to the present date. The successive editors of the Mag. have been,-Mr. Charles Jellicoe (for a short time Mr. Samuel Brown acted as associate editor); and for the last few years, Mr. T. B. Sprague, M.A. The Mag. is pub. in quarterly parts; six of them make a vol. The 16th vol. is now in course of pub. Many of the papers read at the Inst., but not all, appear in its pages. All those who desire to be kept au fait on ins. and actuarial questions must read it; many of the essays are of great practical and historic value. The Mag. is much appreciated in the U.S. An index to the first 10 vols. has been pub. The plan of this index is as nearly as possible perfect: a matter of no small importance in a work of reference extending over many vols. ASSURANCE UNION.-A co. under this title was projected in 1857, for carrying on the bus. of fire, life, marine, casualty, and indemnity ins. The promoter was Mr. Thomas Bradshaw, Barrister. We believe it made no progress. ASSURANCER.-We have seen this term applied by early writers to those engaged in carrying on the bus. of ins. ASSURANT.-A person assured; ie. insured. ASSURE.-The following definitions are given to this word by leading authorities. To assert positively; secure.-Johnson. To make sure or secure, firm, steady. certain.Richardson. To make sure or certain; to confirm; to make certain or secure.—Webster. To make sure, or secure; to insure.-Chambers. We have already discussed the definition under Assurance. ASSURED.—In its ordinary sense, certain, indubitable, not doubted. In its legal sense a person ins., and indemnified against certain events: as a person on whose life an ins. has been granted; or who is the beneficial holder of a policy of marine, fire, accident, or other ins. As distinguished from assurer, a person granting ins. [See ASSURANCE.] ASSURER.-One who assures, or gives assurance. One who promises to make good a loss; an insurer-Burrill. An insurer against certain perils and dangers; an underwriter; an indemnifier.-Wharton. We constantly see this word used in a wrong sense-viz., in the place of "assured," a person insured. [See ASSURANCE.] ASTHMA (Class, LOCAL; Order, Diseases of respiratory organs).—The_deaths from this cause in England have in recent years shown a tendency to decrease. In ten consecutive years they were as follows: 1858, 4513; 1859; 4224; 1860, 4325; 1861, 3892; 1862, 4087; 1863, 3699; 1864, 4228; 1865, 3975; 1866, 3682; 1867, 3748; showing a variation from 234 deaths per million of population in 1858 to 182 in 1863, and 177 in 1867. Over a period of fifteen years, ending 1864, the deaths had averaged 232 per million. The deaths in 1867 were males 2259; females 1489. Very few die in the early ages; after 30 the numbers increase up to 70, and then rapidly decline. ASYLUM FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC LIFE ASSU. Co., founded in 1824, with an authorized capital of £240,000, in 2000 shares of £120. The promoters of the Co. were Mr. Geo. Farren, and Mr. Naylor, who had in the preceding year jointly founded the Economic. The former became Resident-Director. The latter was the Actuary down to 1827, when some split took place. An early prosp. said: The Asylum Co. confines its bus. to assu. the lives of persons going beyond the limits of Europepredisposed to hereditary or other constitutional maladies-of delicate health-of peculiarity of form, whether natural or accidental-labouring under mania, melancholia, or any kind of chronic disease, unaccompanied with immediate danger-females in a state of pregnancy-persons engaged in unhealthy occupations-and those who from inadequate testimonials, uncertainty of date of birth, or other causes, would be subject to rejection, or an exorbitant rate of prem. at other offices. Another prosp. amplifies some of the preceding features as follows: The importance of life ins. to those who, in mercantile and professional pursuits, derive limited or |
