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ALBION MARINE INS. CO. LIM., founded in Liverpool in 1863, with an authorized cap. of £1,000,000, in 50,000 shares of £20 each. On the 27th Nov. 1866, a meeting of the shareholders was held to discuss the position of affairs. The statement of accounts submitted showed that the paid-up cap. of £100,000 was nearly all lost; £30,000 had been lost by the cyclone at Calcutta alone. It was thought that by winding up at once about £10,000 would be obtained to pay the outstanding claims. It was therefore resolved to wind up voluntarily.

ALBION MARINE Mortgage anD INS. Co.-A project under this title was set on foot in London in 1862, but we believe it then resulted in nothing practical.

ALCHEMISTS.-The chief aim of the Alchemists was the transmutation of the inferior metals into gold. From this sprang the search so long continued, and still pursued, for the Elixir vita, or Water of Life, under which heads we shall speak further upon the subject.

ALCOHOLISM.-Under this title the Reg.-Gen. deals with two important causes of death, viz., Delirium Tremens and Intemperance. The deaths from these combined causes are very numerous. Gastritis might well be included also under this head. [DELIRIUM TREMENS.] [GASTRITIS.] [ÎNTEMPERANCE.]

ALDHAM AND UNITED PARISHES INs. So.-This is really only a Friendly So., founded at Aldham, in the county of Essex, in the early part of the present century.

ALDRICH, STEPHEN S., was Sec. of English and Irish Church Ins. Asso. from its commencement down to 1854.

ALEA. The chance of gain or loss in a contract.

ALEATORY CONTRACT, an agreement of which the effects with respect both to the advantages and losses, whether to all parties, or to some of them, depend on an uncertain event. ALEWYN, FRID., pub. at Amsterdam, in 1824, De jure rerum naufrugarum, or the Law of Wreck.

ALEXANDER, L. C., LL.D., Sec. in Lond. of Norwich Provident, since 1870.

Dr.

Alexander has rendered good service to the cause of industrial ins., the first by urging, and ultimately (1870) prevailing upon the Gov. to reduce the stamps on life policies for £10 and under, from 3d. to Id.; next, in securing the transmission of pol. of ins. by book post. Such practical services are too frequently altogether overlooked and forgotten. ALEXANDRA MARINE FIRE AND GUAR. INS. Co., founded with an authorized cap. of £1,000,000, in 1863, the year in which the charming Princess of that name was first welcomed by the English people. The Co. was regis. by Mr. James A. Foot, a director. It appears to have commenced Fire bus. only, and in the following year it was trans. to the Albert Fire and Marine.

ALEXANDRA MUTUAL LIFE AND ANNUITY Co., founded in 1868, on the principle of the liability of shareholders being limited by guarantee. As this is, we believe, the only L. Ins. asso. so constituted, we propose to point out in what respect it differs from ordinary Lim. Liability Cos. It is in this, that the sum each member is to contribute to the assets of the Co. in the event of winding-up must be defined in the Memorandum of Asso. at the time of registering it. [LIMITED BY GUARANTEE.] In this Co. the limiting clause is as follows:

IV. Every member of the Co. undertakes to contribute to the assets of the Co. in the event of the same being wound-up during the time that he is a member, or within one year afterwards, for payment of the debts and liabilities of the Co. contracted before the time at which he ceases to be a member, and the costs, charges, and expenses of winding-up the same, and for the adjustment of the rights of the contributories amongst themselves, such amount as may be required, not exceeding £5. Then the articles tell us who are members :

SEC. 5. The Co. for the purpose of registration is declared to consist of 500 members. 6. The hereinafter-mentioned may, whenever the bus. of the Co requires it, register an increase of members. 7. An assurer shall be deemed a member who assures for £100 and upwards.

The members are entitled to attend general meetings and vote; if ins. for £100, I vote, if £500, 2 votes, and I add. vote for each £500 ins. (Sec. 32.) The articles contain the following "Ratification" clause:

III. All persons who are or may become members in this Co. shall be deemed and taken to have ratified and confirmed as have been or shall be previously done by the Board of Directors or members in the Co. in regard to the promotion, formation, objects and bus. of the Co., and the funds or property thereof, or in any way relating thereto as are not contrary to the provisions of "The Cos. Act, 1862," under which the Co. is registered.

A guarantee fund was to be raised by the issuing of debenture bonds of £5 and upwards, carrying 6 p.c. int. repayable in 15 years by ann. drawings after the first 5 years or sooner, at the option of directors, and upon terms of advantage to holders. There was

Mr. A. W. Ray was the founder of the Co. and is its Managing Director.

no promotion money; on the contrary, a clause of the art. prohibits the payment of any. Policies are indisputable except in cases of personation or proved fraud.

ALFRED AVERAGE ASSO. for British, Foreign, and Colonial Built Ships, founded in Lond. in the early part of 1866, on the principle of mut. asso., and passed into liq. in 1870. Mr. F. B. Smart is the liq.

ALFRED HOME AND FOREIGN LIFE ASSU. AND MUT. ANNU. Asso., founded in 1839, with a cap. of £100,000, in 4000 shares of £25-£5 paid. The prosp. set forth the following special features:

The assu. may obtain loans upon a new and advantageous plan peculiar to this so., the Directors being empowered to employ its funds in making advances to parties effecting assu. for life with the Asso., upon security being given for the payment of the future prems. upon their pols., and for the int. payable on such loans. Thus, parties possessed of life interests and incomes, can, by assigning them as security, at once raise a proportionate capital.

Persons assu. the lives of others as security for money, or as nominees in leases and otherwise, may, by the payment of a small extra prem., be relieved from the risk of the party vitiating the policy by going abroad.

Annuities granted on an entirely new principle of parti. in profits.. The granting of annuities therefore is made a separate branch of the bus. By keeping the funds of the two estab. quite distinct, those of the annuitants are available for investments in such purchases and securities as are peculiarly suited to their objects.

The preceding clause about loans was modified in 1850, "the directors not being sure whether they possessed the power of lending money on personal security, as the Deed then stood." It was at the same time considered whether it was not desirable to make the co. mutual, but resolved not to do so at that time.

Mr. J. W. Hampton was sec., and Mr. Charles Jellicoe consulting act.

In 1846 the

co. was regis. under the Joint Stock Cos. Regis. Act, 1844. In 1858 it was amalg. with the Eagle. ALGARUM MARIS, prob. a corruption of Laganum maris, lagan being a right in the middle ages, like jetson and flotsam, by which the goods thrown from a vessel in distress became the property of the king or the lord on whose shores they were stranded.-Spelman. ALGEBRA.-An important branch of mathematics much used in actuarial calculations. It is sometimes called a universal arithmetic; but may be more appropriately described as a calculus of symbols. The symbols it employs are of three kinds : 1. Those of quantity known or unknown, which consist of ordinary numbers and letters of the alphabet. 2. Those of operation, which are arbitrary in design, but pretty uniform in practice. 3. Mere abbreviations for ordinary words. The combination of these symbols according to fixed laws leads to algebraical expressions or formulæ, in which actual computations are indicated rather than performed.

The systematic notation, to which algebra owes its chief power as an instrument of research, has been of very gradual growth, and is still being extended. In the first known treatise upon the subject by Diophantus, who prob. lived about A. D. 400, the few symbols employed were mere abbreviations for ordinary words. The Arabians, who obtained their algebra from the Hindoos, did little or nothing towards its extension; though their treatises, after being carried into Italy by a merchant of Pisa, Leonardo Bonacci (A.D. 1202), gave rise to important improvements. The first book on the subject was one by Lucas de Burgo, an Italian friar, and was pub. in Venice in 1494. Towards the middle of the 16th century algebra was intro. into Germany, France, and England, by Stifelius, Peletarious, and Robert Recorde respectively.

We shall pursue the subject under NOTATION, when we shall have occasion to note the improvements, and attempted improvements, by modern writers; among these some of our present actuaries.

ALGERINE PIRATES.-Persons have been disposed to think that the dangers of which we read as arising from the destruction of shipping and capture of the master by Algerine pirates-events regularly insured against several centuries ago-are more or less mythical. [CAPTIVITY, INS. AGAINST.] The following is a clause from the treaty with Great Britain and Algiers in 1700, confirmed by that of 1716:

No ship or vessel belonging to our government of Algiers shall cruize near or in sight of any of the roads, havens, or ports, towns or places belonging to the said King of Great Britain, or any way disturb the peace and commerce of the same; and in compliance with the 8th art. of the treaty of 1682, we do sincerely promise and declare that such orders shall for the future be given to all our commanders, that under a severe penalty, and our utmost displeasure, they shall not enter into the channel of England, nor come, or cruize in sight of any part of His Majesty of Great Britain's dominions any

more for the time to come.

These pirates commenced their depredations about 1585.

ALIENATE, OR ALIENE.-To transfer property.

ALIENATION.-A transferring of property to another. Alienation, that is, to make alien, or to trans. from our ownership to that of another, or to trans. anything into the power of another.-Coke upon Littleton.

Many curious legal questions have arisen in connexion with the alienation of property insured against fire; more especially in the U.S. Courts-it being the custom in that country to insert a special stipulation that in the event of alienation of the property, the pol. shall be void. We may glance at one or two of the cases. In Strong v. Manufacturers' Ins. Co., tried in Massachusetts in 1830, the policy contained a provision that if the property should be sold or conveyed in whole or in part, the policy should become void. The insured had executed mortgages upon the property embraced in the pol. prior to the ins.; these were foreclosed subsequent to the making of pol. leaving equity of redemption in insured at date of fire. The Court he'd that the insured had not been divested of his insurable interest by such foreclosure and sale, and that he might recover the whole amount of damage to the property, not exceeding the sum ins.

In the case of the Etna Ins. Co. v. Tyler, tried in the N. Y. Courts in 1836, it was held that if insured sell the property and part with all his interest therein before the loss

happens, the pol. is at end unless assigned to the purchaser with assent of co. ; but if he retains a partial interest in the property, the pol. will protect such interest, nothing therein being contrary to a change of interest or title.

In the case of Trumbull v. Portage County Mut. Ins. Co., tried before the Ohio Courts in 1843, it was held that an agreement by the insured to convey the prems. ins. at a future day on payment of the purchase-money, is not such an alienation as to defeat a pol. where a loss occurs after the agreement and before the conveyance, and insured remains in possession of the property.

ALIENEE.-One to whom a trans. of property is made.

ALIENOR.-One who trans. property.

ALIENS. Speaking generally, aliens are persons born in a foreign country out of the allegiance of the king. Aliens and foreigners generally were banished England in 1155, being thought too numerous. In 1483 they were restrained from exercising any trade or handicraft by retail. It was only as recently as 1844 that they were, by authority of 7 & 8 Vict. c. 66, authorized to hold personal property. Hence they were not in a position of security in taking out pols. of ins. before that date. The 10 & 11 Vict. c. 83, relates to aliens in the British colonies.

At the period when this country was at war with some of the leading powers of Europe, questions regarding the right of aliens very frequently arose, especially in connexion with Marine Ins. Some of the principles then settled may be briefly noted.

During war with the native country of an alien, his right to enforce a contract entered into previous to the commencement of the war is suspended until the restoration of peace; and a contract entered into during war is absolutely void. It may be doubted, says Mr. Bunyon, whether if a policy of ins. were valid at its inception, but after the declaration of war the assured died in battle, contending against the forces of this country, his representatives could, even after peace was restored, recover upon it.

Out of these and similar questions the earlier writers upon jurisprudence set up the distinction between alien friends and alien enemies. An alien, not being an alien enemy, has been able at all times to effect an ins. upon his life and enforce the contract by an appropriate proceeding in any court of law or equity in this country; and that although resident abroad at the time. But the life of an alien enemy cannot be insured even for the benefit of a British subject.

An alien resident in this country by permission of the Government will not be considered an alien enemy, and the Queen in her proclamation usually qualifies the declaration of war by permitting the subjects of the enemy resident here to continue so long as they peaceably demean themselves, and without doubt such persons are to be deemed as alien friends.

All these points have been more or less modified by the Act of 1844. Mr. Bunyon treats the subject very learnedly. ALISON, DAVID, was sec. of Indisputable from its estab. down to its trans. to Eagle in 1857. ALKALI WORKS. By the 26 & 27 Vict. c. 124, the Alkali Act, 1863, "An Act for the more effectual condensation of muriatic acid gas in alkali works," certain special rules are laid down, inspectors are appointed, and penalties imposed. This Act was made perpetual by 26 & 27 Vict. c. 124. The health of large masses of the pop. depends upon the proper carrying out of these provisions.

ALLARDICE, GEORGE, was in 1844 sec. of Scottish Marine.

ALLEN, FREDERICK, was for some years representative of the National Provident in Bath and Bristol. He had previously been in the Temperance Provident. In 1862 he became manager of Lond. branch of the Queen. He afterwards retired from the ins. world. ALLEN, J. ADAMS, M.D., LL.D., pub. in N.Y., several years since, Medical Examinations for Life Ins. It has now reached the 6th ed. Mr. Barnes says he has perused the book with "profit and pleasure."

ALLEN, JOSEPH, assistant sec. of Gresham since 1866. He entered the office in 1853, as a junior, and has worked through all the departments. Those who know Mr. Allen know how well suited he is for the arduous duties of his present position.

ALLEN, LEWIS, was for some years connected with the National Provident, and opened up some of its most important provincial branches. He died about 1857.

ALLEVIATOR Fire and Life.—A co. under this title was projected in 1852, but did not proceed. It afterwards took the name of Adamant, which see.

ALLIANCE BRIT. AND FOREIGN FIRE AND LIFE INS. Co., founded in 1824, with an authorized cap. of £5,000,000, in 50,000 shares of £100. The orig. prosp. says:

The object of this inst. is to combine the highest public utility with the greatest individual benefit to the proprietors. It is confidently expected that this will be attained in a greater degree than has ever yet been realized, owing to the extensive connexions, both foreign and domestic, of the parties with whom the Co. originates, and the large capital to be invested therein; by means of which the Co. will be able to avail itself of every opportunity beneficial to its interests, and to defray its expenses with the least possible diminution of profits.

Certainly no ins. asso. ever was founded under more powerful auspices. Its presidents were John Irving, M.P., then one of the most important merchants in Lond., Francis Baring (Baring Brothers), Samuel Gurney (Overend, Gurney & Co.), N. M. Rothschild, and Moses Montefiore, Esquires. The shares of the Co. were in great demand, and rapidly rose to a considerable prem.

Every shareholder, as a condition of holding his shares, was required to insure a sum equal to the amount of his subscription in the Fire, or £1000 in the Life, department of the Co., int. to be paid to the proprietors of not less than 3 or more than 5 p. c. annually; and 5 p.c. of the profits annually to be applied in the purchase of shares, provided they could be purchased or redeemed at a prem. below £90 p. share, "thus benefiting the proprietary without diminishing the security of the public;" and a further sum equal to 15 p.c. of the profits to be employed in paying up the remaining 90 p.c. on the shares, until the whole cap. of £5,000,000 should be realized.

The remaining 80 p.c. of the annual profits to be invested by the trustees, and once in every 5 years to be divided between the proprietors and policy-holders in such proportion as the board of direction shall deem proper. No proprietor holding less than ten shares to attend annual meetings. All unemployed cap. beyond £20,000 to be from time to time invested in public securities. The prosp. also contained this clause:

The following is an outline of the plan upon which the inst. is intended to be conducted, which plan will be further matured by the Presidents and Directors under the ablest legal and professional advice, and will be completed in such a way as counsel may recommend, and the shares are tendered to the parties who have offered to subs. for them upon this express condition that all further details shall remain with the Presidents and Directors, and that the shareholders shall execute such deed or deeds as may be deemed requisite.

The condition implied in the above stipulation was introduced advisedly. The agreement between the orig. promoters had been "to form an assu. co. for the several purposes at that time allowable by law to assu. cos., and for such further purposes as by any alteration of the laws then in force should be allowable to assu. cos. In that same year

(1824) an Act was passed-5 Geo. IV. c. 114-"to repeal so much of an Act of the 6 Geo. I. as restrains any other corps. than those in the Act named, and any sos. or partnerships from effecting Marine Ins. and lending money on bottomry." Hence the monopoly on Marine Ins. was removed, and it was open for any co. to enter upon that branch of bus. We need not be much surprised then to find the following recital in the preamble to the Deed of Sett. :

And whereas the board of direction of the said Co., by reason of the premises, have resolved to extend the object and bus. of the said Co. to assu, upon ships and goods and merchandises at sea, and to lending money upon bottomry; and have further resolved that such assu. shall be taken and the pols. thereof subs. by three or more directors, etc.

This proposed extension of the objects of the Co., although it was very clearly in the minds of the promoters when the first prosp. was issued-and which was indeed intended to be provided for by means of the clause we have already quoted-led to some serious litigation. A Mr. Natusch, we believe an underwriter at Lloyd's, objected to this extension of the bus. What followed we will take from the reported case on the subject-Natusch v. Irving. (See Lindley on Partnership.)

The plaintiff, Natusch, was one of the orig. subs. and held 15 shares, in respect of which he had paid the required deposit, but he had not executed the Deed of Sett. In conformity with the rules of the Co., he had effected a policy with it for £1500 on his life. Shortly after the repeal of 6 Geo. I., an adv. appeared in the newspapers stating that the Co. would commence the bus. of Marine Îns. The plaintiff, in answer to an inquiry whether this announcement was authorized by the Directors, was informed that it was; and that if he objected to the course about to be pursued, he might receive back his deposit and int. and have his policy cancelled and the prem. returned. In reply to this the plaintiff stated that he was ready to execute any deed which was in conformity with the prospectus; that he conceived it competent for him to insist that the bus. in which he was a partner should be carried on according to the agreement which united the partners together; that he could not think his doing so would entitle the manager of that partnership to pay him out his cap. and deprive him of a share in a concern of which he had the highest opinion; that he therefore required the Directors to abstain from any contracts or engagements relating to Marine Ins, as not being contemplated by himself, and those who joined the Co. upon the terms of the prosp.; and that he required an undivided attention on the part of the Directors to the objects defined therein. The plaintiff afterwards attended at the office of the Co. to execute its D. of Sett., but finding that it contained provisions enabling the Co. to carry on the bus. of Marine Ins. he refused to execute it as not being conformable to the terms on which the Co. was formed. In pursuance of the adv., the Co. had commenced and it was carrying on the bus. of Marine Ins.; but there was no evidence to show acquiescence on the part of the plaintiff, and there was evidence to show continued opposition by him to the carrying on of such bus. The plaintiff applied for an injunction to restrain the Directors from effecting Marine Ins., and an injunction was granted. Lord Eldon made (inter alia) the following remarks on the occasion :—

If six persons joined in a partnership of L. assu., it seems clear that neither the majority nor any select part of them, nor five out of the six, could engage that partnership in Marine Ins., unless the contract of partnership expressly or impliedly gave that power: because if this was otherwise, an individual or individuals, by engaging in one specified concern, might be implicated in any other concern whatever, however different in its nature, against his consent. . . . Courts must struggle to prevent particular members of those bodies from engaging other members in projects in which they have not consented to be engaged, or the engaging in which they have not encouraged, assented to, or empowered or acquiesced in, expressly or tacitly, so as to make it not equitable that they should seek to restrain them. The principles which a Court would act upon in the case of a partnership of six must, as far as the nature of things will admit, be applied to a partnership of 600. ...

The estab. of the ALLIANCE MARINE was the immediate and very just consequence of this opposition.

The Co. in 1824 obtained a special Act of Parl., 5 Geo. IV. c. cxxxvii., "An Act for enabling the Alliance Brit. and Foreign L. and F. Assu. Co. to sue and be sued in the name of the chairman for the time being, or of any other member of the Co.," and by that

act—which contained no provisions as to Marine Ins.—the several persons who had taken and accepted shares were formed into a Co.

The Deed of Sett. contained this clause-prob. taken from the deed of the Equitable: 80.-That whenever a sudden increase of deaths shall happen in consequence of the plague or any contagious or epidemic disorder, or of famine, invasion, or civil war, it shall be lawful for the board of direction, with the approbation of an Extraordinary General Court to be called by them for that purpose, to defer the payment of the whole or any part of the sum to be claimed under each policy issued by the Co. for assu. any life which shall expire during the prevalence of such plague, contagious, or epidemic disorder, famine, invasion, or civil war, until such time as an adequate supply for the payment thereof can be obtained out of the funds of the Co.

Separate accounts were to be kept of the various branches of the Co.'s bus., and the deed contains very full provisions as to the disposal of the profits of each department. Some variations have been subsequently made, generally in favour of policy-holders. A later

stated prosp.

-

The profits of the Fire department appropriated to the ins. will be distributed at the close of each successive period of five years, in the form of a per-centage on the prems, which have been paid. Parties who obtain the settlement of losses from fire are not thereby deprived of their right to participate in the profits of the Co.

This is in conformity with clause 111 of deed.

There is a tradition concerning the circumstances which led to the formation of this office too characteristic of one of its founders to be passed over. Mr. Benjamin Gompertz, at that time a well-known mathematician, although he afterwards became more famous, had been a candidate for the actuaryship of the Guardian Ins. Co., founded a year or two previously. He had not been successful, it was rumoured (probably quite erroneously) from the fact of his being a Jew. He sought out on 'Change his brother-in-law, the famous Nathan Meyer Rothschild, told him of his non-success, and of the probable cause. The reply was, "Not select you because of your religion-mine got! den I vil make a bigger office for you den any of dem." Mr. Gompertz was appointed actuary of the Co. under its D. of Sett. In a very interesting memoir of that gentleman, from the pen of Mr. Marcus N. Adler, there occurs the following passage relating to his appointment and its duties:

Having had only one month allowed him to prepare all the rates and regulations of the Co., he without hesitation adopted the Carlisle Table of Mort., which he found satisfactorily to agree with the Equitable experience. The office under his guidance made most satisfactory progress. One measure the directors of his co. were most anxious to promote at the time-viz., to compete with Government as to the grant of annuities. This he opposed strenuously. The terms on which the Gov. were granting these annuities were based on the Northampton Table, which, though safe enough for assu., could not but entail ruinous consequences with regard to annu. Eventually he even convinced the able Government actuary, Mr. John Finlaison, of the heavy loss that was caused by using these Tables; and in the year 1829 those rates were superseded by the higher ones based on the mort. experienced by Government annuitants.

So, again, it was the intention of the directors to grant endowments for children on the commencement of the business of the office; but on the advice of their actuary, Mr. Gompertz-advice given because he considered the recorded experience regarding all the earlier ages of life very defective-they refrained, and have never issued them.

The Edinburgh Review of March, 1827, speaking of the fact that but one life ins. so. then existed in Germany, expressed a belief that the practice of life ins. would rapidly extend if a so. were formed on such a scale as to attract notice, adds:

In the absence of such an inst., recourse is had in many places to the Alliance Ass. Co., which has estab. agencies in many of the principal cities, and in which confidence is reposed; partly, it may be, on account of the large capital invested in the undertaking, but chiefly from the names of some of its principal supporters being universally known in the mercantile world.

In 1841 the Co. found itself to be defendant in an action upon a Life pol. for £1,500 effected on the life of one Howes. The case stands in the law books as Palmer and Fish (executors) v. Chairman of Alliance Co. The direction of the Judge to the Jury, after hearing the plaintiff's case, will sufficiently indicate the points upon which the Co. resisted payment.

Gentlemen, you will find a verdict on the seventh issue, and you will be discharged from finding any verdict upon the other issues, that is to say, you will find-That the policy was effected by the fraud, covin, and misrepresentation of the party Howes.

This was the first time the Co. had resisted payment of a policy.

In 1848 the Co. took over the Fire bus. of the Ins. Co. of Scotland, which it has since carried on as a branch; but according to Scotch law, that Co. having been chartered, the orig. name is retained.

We may state here, that while the Co. has taken over the bus. of several other Fire offices, it has never taken the bus. of any Life office.

In 1850 the Co. entered into an arrangement with the Suffolk and General County Amicable Ins. Co. for a transfer of the bus. of that Co. to a new Co., to be called the Suffolk Alliance Fire and Life Assu. Co., in consideration of which the Alliance F. and L. was to pay the sum of £65,000 in money, and 3421 shares in its capital stock; and then carry on the newly-created Co. for its own benefit. The arrangement was confirmed by authority of a special Act, 13 & 14 Vict. c. i. The bus. now carried on at Ipswich and at Bury St. Edmunds are simply branches of the Alliance Fire and Life.

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