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5. That the various amalg. were intra vires the powers of the Directors (who are not personally responsible beyond their capital in the undertaking), and must be upheld. These are the leading features of his ruling. They are based on substantial justice, although of necessity they inflict some hardship upon individuals. By his Lordship's prompt action and enlightened judgment thousands of families will be saved from ruin, and an amount of litigation avoided which would have lasted a generation. All this at about one-tenth of the cost which must have been incurred in fighting out the questions involved by the ordinary and inefficient channels of the Court of Chancery. The arbitration is still proceeding.

ALBERT (LIFE Assu. Co.) LIQUIDATION.-The order for the appointment of Provisional liquidators was made on 13th August, 1869. Mr. S. L. Price and Mr. Arthur R. Kirby were appointed. On the 17th September, 1869, the Co. was ordered to be wound up by the Court. Mr. John Young and Mr. S. L. Price were appointed liquidators. The winding up was removed from the control of the Court of Chancery by the Albert Life Assu. Co.'s Act, 1871. Lord Cairns was by that act appointed arbitrator with full powers. He has retained Messrs. Young and Price in their positions. They act under his directions entirely. Messrs. Lewis, Munns, and Co., are solicitors to the liquidators. The whole of the uncalled cap. of the Albert Co. has been called up. The costs of the winding-up will fall upon the shareholders, beyond the subs. cap., as in the Professional case. Mr. F. S. Reilly is acting in the capacity of assessor to Lord Cairns in the arbitration.

ALBERT RECONSTRUCTION LIFE ASSU. Asso. LIM., founded in 1870, with an authorized cap. of £250,000, in shares of £10. The objects of the Co. as registered were: To carry on the bus. of a Life Ins. and Rev. Int. Co., etc., in Gt. Brit., India and elsewhere, and to assist in the liq. of the affairs of the Albert Life Co. It has not progressed, for reasons which will be stated in the next art.

ALBERT RECONSTRUCTION SCHEME.-When the legal and other complications of which we have spoken [ALBERT LIFE ASSU. Co.] became apparent, a number of influential gentlemen, many of whom were connected with Indian interests, came forward and propounded a scheme of reconstruction, on such a basis as, under the circumstances, seemed to them alone possible. A fund was to be raised to make up in part the acknowledged deficiency in the assets. This deficiency was stated to be £560,000; it being reduced to this lesser amount in the belief that a considerable portion of the commissions formerly allowed on the collection of prems. would be saved in working the reconstructed scheme. Adding various charges of liq., and otherwise, the entire deficiency would reach £640,000. Against this there was to be set-off value of some of the Albert assets, reducing the deficiency to a net sum of £444,000. It was proposed to make up this sum as follows: The uncalled cap. of the Albert, nominally £321,989, was estimated to produce £150,000. This the solvent shareholders of that Co. agreed to supplement with £34,000. The bal. of £260,000 still required was to be contributed voluntarily by the shareholders of the amalg. cos. in the place of £547,167, which they might collectively be called upon to pay in the event of the winding-up of those several asso. proceeding. The mut. offices were not included as contributors.

As this calculation was computed with a very slender margin for contingencies, it was proposed to form a guarantee fund of £300,000—or rather its equivalent, which would be obtained by the annuitants and parti. pol.-holders agreeing to an abatement of 10 p.c. from their claims, and the non-parti. pol. of 12 p.c.; this regulation not to apply to any pol. of less than 6 years' standing. The above abatement to be represented by a certificate payable thereafter as the funds might admit.

In view of any new bus., it was proposed to provide a new cap. of £250,000, by means of the ALBERT RECONSTRUCTION LIFE ASSU. Co., this to be kept distinct from the administration of the affairs of the old Co., which, however, the new Co. was to undertake. This scheme, with various modifications from time to time introduced, received the sanction of several meetings of share and policy-holders, directed to be held for the pur. pose of considering it. But as it did not (and we may add could not) embody any scheme of surrender values for such policy-holders as desired to surrender their policies, it met with some opposition, especially from an influential body of German policy-holders.

V.C. James allowed Albert policy-holders to pay their prems. to a special fund in view of this scheme being carried through. About £40,000 was so paid.

When the scheme came up for final hearing before V. C. James he did not sanction it, but recommended an application to Parl. A Bill was accordingly introduced early in the Session of 1871; and after a strong fight in committee, and some amendments, was passed. It opened up a new phase, details of which we have given under ALBERT Ássu. Co. ARBITRATION. The Arbitrator finally rejected reconstruction as impossible; but the thanks of the policy-holders are due especially to Dr. Farr, Mr. Arthur R. Kirby, and Mr. D. Forrest, for their well-intentioned labours.

ALBION FIRE AND LIFE INS. Co. (No. 1), founded in Lond. in 1805, under a Deed of Asso. or Partnership, with a cap. of £1,000,000, in 2,000 shares of £500, upon which £50 was paid up. The liability of the individual partners was limited in very strict terms to the amount they respectively held in the capital stock of the Co.

The business of the Co. extended to the ins. of all descriptions of property against Fire, not only in the U.K., but in foreign countries. Also to Life Ins., Survivorships and Annuities.

The orig. prosp. contained this announcement:

It is one of the advantages of the Co, to the public, that it holds out no profession of sharing profits with those it insures. Persons insured are not liable to calls, to make good the losses of others; a responsibility from which they could not be free, if their insurances were accompanied with any prospect of benefit to arise from profits, whatever guarantee might be offered. Persons insured on the plan of receiving returns have been actually subjected to the effects of this dangerous contingency.

The following were distinctive features of the Office: Claims were payable one month after proof. No notice of assignment of life policy was required until claims thereunder arose. Policies were granted on the lives of persons about to proceed on long voyages, or intending to reside in foreign countries beyond the prescribed limits, "at prems. proportionate to the nature of the risk." A large commission" was allowed to solicitors, brokers, and others, "who effect Life Ins."

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In 1806 this Co. petitioned Parl. against granting a Charter to the Globe Ins. Co., then in course of formation, and prayed to be heard by counsel, etc., against that undertaking. The Co. appears to have entered upon Fire Íns. with more zeal than discretion. It collected duty during the first quarter to the extent of £3,568 4s. 7d., then regarded as a very considerable amount for a young Co. It relinquished the Fire bus. in 1827 or 1828. In 1807 it obtained a Special Act of Parl. 47 Geo. III. c. xxxi., an Act to enable the Albion F. and L. Ins. Co. to sue in the name of the sec. and inrol annuities. This Act recites :

Whereas several persons have formed themselves into a so. or partnership under the name, etc., and have subs. or raised considerable sums in order to effect ins. against Fire and on Lives, and to grant and purchase annuities: and whereas the public hath been greatly benefited by the formation of the so. or partnership with a competent capital to carry on the same; and a considerable revenue is derived to His Majesty therefrom. And whereas difficulties have arisen, and may from time to time arise, as well in recovering debts which may grow due to the said so. or partnership called, etc., as in prosecuting persons who may steal or embezzle the property of, or who may commit or be guilty of any other offence against, or with intent to injure or defraud the said so. or partnership, as by law all the several subs. or proprietors to and in such so, or partnership must in such cases sue and prosecute by their several and distinct names and descriptions, etc.

Then it recites the Annuity Inrolment Act, and finally gives power to sue or prosecute in name of sec. and to inrol annuities under act.

In the same year another Act was obtained, 47 Geo. III. (Ses. 2), c. lxxxvi., to explain and amend the Act just recited; and in 1809 another special Act was obtained, 49 Geo. III. c. cxxv., to explain the two preceding Acts more particularly with respect to the inrolment of annuities. Each of these Acts was careful to explain that it did not mean in any manner to incorp. the Co.

The Co. at a very early date estab. an agency in New York, and transacted bus. in various parts of the U.S. In 1854, when the Ins. Law of N. Y. required all Foreign Cos. to make a deposit of 100,000 dols., this Co. complied with such law, and made its deposit. In 1851 it was under the consideration of the directors whether the Co. should not be made mut.; but it was determined under the advice of Mr. C. Jellicoe not to take that step then.

In 1857 it was announced that the bus. of the Albion was trans. to the Eagle on terms of special advantage to the former. The trans. took place as from 30th June that year. The shareholders of the Albion received a cash payment of £207 145. 7d. per share in respect of each £50 paid. The policy-holders were to share in the bonuses of the Eagle. The reason assigned for the trans. was that the bus. of the Albion on the other side of the Atlantic was disproportionate to the bus. here; and this would be remedied by a trans. to a large English Co. The officers of the Albion were properly provided for, and in truth every one seemed benefited by the arrangement.

ALBION LIFE ASSU. So.-This asso. was founded in 1864, with an authorized cap. of £50,000, in 5,000 shares of £10. This was intended to constitute a guarantee fund with a view to Mut. Ins. There is power to pay off the fund so raised; in the mean time it carries int. at 6 p.c. The objects of the asso. are very ample, viz.:

The granting assu. on a single life, or joint lives, and on survivorships, or for limited terms, or contingently determinable, and either with or without parti. in the profits of the co.; the purchase and sale of annuities for lives and limited terms, immediate and deferred ann., and ann. to children or strangers, payable from the death of a parent or other person; the granting of endowments for widows or for children, born or to be born, or for strangers, and at all ages, and all other periodical provisions or payments, immediate, deferred, reversionary, or contingent on human life, or for terms certain; and advance of moneys on personal securities or contracts, whether secured by assu. effected with the co. or not, and on such terms as the directors shall think fit; and all other bus. whatsoever usually effected by cos. or sos. of the like nature, etc.

The liability of the shareholders is unlimited. Three-fourths of profits to policyholders. First division 1868. Mr. George Thomson to be first permanent managing director. Mr. Thomas Knox Holmes, the well-known parl. agent, was one of the subs. to the memorandum, and also one of the first directors. The remuneration of directors to be fixed by meeting. All policy-holders are to become (if required) members of co. The scheme of the asso. is carefully prepared. Policies are granted on half-credit plan, for first 5 years. Whole-world pol. are granted.

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 :

111. 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.

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

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