330 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 287. 



barrister of five years' standing, shall be one) may 

 be allowed to act. 



With these additional powers, however (I con- 

 tinue to quote from Marshall, in the work before 

 referred to), the court did not long continue to 

 exercise its functions, and soon fell into disuse ; to 

 this many causes contributed : — in the first place, 

 its jurisdiction being confined to such insurances 

 only as related to merchandise, the court could not 

 proceed on insurances of any other description ; 

 in which case, therefore, the parties were obliged 

 to resort to courts of common law. 2. It having 

 been determined that no bar was opposed to an 

 action on a policy in one of the courts of West- 

 minster, by the fact that the same suit had been 

 previously tried in the " Court of Policies of In- 

 surance," and there dismissed. It is not a little 

 singular, too, that although this decision was come 

 to in the year 1656, before the passing of the 

 statute of Charles II., the framers of that act made 

 no provision to remedy a defect that must sooner 

 or later prove fatal to the jurisdiction of the 

 court. 3. Considerable doubt was entertained 

 whether its jurisdiction extended to suits brouglit 

 by the assurer against the assured ; and, lastly, it 

 was asserted that its jurisdiction was limited to 

 such cases only as arose in London, although this 

 latter opinion as to its powers has been disputed 

 upon the authority of Malynes. 



Besides these defects, the court possessed in 

 itself another powerful element of dissolution. 

 The act directs that the commissioners " shall 

 meet once at least in every week, and sit upon 

 execution of commission," but that no person 

 might " claim or exact any fee." It will not con- 

 sequently occasion much surprise if the judges 

 and officers of the court did not attend it with the 

 requisite punctuality for the dispatch of business. 

 It is remarkable that the statute of 6 Geo. I. c. 18., 

 authorising the establishment of two marine com- 

 panies (the Royal Exchange and London), ex- 

 pressly provides that all actions on the policies of 

 these companies shall be brouglit into the courts 

 of Westminster, which plainly proves that at 

 that time the "Court of Policies" had already 

 fallen into disuse, or more probably into dis- 

 repute. 



A knowledge of the practice and principles of 

 marine insurance seems early to have been intro- 

 duced into England. Malynes {Lex Mercat, 

 p. 105.) says it was first practised in this country 

 by the Lombards, or certain Italians of Lombardy 

 (established here from a very remote epoch), from 

 whom Lombard Street derives its name, owing to 

 the circumstance of a pawn-house, or Lombard, 

 having been kept there before the building of the 

 Royal Exchange. It was undoubtedly well known 

 in the early part of the sixteenth century, for in 

 the statute previously referred to (43 Ellz.), it is 

 stated that it had been " tyme out of mynde an 



usage amongste merchantes both of this realme 

 and of forraine nacyons." 



The pamphlet of Mr. Samuel Lambe, containing 

 his proposals for a bank, &c., I have never had an 

 opportunity of seeing in its original form. It is, 

 however, published with a collection of others, 

 " selected from an infinite number in print and 

 manuscript in the Royal, Cotton, Sion, and other 

 public as well as private libraries," forming vol. ii. 

 of the third collection of the Somers Tracts 

 (London, 1751, four vols, quarto). Similar to 

 the copy possessed by your correspondent, it there 

 also appears to be without a title-page. In point 

 of date, it is undoubtedly prior to the writings of 

 either Lewis or Paterson on the same subject ; 

 but from a re-perusal of its contents, I confess I 

 can discover little or nothing in it deserving of 

 rescue from the oblivion to which it has been con- 

 signed. The bank of which the author advocates 

 the formation, appears to have been founded on 

 the model of the Hollanders' banks, and was de- 

 signed for the purpose of " bringing back the gold 

 and silver which hath been drawn out of this land 

 by .those establishments," as well as " to counter- 

 rnlne the Dutch in their attempts to prejudice us 

 in foreign ports." He proposes that the good men, 

 or governors, who shall manage the bank, be 

 chosen by the several companies of merchants of 

 London, the East India, Turkey, Merchant Ad- 

 venturers, &c. ; such a society, he adds, so dealing 

 in all parts of the world, " would be an excellent 

 knowing committee, or Court of Merchants, for the 

 regulation and advancement of trade." There 

 follow some salutary suggestions with reference 

 to the conduct of the bank ; amongst others, re- 

 commendation is made to keep the cash " in a safe 

 place;" also "that the accounts be made up at 

 least once in every year," and that the profits of 

 the establishment "go to the good men who 

 manage the same." Finally, he professes his 

 readiness, in all humility, to acquaint his highness 

 (the Lord Protector) with divers other matters, 

 " being unwilling," he concludes, " to bury the 

 talent in a napkin, which it hath pleased the Giver 

 of all blessings, in his great goodness and mercy, 

 to bestow upon me." 



The Report upon the reference to the Com- 

 mittee of the East India Company, if extant, will 

 most probably be found in the State Paper Office, 

 amongst the East India Papers for the period. 



W. Coles. 



If I might venture to throw out a conjecture as 

 to the author of the Discourse for a Banche of 

 Money, Sfc, presented to Queen Elizabeth, I 

 would ask to direct your correspondent's eye to 

 the " John Yonge " of Colyton, who was an " emi- 

 nent merchant "of the time, and appears to have 

 been a party to a patent granted by Queen Eliza- 

 beth, May 3, 1588, "for a trade to the rivers 



