544 



INSURANCE. 



being agreed upon, the manager writes out a me- 

 morandum for the policy, which the party signs, 

 and he is thus effectually insured. The companies 

 procure the stamp and write out the policy, which 

 is ready for delivery in four or five days. The 

 companies, like the underwriters, charge the pre- 

 mium less 5 per cent. In other respects they vary. 

 The Royal Exchange Assurance company allow 

 12 per cent, upon the profitable balance of each 

 year's premiums, with credit till March for the pre- 

 miums of the preceding year, and 5 per cent, for 

 prompt payment. The Alliance Marine Assurance 

 company allow 12 per cent, upon the profitable 

 balance of each year's premiums, with credit till 

 March; or 10 per cent, for prompt payment. The 

 Indemnity Mutual Marine Assurance company allow 

 12 per cent, upon the profitable balance of each year's 

 premiums, with credit till June ; or 10 per cent. 

 for prompt payment. The allowances of the 

 London Assurance company are the same as those 

 of the Indemnity. Losses are paid at all the 

 offices promptly, and without deduction. A 

 month's credit is allowed to the underwriters; and 

 another month, and sometimes two months, are 

 given to the broker, to collect from the under- 

 writers, and pay over to his principals. 



Marine Insurance guarantees no protection from 

 losses arising from the acts of our own govern- 

 ment ; from any and every breach of the revenue 

 laws ; from breaches of the laws of nations ; from 

 the consequences of deviation from the understood 

 time and course of sailing ; from the sea-unworthi- 

 ness of the vessel ; or from unusual protraction of 

 the voyage. Another description of loss against 

 which the insured are not protected, is described in 

 the following clause of the policy " Corn, fish, 

 salt, seed, flour, and fruit, are warranted free from 

 average, unless general, or the ship be stranded; 

 sugar, tobacco, hemp, flax, hides, and skins, are 

 warranted free from average, under 5 per cent., 

 unless general, or the ship be stranded ; and all 

 other goods, also the ship and freight, are war- 

 ranted free from average under 3 per cent., unless 

 general, or the ship be stranded." Average is a 

 name applied to certain descriptions of loss, to 

 which the merchant and ship owner are liable. 

 There are two kinds of average, general and parti- 

 cular. General Average comprehends all loss arising 

 out of a voluntary sacrifice of a part of either vessel 

 or cargo, made by the captain for the benefit of the 

 whole. Thus, if a captain throw part of his cargo 

 overboard, cut from an anchor and cable, or cut 

 away his masts, the loss so sustained, being volun- 

 tarily submitted to for the benefit of the whole, 

 is distributed over the value of the whole ship 

 and cargo, and is called "general average." Par- 

 ticular Average comprehends all loss occasion- 

 ed to ship, freight, and cargo, which is not of so 

 serious a nature as to debar them from reaching 

 their port of destination, and when the damage to 

 the ship is not so extensive as to render her un- 

 worthy of repair. Losses where the goods are 

 saved, but in such a state as to be unfit to forward 

 to their port of destination, and where the ship is 

 rendered unfit to repair, are called " partial or sal- 

 vage loss." The leading distinction between par- 

 ticular average and salvage loss is, that, in the first, 

 the property insured remains the property of the ! 

 assured the damage sustained, or part thereof, j 

 as the case may be, and as will be hereafter ex- i 

 plained, being made good by the insurer ; and in 

 the second, the property insured is abandoned to 



the insurer, and the value insured claimed from liim, 

 he retaining the property so abandoned, or its 

 value. 



The losses for which compensation is guaranteed 

 are thus stated in the form of policy executed at 

 Lloyd's : " Touching the adventures and perils 

 which we, the assurers, are contented to bear, and 

 do take upon us in this voyage : they are of the 

 seas, men of war, fire, enemies, pirates, rovers, 

 thieves, jettisons, letters of mart and countermart. 

 surprisals, takings at sea, arrests, restraints, and 

 detainments of all kings, princes and people, of 

 what nation, condition or quality soever, barratry, 

 {illegal or dishonest conduct') of the master and 

 mariners, and of all other perils, losses and misfor- 

 tunes, that have or shall come to the hurt, detri- 

 ment or damage of the said goods, and merchan- 

 dizes, and ship, &c., or any part thereof; offences 

 against the revenue of the United Kingdom of 

 Great Britain excepted." 



We must pass over the minor details of Marine 

 Insurance, and proceed to the second branch of our 

 subject, Fire Insurance. 



Fire Insurance is a contract of indemnity, 

 by which the insurer, in consideration of a cer- 

 tain premium received by him, either in a gross 

 sum or by annual payments, undertakes to indem- 

 nify the insured against all loss or damage he may 

 sustain in his houses or other buildings, stock, 

 goods, and merchandise, by fire, during a specified 

 period. Insurances against fire are hardly ever 

 made by individuals, but almost always by joint 

 stock companies, of which there are several in all 

 the considerable towns throughout the empire. Of 

 these, the Sun, the Phoanix, the British, &c. in- 

 sure at their own risk and for their own profit ; 

 but there are others, which are called contribution 

 societies, in which every person insured becomes a 

 member or proprietor, and participates in the pro- 

 fit or loss of the concern. The Hand in Hand, 

 Westminster, &c. are of this description. The con- 

 ditions on which the different offices insure are 

 contained in their proposals, which are printed on 

 the back of every policy ; and it is in most in- 

 stances expressly conditioned, that they undertake 

 to pay the loss, not exceeding the sum insured, 

 " according to the exact tenor of their printed pro- 

 posals." Nothing can be recovered from the in- 

 surers, in the event of loss, unless the party in- 

 suring had an interest or property in the thing 

 insured at the time when the insurance was effect- 

 ed, and when the loss happened. It often occurs 

 that no one office will insure to the full amount 

 required by an individual who has a large property ; 

 and in such a case the party, to cover his whole in- 

 terest, is obliged to insure at different offices. 

 But, in order to prevent the frauds that might be 

 practised by insuring the full value in various offi- 

 ces, there is, in the proposals issued by all the com- 

 panies, an article which declares, that persons insur- 

 ing must give notice of any other insurance made 

 elsewhere upon the same houses or goods, that the 

 same may be specified and allowed by indorsement 

 on the policy, in order that each office may bear 

 its rateable proportion of any loss that may hap- 

 pen ; and unless such notice be given of each in- 

 surance to the office where another insurance is 

 made on the same effects, the insurance made with- 

 out such notice will be void. Any trustee, mort- 

 gagee, reversioner, factor, or agent, has sufficient 

 interest in the goods under his custody, to effect a 

 policy of insurance, provided the nature of such 



