INSURANCE OF FISHING-BOATS. 123 



that it gives to the insured the ample guarantee of a 

 legally-constituted company. In ordinary marine in- 

 surances, the contract between the parties is simple 

 enough. The boat-owner, having paid his premium, 

 receives a stamped policy of insurance, which is signed 

 by the various underwriters who have divided the risk 

 between them, and each of whom is only liable for the 

 amount which is written against his name. Underwriters 

 do not pledge each other's credit, and are not responsible 

 for each other's debts. If there were half a dozen under- 

 writers to a policy, and, in the event of a loss, only two of 

 them were able to pay, the insured boat-owner would have 

 to be satisfied with the amounts for which the two solvent 

 underwriters were personally responsible, and would have 

 to lose the other amounts which the four insolvent under- 

 writers could not pay. And, were he disposed to commence 

 legal proceedings, he would have to take such proceedings 

 against the defaulters separately a costly and hazardous 

 course, which but few boat-owners would care to adopt. 

 A boat-owner, therefore, has to trust to the honour of each 

 underwriter, in the same manner that the backer of a horse 

 in a race has to trust to the honour of the bookmaker with 

 whom he bets, although he may know no more about him 

 than he does about the man in the moon. Some 

 Mutual Marine Insurance Associations are similarly 

 situated, and should be avoided for precisely the same 

 reasons. An Insurance Association without a legal status 

 would have almost insuperable difficulties to overcome, 

 were it to attempt to compel its members to pay any call 

 that might be made upon them ; and a boat-owner insured 

 with such an Association would, in the event of a loss, have 

 still greater difficulty in enforcing payment of his demand 

 if the Association either could not, or would not, pay him. 



