ASS 



ASS 



reasonings, will there be about separate 

 spirits ? Let custom, from the very child- 

 hood, have joined figure and shape to the 

 idea of God ; and what abusurdities will 

 that mind be liable to about the Deity ? 

 Some such wrong and unnatural asaocia- 

 tions of ideas will be found to establish 

 the irreconcileable opposition between 

 different sects of philosophy and religion ; 

 for we cannot suppose that every one of 

 their followers will impose wilfully on 

 himself, and knowingly refuse truth offer- 

 ed by plain reason. Some independent 

 ideas, of no alliance to one another, are, 

 by custom, education, and the constant 

 din of their party, so coupled in their 

 minds, that they always appear there to- 

 gether, and they can no more separate 

 them in their thoughts, than if they were 

 but one idea ; and they operate as if they 

 were so. 



ASSONIA, in botany, a genus of the 

 Monadelphia Dodecandria plants, and of 

 the natural order of Columniferae Malva- 

 ceae of Jussieu. The essential character is, 

 calyx double, outer one-leaved or three- 

 leaved, inner one-leaved ; corol five-pe- 

 lalled, without any tube, affixed to the 

 pitcher of stamens; filament connected 

 in form of a pitcher, with petal-shaped 

 straps between them ; style one or five ; 

 capsule five-celled ; seeds not winged. 

 There are eleven species. 



ASSUMPSIT, a voluntary or verbal 

 promise, whereby a person assumes, or 

 takes upon him to perform or pay any 

 thing to another. When any person be. 

 comes legally indebted to another for 

 goods sold, the law implies a promise 

 that he will pay his debt ; and if he do not 

 pay it, the writ indebitatus assumpsit lies 

 against him; and will lie for goods sold and 

 delivered to a stranger, or third person, 

 at the request of the defendant ; but the 

 price agreed on must be proved, other- 

 wise that action does not lie. 



ASSURANCE, or INSURANCE, an en- 

 gagement by which a person is indemni- 

 fied from the loss he would sustain by the 

 happening of a particular event ; as by 

 the capture or wreck of a ship at sea, or 

 the destiuction of goods by fire. Projects 

 have at different times been formed for 

 assuring against frauds and robbery, 

 against losses by servants, the death of 

 cattle, and almost every event, by which 

 unforeseen loss may arise ; but such 

 schemes have always failed, and the busi- 

 ness of assurance "is now generally con- 

 fined to the risks of the sea, assurance 

 against fire, and the assurance of lives. 



This mode of securing merchants 

 nj^.nst the dangers of navigation is said 



to have originated in the time of the Em- 

 peror Claudius, but during the subse- 

 quent decline of commerce it probably 

 fell into disuse. The sea laws of Oleron, 

 as far back as the year 1194, treat of it, 

 and it was soon after practised in Great 

 Britain. The statute of 43 of Queen Eli- 

 zabeth, cap. 12, states, that it has been 

 time out of mind a usage among mer- 

 chants, both of this country and of foreign 

 nations, to make assurances on their 

 goods, merchandize, and ships, going to 

 foreign parts; for the better regulation 

 of which, with respect to disputes which 

 arose on policies of assurance, commis- 

 sioners were appointed, who were to 

 meet weekly at the Office of Insurance 

 on the west side of the Royal Exchange, 

 to determine all causes concerning poli- 

 cies of assurance in a summary way, but 

 reserving a right of appeal to the'Court 

 of Chancery. This shows that such assur- 

 ances were in common practice, and had 

 become of considerable importance. 



Assurance against the dangers of the 

 sea appears to have been in use in Eng- 

 land somewhat earlier than in many com- 

 mercial cities on the continent, as the 

 policies of assurance of Antwerp, and also 

 of other places in the Low Countries, 

 contained a clause, that they should be 

 construed in all things according to the 

 custom of Lombard-street in London. In 

 the year 1627, Charles I. granted a mo- 

 nopoly for 31 years of the right of making 

 all assurances on ships or goods in the 

 City of London. 



In 1712, several attempts were made 

 to establish offices for assurance on mar- 

 riages, births, &c. which all failed In 

 1719, the Royal Exchange Assurance and 

 London Assurance companies were form- 

 ed,and in the following year obtained char- 

 ters of incorporation, by which they were 

 distinguished from a variety of schemes 

 for every species of assurance then pro- 

 jected, most of which were of very short 

 duration. The two companies just men- 

 tioned are the only corporate bodies au- 

 thorized to make sea assurances, the prin- 

 cipal part of this business, in London, be- 

 ing transacted by four or five hundred in- 

 dividual assurers, or under-writers. who 

 assemble daily for this purpose at Lloyd's 

 coffee-house, formerly in Lombard-street, 

 but now kept over the Royal Exchange. 

 The premiums which they require are re- 

 gulated by the length or danger of the 

 voyage, the condition of the vessel, the 

 time of the year, and the country being at 

 peace or war; of course they vary con- 

 siderably at different periods. Thus, in 

 time of peace, an assurance may be made 



