in a $<* t of rooms called Lloyd's coffee-house, 
over the Royal Exchange, where four or 
live hundred underwriters assemble daily. 
Persons having an assurance to make, ge- 
nerally" employ a broker, who having pre- 
pared a policy, carries it to an underwriter, 
whom he considers a responsible person, who 
it he considers the risk ottered an eligible one 
to undertake, signs bis name at the bottom 
oi the policy, mentioning the sum he agrees 
to be answerable for; it is then taken to ano- 
ther, and so on till the whole sum mentioned 
in the policy is completed. The premium 
paid depends on the length of the voyage, 
the condition of the vessel, the season of the 
year, peace or war, and many other circum- 
stances ; of course it is very different at dif- 
ferent periods. 
Life assurance is a contract by which the 
underwriter for a certain sum, proportioned 
to the age, profession, and other circum- 
stances ot the person whose life is the object 
of assurance, engages that if such person 
shall die within the time limited in the policy, 
he will pay a sum of money to him in whose 
favour the policy was granted. The advan- 
tages resulting from such assurances are very 
numerous, viz. 
Persons deriving life incomes from church 
preferment, public offices, or any other civil 
or military employment, may thus, by ap- 
propriating part of their income to provide 
an annual payment, prevent the distress 
which their death would otherwise occasion 
to their family or dependents, 
A person whose income depends on the 
life of another, may, by making an annual 
payment, secure an adequate sum to himself 
or representative, at the death of another per- 
son ; or lie may secure such sum to be paid 
only in case he survives such other person. 
For instance, 
A person aged 20 pays annually 
L. s. d. 
1 17 0 ) to secure 100/. to be paid C 20 
2 19 10 Shim in ease he survives ano-< 40 
b 18 1 ) ther person aged (do 
A person aged 60 pays annually 
L. s. d. 
1 12 1 i to secure 100/. to be paid f 20 
2 9 4 V him in case lie survives ano- -J 40 
b 2 4 ) ther person aged ( 60 
In cases, also, where a debtor cannot give 
adequate security to his creditor, an annual 
payment to the company will enable the cre- 
ditor to receive his debt in the event of the 
death of the debtor. Tenants for life may 
thus obviate the difficulty of raising money 
on securities which must become void upon 
their decease. 
Persons holding offices or employments 
depending on the lives of others, may in the 
same manner secure themselves from loss 
on the event of the death of the person on 
whose life their office or employments may 
depend. 
Persons sinking a sum of money in the 
purchase of an employment or office, in es- 
tablishing a trade or manufacture, or in car- 
rying on agricultural improvements, may se- 
cure the repayment of such sum to their fa- 
mily or other representatives. 
Persons entering into marriage, who, in 
consideration of the fortune received, may 
ASSURANCE. 
be required to settle a sum of money to be 
paid at their decease, may, by making an 
annual or single payment to the company, 
provide a fund for a marriage settlement, and 
thus secure a provision for a widow or chil- 
dren. 
Persons holding leases on lives may pro- 
vide the line payable on the renewal of such 
leases. 
Persons who are entitled, by purchase or 
otherwise, to an annuity on their own life, or 
the lives of others, or the joint lives of them- 
selves and others, may secure the full va- 
lue 6f such annuity, to be received at the 
death of the parties on whose lives the annuity 
depends. 
Those who, on their surviving another, 
will become possessed of an estate, annuity, 
legacy, office, place, or preferment, eccle- 
siastical, military, or civil, may either provide 
a more adequate security than they could 
otherwise do for money advanced, or may 
secure an equivalent sum to their family, 
or other representative, to be paid in the event 
of such survivorship not taking place. 
The premium paid for assuring a life, is 
computed from the probability of the failure 
of such a life, as deduced from bills of mor- 
tality, and the rate of interest at which mo- 
ney can be improved during the probable 
continuance of the life ; those who wish to 
investigate this subject, may consult Simpson 
on Annuities and Reversions, Dr. Price’s 
Treatise on Reversionary Payments, and the 
Doctrine of Annuities and Assurances on 
Lives, &c. by W. Morgan, actuary to the 
Society for Equitable Assurance on Lives 
and Survivorship. The premium for an as- 
surance for a certain term of years, or for the 
whole continuance of life, is generally paid 
annually, but sometimes in a gross sum. 
The following is a specimen of the annual 
premium required for assuring 100/. by most 
of the societies that undertake this species 
of assurance : 
Age. 
One Year. 
Seven Years. I Whole 
Life. 
L, 
s. 
d. 
L. 
s. 
d. 
L. 
s. 
d. 
10 
0 
17 
9 
1 
1 
5 
1 
17 
7 
15 
0 
17 
11 
1 
O 
11 
1 
IS 
7 
20 
1 
7 
3 
1 
9 
5 
2 
3 
7 
25 
1 
10 
7 
1 
12 
1 
2 
8 
i 
30 
1 
13 
3 
1 
14 
11 
2 
13 
5 
35 
1 
16 
4 
1 
18 
10 
2 
19 
10 
40 
2 
0 
8 
2 
4 
1 
3 
7 
11 
45 
2 
C 
8 
o 
10 
10 
3 
17 
11 
50 
2 
15 
1 
3 
0 
8 
4 
10 
8 
55 
3 
5 
0 
3 
12 
0 
5 
6 
4 
60 
3 
18 
1 
4 
7 
1 
(i 
7 
4 
65 
4 
15 
2 
5 
10 
10 
7 
16 
9 
70 
6 
6 
1 
7 
14 
4 
10 
0 
4 
Assurances on the lives of persons subject 
to any peculiar hazard ; such as persons in 
the army and navy, or going to foreign parts, 
are charged with an additional premium pro- 
portionate to the extra risk, 
The foundation of the contract for a life 
assurance, is generally,' a warrantee that the 
life to be assured does hot exceed a given age, 
and is in good health at the time of effecting 
the assurance. There is also usually a sti - 
pulation that the assurance shall become void 
if the person whose life is assured shall depart 
beyond the limits of Europe, shall die upon the 
seas, or shall engage in any military or naval 
I <53 
1 service without the consent of the assurers ; 
and when it is an assurance made by a per- 
son on his own life, it becomes void if he Cues 
by suicide, duelling, or the hands of justice., 
Any person making an assurance on the 
life ot another must be interested therein, spe- 
culative assurances being prohibited by 14 
George III. c. 48. 
Assurances against fire, are made upon 
houses, warehouses, and all other buildings, 
household furniture, wearing apparel, mer- 
chandize,, utensils and stock in trade, ships in 
harbour, in dock, or while building, and on 
all other property liable to be consumed by 
lire ; except writings, notes, bonds, money, 
and a few other similar articles, which the as- 
surers could not undertake to be answerable 
for, without rendering themselves liable to be 
grossly defrauded. Assurances against lire are 
made for a limited period, usualty for one or 
more years, and are distinguished by the as- 
surers into three classes, viz. 
1. Common assurances are assurances on 
all manner of buildings, having the walls of 
brick or stone, and covered with slate, tile, 
or metal, wherein no hazardous trades are 
carried on, nor any hazardous goods depo- 
sited, and on goods and merchandizes not: 
hazardous in such buildings. 
2. Hazardous assurances are assurances 
on timber or plaister buildings, covered, with 
slate, tile, or metal, wherein no hazardous 
trades are carried on, nor any hazardous 
goods are deposited ; and on goods or mer- 
chandizes, not hazardous, in such timber or' 
plaister buildings ; and also on hazardous 
trades, such as cabinet and coach makers,, 
carpenters, coopers, bread and biscuit bakers, 
ship and tallow chandlers, soap-makers, inn- 
holders, sail-makers, maltsters, and stable- 
keepers, carried on in brick or stone buildings 
covered with slate, tile, or metal ; and on 
hazardous goods, such as hemp, flax, rosin, 
pitch, tar, and turpentine, deposited in such 
buildings ; the stocK in trade of apothecaries ; 
also on ships, and all manner of w-atef-craf!, 
in harbour, in dock, or while building, and on 
thatched buildings which have not a chim- 
ney, and do not adjoin to any building having 
a chimney, 
3. Doubly-hazardous assurances are assu- 
rances on any of the aforesaid hazardous trades 
carried on, or hazardous goods deposited in, 
timber or plaister buildings, covered with slate, 
tile, or metal ; on glass, china, and earthen* 
ware ; also in thatched buildings or goods 
therein (except as in the preceding class) ; 
and on saltpetre, with the buildings contain- 
ing the same. 
Assurances on buildings and goods are 
deemed distinct adventures, su that the pre- 
mium on goods (so flu- as it is regulated by the 
sum assured) is not advanced by reason of 
any assurance on the budding wherein the 
goods are kept, nor the premium on the 
building by reason of any assurance on the 
goods. 
The annual premiums usually charged for 
fire assurances are; common assurances not 
exceeding 3QQ0/, two shillings per cent ; 
hazardous assurances not exceeding 2QQu/. 
three shillings per cent; doubly-hazardous 
assurances not exceeding 2000 /, nve shillings 
per cent. 
In addition to this charge of the assurers, 
government have imposed a duty of 2s, off, 
