V 
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pliance with warranties, &c. which the un- 
derwriters might Iiave set up in an action on 
the policy : but if the agent act in the usual 
manner, it will be deemed sufficient. There 
are many reasons why an agent or broker 
ought not to be an insurer. He becomes 
too much interested to settle with fairness 
the rate of premium, the amount of partial 
losses, &e. ; and though he should not him- 
self occasion any unnecessary delay or ob- 
stacle to the payment of a loss, he will not 
be over anxious to remove the doubts of 
others : besides, he ought not, by under- 
writing the policy, to deprive the parties of 
his unbiassed testimony in case of dispute. 
If an agent or broker, meaning to appro- 
priate the premium to himself, and take 
the chance of a safe arrival, represent to 
his employer, that an insurance has been 
effected agreeably , to his instructions, the 
principal may maintain trover for the policy 
against the agent or broker; and, upon 
proof of a loss, he shall recover to the 
same amount as he would have been enti- 
tled to recover against the underwriters, if 
a policy had been effected. 
Brokers, stock, are those employed to 
buy and sell shares in the joint stock of a 
company or corporation, and also in the 
public funds. The negotiations, &c. of 
these brokers are regulated by several sta- 
tutes, which, among other things, enact, 
that contracts in the nature of wages, &c. 
incur a penalty of 5002. ; and by the sale of 
stock, of which the seller is not possessed, 
and which he does not transfer, a forfeit of 
1002. ; and contracts for sale of any stock, 
of which the contractors are not actually 
possessed, or to which they are not enti- 
tled, are void, and the parties agreeing to 
sell, &c. incur a penalty of 5002. ; and that 
brokers keep a book, in which all contracts, 
with their dates and the names of the par- 
ties concerned, shall be entered, on pain of 
50 2 . : these enactments, however, ar e little 
regarded by the gamblers in tire public 
funds. 
Brokers, paicn, are persons who keep 
shops, and let out money to necessitous 
people upon pledges, for the most part on 
exorbitant interest, These are more pro- 
perly called pawn-takers, or tally-men, 
sometimes fripers, or friperers. Of these 
is to be understood the statute of 1 Jac. I. 
c. 21, by which it is enacted, that the sale 
of goods, wrongfully gotten, to any broker 
in London, Westminster, Southwark, or 
within two miles of London, shall not alter 
the property thereof. If a broker, having 
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received such goods, shall not, upon the re- 
quest of the right owner, truly discover 
them, how and when he came by them, 
and to whom they are conveyed, he shall 
forfeit the double value thereof to the said 
owner. But there are several excellent regu- 
lations respecting pawn-brokers of later date. 
BROKERAGE, the fee paid to a broker 
for his trouble, in negociating. business be- 
tween person and person. 
BROMELIA, in botany, so named in 
memory of Olaus Bromel, a Swede, a genus 
of the Hexandria Monogynia class and or- 
der. Natural order of Coronarice. Brome- 
liae, Jussieu. Essential character : calyx 
trifid, superior ; petals three, and a necta- 
reous scale at the base of each; berry 
tliree-celled. There are nine species, one of 
which, B. ananas, or pine-apple, is afruitnow 
so well known in Europe, and so much es- 
teemed for the richness of its flavour, is 
produced from an herbaceous plant which 
has leaves somewhat resembling those of 
aloe, and for the most part serrate on their 
edges, but much thinner and not so succu- 
lent as those of the aloe. The fruit resem- 
bles, in shape, the cone of some species of 
the pine-tree, from which it takes the vulgar 
name of pine-apple. 
Where this plant is a native is difficult to 
determine, but it is probably an indigenous 
plant of Africa, where it grows in unculti- 
vated places in great plenty. There are 
many varieties of this fruit, and if the seeds 
were sown frequently in their native coun- 
try the varieties would probably be as nu- 
merous as those of apples and pears in 
Europe. The queen pine is the most com- 
mon, but the sugar loaf is much preferable, 
the fruit being larger and better flavoured ; 
it is easily distinguished frbm the others by 
its leaves having purple stripes on then - in- 
side the whole length, it is also of a paler 
colour when ripe, inclining to straw colour. 
This was brought from Brazil to Jamaica, 
where it is esteemed far beyond the others. 
The smooth pine is preserved by some curi- 
ous persons for the sake of variety, but the 
fruit is not worth eating. The green pine 
is at present the most rare in Europe, it has 
been esteemed the best sort known by 
some of the most curious persons in Ame- 
rica, many of whom have thrown out all the 
others to cultivate this only. 
Those who wish to understand the pro- 
pagation and culture of the pine-apple may 
consult Martyn’s Botanical Dictionary with 
much advantage. 
BROMUS, in botany, a genus of the 
; ; • 
