INS 
dignitary, into the possession of Ins stall, of 
other proper seat, in the cathedral to which 
he belongs. It is also used for the cere- 
mony whereby the knights of the garter are 
placed in their rank, in the chapel of St. 
George at Windsor, and on many other like 
occasions. It is sometimes termed installa- 
tion. 
INSTANT, such a part of duration 
wherein we perceive no succession ; or it is 
that which takes up the time only of one 
idea in our minds. 
INSTINCT, an appellation given to the 
sagacity and natural inclinations of brutes, 
which supplies the place of reason in man- 
kind. 
INSTITUTES, in literary history, a 
book containing the elements of the Roman 
law, and constitutes the last part of the 
civil law. The Institutes are divided into 
four books, and contain an abridgment of 
the whole body of the civil law, being de- 
signed for the use of students. 
INSTITUTION, to a benefice, is that 
whereby the ordinary commits the cure of 
souls to the parson presented, as by induc- 
tion he obtains a temporal right to the pro- 
fits of the living. Previous to the institu- 
tion, the oath against simony, the oaths of 
allegiance and supremacy, are to be taken ; 
and if it be a vicarage, the oath of resi- 
dence. They are also to subscribe the 
thirty-nine articles, and the articles con- 
cerning the king’s supremacy, and the book 
of common prayer. 
INSULATED, in electricity, a term ap- 
plied to bodies that are supported by elec- 
trics, or non-conductors, so that their 
communication with the earth, by conduct- 
ing substances, is interrupted. 
INSURANCE, or Assurance, in law 
and commerce, a contract or agreement 
whereby one or more persons, called insur- 
ers, assurers, &c. oblige themselves to an- 
swer for the loss of a ship, house, goods, 
&c. in consideration of a premium paid by 
the proprietors of the things insured. See 
Assurance. 
Insurance, marine. Insurance is a con- 
tract of indemnity, whereby the party, in 
consideration of a stipulated sum, under- 
takes to indemnify the other against certain 
specific perils or risks to which he is ex- 
posed, ov against the occurrence of such 
events. The party who takes on himself 
the risk, is called the insurer; the party 
protected by the insurance is called the in- 
sured ; the sum paid to the insurer as the 
INS 
price of this risk, is called the premium ; 
and the written instrument, in which the 
contract is set forth, and reduced into form, 
is called a policy of insurance. 
Marine insurance is made for the protec- 
tion of persons having an interest in ships 
or goods on board, from the loss or damage 
which may happen from the perils of the 
sea, during a certain voyage, or for a fixed 
period of time. 
In this country all persons, whether Bri- 
tish subjects or aliens, may in general be 
insured ; the only exception is in the case 
of an alien enemy. He cannot maintain an 
action on a policy on goods, though they 
were shipped before the war commenced ; 
nor can an agent of such insured maintain 
the action, though he be a creditor of the 
insured for more than the sum insured. 
The statute, 6 George I. c. 18, autho- 
rised the king to grant charters to two dis- 
tinct companies or corporations, called the 
Royal Exchange Assurance, and London 
Assurance ; for the insurance of ships, goods, 
and merchandises at sea, or going to sea, 
and for lending money on bottomry. They 
are invested with all the powers usually 
granted to corporations, and the privilege 
of purchasing lands to the amount of one 
thousand pounds per annum each, to pro- 
vide a sufficient capital to insure all de- 
mands on their policies. All other compa- 
nies are restrained from insuring ships and 
goods at sea, or lending money on bottom- 
ry. And all policies made by any other 
corporation, and any copartnerships, shall 
be void, and the sums underwritten for- 
feited, and all bottomry bonds deemed usu- 
rious ; but the right of individual insurers 
continues as before the act. Contracts 
made in derogation of the rights of the 
insurance companies, are illegal and void. 
Ships, freight, goods, and merchandises, 
&c. are the proper subjects of marine insur- 
ance, and there are certain articles which 
from motives of public policy cannot be 
legally insured in this country, and others 
which can only be insured under particular 
restrictions. 
Insurance being a contract of indemnity 
from loss or damage, arising upon an uncer- 
tain event, there cannot be an indemnity 
without a loss, nor a loss without an inter- 
est ; a policy therefore, without interest, is 
not an insurance, but a mere wager. Dif- 
ferent persons, having each a qualified pro- 
perty in goods, may insure them to the full 
value. A reasonable expectation of profit, 
on a well founded expectation of a future 
