3^4 INSUR 
The Albion has a capital of i,ooo,oool. on which io 
per cent, or ioo,oool. has been depofited. 
The Old Bath Office has a fund of 30,000!. 
The New Bath Office has one of the fame amount. 
The Briftol Office has one of io,oool. 
The Salamander Office one of 120,000!. 
The Royal Exchange Office in Dublin hate their ca¬ 
pital at 100,555!. 
In North America feverai infurance-companies have 
been eftablifhed. 
There is a chartered or public marine-infurance-coin- 
pany ellablilhed at Stockholm, and all’o one at Copen¬ 
hagen. Their capitals are not very confiderable, and 
they never venture large fums in one rilk. There are 
private underwriters at Stockholm, Gottenburgh, and 
Copenhagen, who infure moderate rilks. Many in- 
lurances from Sweden and Denmark are, on account of 
this inadequate fupply at home, ordered to be made in 
Amfterdam, Hamburgh, and London; and are effected 
with the companies or underwriters, according to cir- 
cumftances. 
It is believed that, before the American war, there was 
not any marine-infurance-companies at Hamburgh, nor 
any in Germany. At prefent there are about thirty 
companies in Hamburgh, two or three in Bremen, fome 
in Lubec and Triefte, and one at Berlin and at Breflaw. 
It is remarkable that there are only about fixteen under¬ 
writers in Hamburgh. Merchants on the continent, be¬ 
fore thefe companies were formed, fuppofed that our un¬ 
derwriters at Lloyd’s were a body of men linked together 
•with a common capital, but, by the failures amongll them 
which happened during the American war, they became 
undeceived; and, in confequence of their private under¬ 
writers experiencing fimilar misfortunes with the Englifh 
infurers, they were led to eftablifh companies at home. 
There are five marine-infurance-offices at Calcutta, 
four or five at Madras, and one at Bombay, but none in 
China. The advantage they fupply to the merchants re- 
fident in India is the certainty of having their property 
covered ; which, from the precarious communication with 
this country, they are not always fure of having done in 
Great Britain. Thefe offices are refpe&able, but their 
bufinefs is not very extenfive, being principally confined 
to the infurance of the coafting-trade in India, and the 
trade from India to China. 
INSURANCE of DEBTS, commonly called Bot¬ 
tomry, a contrafl by which the owner of a Ihip borrows 
money to enable him to. carry on the voyage, and pledges 
the keel, or bottom, of the Ihip, as a fecurity for the re¬ 
payment. In which cafe it is underftOod, that if the Ihip 
be loft the lender lofes alfo his whole money ; but, if it 
return in fafety, then he lhall receive back his principal, 
and alfo the premium or intereft agreed upon, however it 
may exceed the legal rate of intereft. And this is allowed 
to be a valid contrafl in all trading nations, for the be¬ 
nefit of commerce, and by reafon of the extraordinary 
hazard run by the lender; and in this cafe the Ihip and 
tackle, if brought home, are anfwerable (as well as the 
perfon of the borrower) for the money lent. But, if the 
loan is not upon the velfel, but upon the goods and mer- 
chandife, which muft necelfarily be fold or exchanged in 
the courfe of the voyage, then only the borrower, per- 
fonally, is bound to anfwer the contract; who, therefore, 
in this cafe, is faid to take up money at refpondentia. It 
may be added that in a loan upon bottomry, the lender 
runs no rilk though the goods (hould be loft; and on re- 
Jpondentia, the lender muft be paid his principal and in¬ 
tereft, though the flip perifh, provided the goods are fafe. 
In this conlifts the chief difference between bottomry and 
refpondentia ; in moft other refpefts they are the fame. 2 
Comm. 457, 8. Parke, c. 21. 
There is a third kind of contrafl, included in thefe 
terms, for the re-payment of money borrowed, not on the 
Ihip and goods only, but on the mere hazard of the voy¬ 
age itfelf; as when a man leads a merchant ioool. to be 
ANCE. 
employed in a beneficial trade, with condition to be re» 
paid, with extraordinary intereft, in cafe a certain voyage 
be lately performed ; which kind of agreement is fome- 
times called Janus nauticum, and fometimes vfura maritime. 
But, as this gave an opening for ufurious and gaminp- 
contra fls, efpecially upon long voyages, it was enafted^ 
by ftat. 19 Geo. II. c. 37, that all moneys lent on bot¬ 
tomry, or at refpondentia, on veflels bound to or from the 
Eaft Indies, lhall be exprefsly lent only upon the Ihip, or 
upon the merchandife ; that the lender lhall have the be¬ 
nefit of falvage ; and that, if the borrower has not on¬ 
board effefls to the value of the furn borrowed, he lhall 
be refponlible to the lender for fo much of the principal 
as hath not been laid out, with legal intereft, and all other 
charges, though the Ihip and merchandile be totally loft. 
See Parke, c. 21. 
This ftatute has entirely put an end to that fpecies of 
contrafl- which arofe from a loan upon the mere voyage 
itfelf, as far only as relates to India voyages ; but thefe 
loans may ftill be made in all other cafes, as at the com¬ 
mon law, except in the following inftance, which is ano¬ 
ther ftatute prohibition. The ftat. 7 Geo. I. c. 21. § 2, 
declares, that all contracts made or entered into by any 
of his majefty’s fubjefls, or any perfon in truft for them, 
for or upon the loan of any moneys by way of bottomry, 
on any Ihip or Ihips in the fervice of foreigners, and 
bound or defigned to trade in the Eaft Indies, or places 
beyond the Cape of Good Hope, (mentioned in the fta- 
tutes relating to the Engliffi Eaft-India Company,) fhali 
be null and void. This aft, it ffiouid feem, does not 
mean to prevent the lending money on bottomry on fo¬ 
reign Ihips trading from their own country to their fet- 
tlements in the Eaft Indies: the purpofe of it was only to 
prevent the people of this country from trading to the 
Britilh fettlements in India under foreign commiffions, 
and to encourage the lawful trade thereto. It feems to 
be allowed that an American Ihip, fince the declaration of 
American independence, is a foreign Ihip within the mean¬ 
ing of this ftatute. See Sumner v. Green, Parke, c. 21. 
Bottomry is a contract of more antiquity than that of 
common infurance, and arofe from the power given to the 
mailer of a Ihip, to hypothecate the Ihip and goods for 
necefiaries in a foreign country. But the Ihip muft be 
abroad, and in a ftate of'neceffity, to juftify fuch an afl 
ot the mailer. Moor, 918. Hob. 11. Salk. 34. Parke, c. 21. 
The principle upon which bottomry is allowed, is, thas 
the lender runs the rilk of lofing his principal and in¬ 
tereft:; and therefore it is not ufury to take more than the 
legal rate. See 2 Vez. 148, 154. Cro. Jac. 208, 508. tlardr . 
418. 1 Sid. 27. -i Lev. 54. 1 Eq. Ab. 372. But if a con¬ 
trafl were made by colour of bottomry, in order to evade 
the ftatute againft ufury, it would then be ufurious. 
2 Vez. 146. And, as the hazard to be run is the very bafts 
and foundation of this contrafl, it follows, that, if the rilk 
be not run, the lender is not entitled to the extraordinary 
premium. 1 Van. 263. The rilks to which the lender 
expofes himfelf are generally mentioned in the condition 
of the bond, and are nearly the fame as tbofe againft 
which the underwriter, in a policy of infurance, under¬ 
takes to indemnify. It has been determined, that piracy 
is one of there rilks. Comb. 56. And it a lofs by capture 
happen, the lender cannot recover againft the borrower ; 
but this does not mean a temporary taking, but fuch as 
occafions a total lofs. Therefore, where a (hip was taken 
and detained for a ffiort time, and yet arrived at the port 
ot deftination within the time limited, it was held that 
the bond was not forfeited, and the obligee may recover. 
Joice v. Wdliamfon ; Parke, c. 21. In the Tame cafe it was 
alfo fettled, that a lender on bottomry, or at refpondentia, 
is neither entitled to the benefit of falvage, nor liable to 
contribute in cafe of a general average ; tor which reafon 
the flat. 19 Geo. II. c. 37, above-mentioned, contains a 
pofitive proviiion to allow the benefit of falvage in the 
cafes.there mentioned. If, however, a man infure refpon- 
dentia-interell on a foreign Ihip, and be obliged to con- 
1 tribute 
