And so on, at the rate of 6d. per line. A discount, proportioned to the number of repetitions, will be allowed upon all Advertisements ordered for three or more insertions. LONDON, DECEMBER 9, 1854. Assurance Company, Exch. Cham., Dec. 2, reported in our present number). One reason why it has had so long an existence doubtless is, that few assurance offices ever acted upon it, as they found it more consistent with their interests to disregard it altogether. The case of Godsall v. Boldero is, doubtless, familiar to our readers, but we may be allowed to recall its main features. William Pitt, whose life had been insured by one of his creditors, died insolvent, and his executors, the Earl of Chatham and the Bishop of Lincoln, afterwards paid the creditor out of the money granted by Parliament. THERE are some decisions in our law-books which The assurance office was held to be thereby discharged for practical purposes have been assumed to be correct, from all liability to pay the sum insured, upon the and have been adopted as authorities during a long ground that such an assurance is substantially a conperiod, simply because they are in the law-books, and tract of indemnity against the loss of the debt; and as there has been no opportunity of putting them to the that had been paid, there was no damnification, and question before a higher tribunal. They may be re- therefore no right of action. Dampier, in his argupugnant to a sort of legal instinct within us; we may ment for the plaintiff, forcibly urged, that in the case feel them to be in some way wrong; but they are cited, of a life assurance the premium is not calculated upon acquiesced in, and followed; at length it becomes ne- the risk of the insolvency of the person whose life is cessary to investigate the foundation on which they insured, but solely on the probability of the duration rest, and it is discovered to be so rotten, that the of the life; and that if the defendant's objection was wonder is, how the superstructure was ever supported. well founded, every case of this sort would be resolved To this class of cases belongs that of Godsall v. Boldero, into an examination of the assets, of which the insurers (9 East, 72), decided in 1807, by judges of repute, would avail themselves pro tanto, after having had the (Lord Ellenborough, C. J., Grose, Lawrence, and Le benefit of the whole premium; and this, too, at any Blanc, JJ.), recognised by subsequent judges of equal, distance of time, when assets might be forthcoming, if not superior, ability, and enshrined in 2 Smith's after the payment of the loss. Marryatt, for the deL. C. 157, with comments of approval rather than of fendant, compared the case to a valued sea policy. objection; it has at length been its fate to be attacked, "The only question," he said, "is, whether in the for the first time, in a court of error, and to be over-event the plaintiff has been damnified, and can call ruled by the deliberate and unanimous judgment of upon the insurers for any indemnification. To pursue that Court. (Dalby v. The India and London Life the metaphor: the ship insured has been wrecked, but VOL. XVIII. V V there has been a salvage, which the underwriters were entitled to, and out of which the insured has been indemnified." This view was adopted by the Court, the only authority cited by it in support of its judgment being the language of Lord Mansfield in Hamilton v. Mendes, (2 Burr. 1210), which was the case of a marine assurance. But here was the fallacy which pervaded the whole case. The Court proceeded on a mistaken analogy, perhaps led somewhat astray by the language of the counsel, shewing how the good ship William Pitt had been wrecked, but the salvage had covered the loss, so far as the insured was concerned. Life assurance, as was said in the late case in the Exchequer Chamber, is a contract to pay a certain sum of money upon the death of a person, in consideration of his paying a certain annuity during his own life or that of the cestui que vie, and does not in any manner resemble a contract of indemnity. It is not, strictly speaking, an assurance of life itself, or of debts in respect of which it may have been effected; it renders neither life nor debts more sperate than they were before. The premium is calculated upon the amount insured at the time of assurance, and does not vary with any fluctuations in the interest of the insured. The event is certain, the time of its happening the only uncertainty. Fire and marine policies, however, are very different; they are stipulations to pay a sum only in the event of a loss, and the chances that no loss at all, or only a partial loss, may occur, are taken into consideration in calculating the amount of the premium. Among those who have expressed strong opinions against the decision in Godsall v. Boldero we must not omit to mention Professor de Morgan, who, in his "Essay on Probabilities, and their Application to Life Contingencies and Assurance Offices*," says "The word "insurance' or 'assurance' has given rise to some wrong notions, and it will be worth while to examine the nature of the contract. "A. & Co. engage with B., that in consideration of 17. a year paid by him during his life, they will pay 207. to his representatives as soon as he shall be dead. Both parties run a risk: A. & Co. that of having to pay B. more than they receive; B. that of paying more than will at his death produce 201. But the risk of the office is of immediate loss, and that of B. of deferred loss; that of the former is also continually lessening, and that of the latter increasing, until, should B. live long enough, both risks become certainties. If the assurance be only for a term of years, B. runs the risk of losing his premiums altogether. "The office does not inquire what reason B. may have for insuring his own life or that of another person, nor do any possible contingencies, except those of life, affect the office calculations. We cannot, therefore, be too much surprised at the ignorance shewn by that judge who declared that life assurance was of its own nature a contract of indemnity; that is to say, if by any lucky chance B. can be proved to have accomplished the object for which he insured by other means he has no claim upon the office. "In order to shew that such was not the case, we must suppose that an exactly similar transaction had taken place before any assurance office existed. How this could have been may not be apparent, if we take the notion #7 which the law formerly entertained of such an office, namely, that it is a species of gambling house*; but if we prefer to consider it as a savings bank, with an equalisation system, which is unquestionably the correct notion, we may return to the circumstances which the case would have presented had there been no assurance. C., a person whose credit has become doubtful, is indebted to B. to an amount which B. could not afford to lose; consequently B., knowing that his chance of payment is precarious, resolves to diminish his expenses, hoping by economy to restore to his family the sum which he may have lost by his engagements with C. He collects accordingly a small fund, which he places with his banker, avowing the purpose of its collection. In the meantime C. dies, and some friends pay off his debts, and that due to B. among the rest. The latter, having now no further occasion for such economy, draws upon his banker for the amount, and is answered, that since the purpose of the saving was fulfilled by the payment of C.'s debt, he, B., has no further claim upon his own money. "The contract of assurance, be it gambling or be it not, rests entirely upon the permission given by the law to consider a high chance of a small sum as good consideration for a low chance of a large sum. "The law, then, allows risks, and permits unequal chances to be compensated by giving odds; the Courts declare, that after the cast shall have been made, and one of the parties shall have stood his risk, which turns out in his favour, the other party shall receive an ex post facto release from the conditions of his bargain, because circumstances afterwards arise which, had they existed at the time of making the bargain, would haven made it illegal. The several principles on which the decision was founded, well carried out, as they say in Parliament, would require that the previous contracts of a man who becomes insane should be null and void; that the meat which a man buys for his dinner should be returnable to the butcher, under the cost, if a friend should invite him in the meantime; and in the case before us, supposing that C. should have outlived the term, and his debt paid, as before, then B. might have brought his action against the office for the return of the premiums, alleging that, as it turned out, the office would have been indemnified, and therefore should be considered as having run no risk." The learned professor will, we trust, be gratified to learn that the Court of Exchequer Chamber have arrived at similar conclusions with himself upon the merits of Godsall v. Boldero. Their decision amounts to this-life assurance is not a contract of indemnity; and a party insuring the life of another may recover to the extent of the interest which he had at the time of effecting the policy, although such interest may afterwards have been diminished, or have altogether ceased. * Quære? At common law wagering assurances, and wagers not contrary to public policy, were lawful. The stat time of insuring the life of another. * Cabinet Cyclopædia, (Longman & Co., 1838), pp. 244 14 Geo. 3, c. 48, for the first time required an interest at the -248. PUBLIC EXAMINATION.-HILARY TERM, 1855. THE Council of Legal Education have approved of the following rules for the public examination of the students. The attention of the students is requested to the following rules of the Inns of Court: "As an inducement to students to propose themselves for examination, studentships shall be founded of fifty guineas per annum each, to continue for a period of three years, and one such studentship shall be conferred on the most distinguished student at each public examination; and further, the examiners shall select and certify the names of three other students who shall have passed the next best examinations, and the Inns of Court to which such students belong may, if desired, dispense with any terms, not exceeding two, that may remain to be kept by such students previously to their being called to the Bar. Provided that the examiners shall not be obliged to confer or grant any studentship or certificate unless they shall be of opinion that the examination of the students they select has been such as entitles them thereto." "At every call to the Bar those students who have passed a public examination, and either obtained a studentship or a certificate of honour, shall take rank n seniority over all other students who shall be called on the same day." "No student shall be eligible to be called to the Bar who shall not either have attended during one whole ear the lectures of two of the Readers, or have satisFactorily passed a public examination." RULES FOR THE PUBLIC EXAMINATION OF CANDIDATES FOR HONOURS, OR CERTIFICATES ENTITLING STUDENTS TO BE CALLED to the Bar. An examination will be held in next Hilary Term, to which a student of any of the Inns of Court, who s desirous of becoming a candidate for a studentship or honours, or of obtaining a certificate of fitness for Deing called to the Bar, will be admissible. Each student proposing to submit himself for examination will be required to enter his name at the Creasurer's office of the Inn of Court to which he beongs on or before Monday, the 1st day of January next; and he will further be required to state in writing whether his object in offering himself for examination s to compete for a studentship or other honourable listinction, or whether he is merely desirous of obtainng a certificate preliminary to a call to the Bar. The examination will commence on Monday, the 8th day of January next, and will be continued on the Tuesday and Wednesday following. It will take place in the Benchers' Reading-room of Lincoln's-inn; and the doors will be closed ten minutes after the time appointed for the commencenent of the examination. The examination by printed questions will be conucted in the following order: Monday morning, the 8th January, at half-past nine, on Constitutional Law and Legal History; in the afternoon, at half-past one, on Equity. Tuesday morning, the 9th January, at half-past nine, on Common Law; in the afternoon, at half-past one, on the Law of Real Property, &c. Wednesday morning, the 10th January, at halfpast nine, on Jurisprudence and the Civil Law; in the afternoon, at half-past one, a paper will be given to the students including questions bearing upon all the foregoing subjects of exa mination. The oral examination will be conducted in the same rder, during the same hours, and on the same subjects, s those already marked out for the examination by printed questions, except that on Wednesday afternoon there will be no oral examination. The oral examination of each student will be conducted apart from the other students; and the character of that examination will vary, according as the student is a candidate for honours or a studentship, or desires simply to obtain a certificate. The oral examination and printed questions will be founded on the books below mentioned, regard being had, however, to the particular object with a view to which the student presents himself for examination. In determining the question, whether a student has passed the examination in such a manner as to entitle him to be called to the Bar, the examiners will principally have regard to the general knowledge of law and jurisprudence which he has displayed. A student may present himself at any number of examinations, until he shall have obtained a certificate. Any student who shall obtain a certificate may present himself a second time for examination as a candidate for the studentship, but only at one of the three examinations immediately succeeding that at which he shall have obtained such certificate; provided, that if any student so presenting himself shall not succeed in obtaining the studentship, his name shall not appear in the list. Students who have kept more than eleven terms shall not be admitted to an examination for the studentship. The READER on CONSTITUTIONAL LAW and LEGAL HISTORY proposes to examine on the following books: Hallam's Constitutional History; Chapters on the Reign of James I, Charles I, Charles II, and James II; Rapin's History of James I, Charles I, Charles II, and James II. Those who present themselves to obtain distinctions will be examined more minutely, and expected to answer more difficult questions, drawn from the same sources, and to be acquainted with the important statutes and trials of the period; and also to answer ques law during the aforesaid reigns. tions relating to the progress and alterations of English The READER on EQUITY proposes to examine in the following books: 1. Smith's Manual of Equity Jurisprudence. 2. The Act to amend the Practice and Course of Procedure in the Court of Chancery, 15 & 16 Vict. c. 86. 3. Spence's Equitable Jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery, vol. 1, part 2, book 1. 4. The Cases and Notes in the first volume of White & Tudor's Leading Cases in Equity. Candidates for the studentship or honours will be examined in all the above books." Candidates for certificates of fitness will be examined in 1 and 2. The READER on the Law of REAL PROPERTY proposes to examine in the following books and subjects:1. Williams-Real Property; Stephen-Commentaries, vol. 1; Sugden-Powers, vol. 1. 2. The Law of Mortmain, and the Statute of 9 Geo. 2, c. 36. 3. Hargrave on the Thellusson Act; and the recent cases of Barrington v. Liddell (2 De G., Mac., & G. 480) and Edwards v. Tuck, (3 De G., Mac., & G. 40). Candidates for a studentship or other honorary distinction will be examined in all the foregoing books and subjects. Candidates for a certificate will be examined in those mentioned in part 1. The READER on JURISPRUDENCE and the CIVIL LAW proposes to examine candidates for honours in the following books: 1. The Introduction and the First Book of Warnkönig's Institutiones Juris Romani Privati. 2. The Fourth Book of the Commentaries of Gaius. 3. The Third and Fifth Lectures of Kent on International Law. (Commentaries, vol. 1). 4. The Sixth Chapter of Story's Conflict of Laws. Candidates for a certificate will be examined in1. The First Two Books of the Institutes of Justinian, with the Notes of Sandars. 2. The Fifth Lecture of Kent on International Law. The READER on COMMON LAW proposes to examine in the books and subjects under mentioned: Candidates for a certificate merely will be examined in 1. The Elements of the Law of Contracts, so far as treated of in Smith's Lectures, 1-5 inclusive. 2. The Proceedings at a Criminal Trial. (Dearsly's Criminal Process). Candidates for the studentship or honours will be examined as well in the above subjects as in 1. The Nature and Principles of Evidence. (Taylor on Evidence, vol. 1, part 1). 2. The Common-law Procedure Act, 1854, ss. 68-87 inclusive, (with the explanatory notes thereto contained in Mr. Philips' edition of the Act). An Act to consolidate the several Acts relating to the Port and Harbour of Londonderry; for the Improvement of the Navigation of the Lough and River of Lough Foyle; and to authorise the Construction of a uniform Line of Quays, Docks, and other Works. CAP. clxxviii. An Act for the more effectual Drainage and Improvement of certain Lands in the Wapentake of Ouse and Derwent, in the East Riding of the County of York; and for other Purposes. CAP. clxxix. An Act to reduce the Capital and define the Undertaking of the Shropshire Union Railways and Canal Company. CAP. clxxx. An Act for making a Railway from the Town of Wells to join the Norfolk Railway at Fakenham, to be called "The Wells and Fakenham Railway." CAP. clxxxi. An Act to enable the Local Board of Health for the Township of Darlington to supply Gas and Water within their District, and to purchase the Works of the Darlington Gas and Water Company; to establish and regulate Markets and Slaughter-houses, and a Public Park; to construct Sewage Works, and raise Money; and for other Purposes. CAP. clxxxii. An Act for vesting the Ardrossan Railway in the Glasgow and South-western Railway Company; and for other Purposes. CAP. clxxxiii. An Act for transferring to the Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of the Borough of Blackburn all the Powers and Property now vested in the Blackburn Improvement Commissioners, and certain Powers and Property by the Private Act of the 4 & 5 Vict. c. xlvi, vested in the Overseers of the Poor of the Township of Blackburn, authorising the Corporation to purchase the Property of the Blackburn Waterworks Company, and conferring on them further Powers for the Improvement and Regulation of the Borough; and for other Purposes. CAP. clxxxiv. An Act for vesting in the Caledonian Railway Company certain Portions of the Undertaking of the General Terminus and Glasgow Harbour Railway Company. CAP. clxxxv. An Act to enable the Newport Dock Company to construct a new Dock and other Works; and for other Purposes. CAP. clxxxvi. An Act to enable the Portsmouth Railway Company to make certain Alterations in the Line and Levels of their Railway, and to extend their said Line from Godalming to Shalford; and for other Purposes. CAP. clxxxvii. An Act to authorise the Great North of Scotland Railway Company to divert their Railway; to make a short Branch to the Victoria Docks at Aberdeen; to enter into Arrangements with the Aberdeen Harbour Commissioners and the Aberdeen Railway Company with respect to a Tramway to connect the two Railways; and for other Purposes. CAP. clxxxviii. An Act for the more effectual Drainage and Improvement of certain Lands in the Parish of Methwold, in the County of Norfolk; and for other Purposes. CAP. clxxxix. An Act for making a Railway from the South Devon Railway near Plymouth to Tavistock, with a Branch, to be called "The South Devon and Tavistock Railway;" and for other Purposes. CAP. cxc. An Act for incorporating and regulating a Company to be called "The Royal Conical Flour Mill Company," and to enable the said Company to purchase, work, and use certain Letters Patent; and for other Purposes. CAP. cxci. An Act to enable the Newport and Pillgwenlly Waterworks Company to increase and extend their Supply of Water, and to construct new Works; and for other Purposes. CAP. cxcii. An Act for authorising Arrangements with respect to the South Reserve at Birkenhead, and for other Purposes, and of which the Short Title is, "The Birkenhead Dock Trustees Act, 1854." CAP. cxciii. An Act for making a Railway from Rhymney to a Point of Junction with the Newport, Abergavenny, and Hereford Railway, near Bedllewyn, with a Branch up the Bargoed Rumney Valley, to be called "The Rhymney Railway;" and for other Purposes. CAP. cxciv. An Act to enable the North Staffordshire Railway Company to make a Railway from Stoke-upon-Trent to Congleton, with Branches therefrom. САР. схст. An Act to repeal, alter, amend, and extend some of the Powers and Provisions of the Tees Conservancy and Stockton Dock Act, 1852; and for other Purposes relating to the Conservancy of the Tees. CAP. cxcvi. An Act for making a Turnpike Road from Garth-Penbryn to Adwyddu, in the County of Merioneth, with a Bridge over the Estuary of Straethbach, in the said County. CAP. cxcvii. An Act to incorporate a Company for the Purpose of lighting with Gas the Parishes of Tormoham and St. Mary Church, in the County of Devon. CAP. cxcviii. An Act for transferring to a Company the Powers vested in the Commissioners under the North Shields Quay Act, 1851. CAP. cxcix. An Act for making a Railway from the Town and Royal Burgh of Selkirk to the Hawick Branch of the North British Railway, about a Mile Southwards from the Galashiels Station of the said Branch; and for other Purposes. САР. сс. An Act for making a Railway from the London and Northwestern Railway, near Stockport, to Disley and Whaley Bridge, all in the County of Chester; and for other Pur poses. CAP. cci. An Act for authorising the Transfer to the London and Northwestern Railway Company of the Haydon-square Branch of the London and Blackwall Railway, and for other Purposes, and of which the Short Title is, "The London and North-western Railway Act, 1854." CAP. ccii. An Act for enabling the Great Western Railway Company to make a Branch Railway to connect the Berks and Hants Railway with the Main Line of the Great Western Railway, near Reading; for extending the Time for Completion of Parts of the Wilts, Somerset, and Weymouth Railway, and for reviving the Powers for Purchase of Land for, and for completing other Portions of that Railway; and for other Purposes. CAP. cciii. An Act for limiting the Liability of the Shareholders in the Electric Telegraph Company, and for granting additional Powers to such Company. CAP. cciv. An Act for determining the existing Lease of the West London Railway to the London and North-western Railway Company, and for enabling the last-mentioned Company and the West London Railway Company to enter into fresh Arrangements for the Sale or Lease of the Undertaking of the West London Railway Company to the London and North-western Railway Company, and for the Settlement of all Disputes between the said Companies; and for other Purposes. |