163 ASSURANCE. ROYAL EXCHANGE (Incorporated A.D. 1720, by Charter of George the First.) CORBET AND ARMSTRONG, Agents and Stock Brokers, No. 5, COLLEGE-GREEN, DUBLIN. Fire, Life, and Marine Assurances on liberal terms. Any sum up to £15,000 insurable on the same Life. A liberal participation in Profits, with exemption from the liabilities of partnership. The Reversionary Bonus has averaged nearly two per cent. per annum on the sum assured, or 43 per cent. upon the Premiums paid. It is believed that no other old established company, affording to the Irish public the accommodation of local agencies, has maintained during the same period a rate of Bonus equal to this. The Expenses of Management, being divided between the different branches, are spread over a larger amount of business than that transacted by any other office. The charge upon each Policy is thereby reduced to a sum so small as to account for the magnitude of the Bonus which has been declared, and to afford a probability that a similar rate will be sustained at future divisions. This Corporation affords to the Assured a liberal participation in Profits, with exemption from the liabilities of partnership;-a rate of Bonus equal to the average returns of Mutual Societies, with the guarantee of a large invested Capital Stock :-the advantages of modern practice, with the security of an Office whose resources have been tested by the experience of nearly a Century and a halt. Tables of rates and all other information, may be had on application to CORBET AND ARMSTRONG, Agents and Stock Brokers, No. 5 College-green, Dublin. The Irish Jurist. DUBLIN, FEBRUARY 15, 1858. IT has long been our opinion that there is no member of society becomes, more frequently the means of doing mischief among his neighbours than he who possesses that small smattering of legal lore, which, without being adequate to enable him to understand the legal bearings of any particular case, is just enough to invest his mind with the feeling that his knowledge is perfectly sufficient to enable him to advise upon questions of law, arising out of the most complicated relations. So far as experience can assist, and so far as hearsay can. corroborate, we believe our conclusion to be correct, and consequently have always regarded "The Attorney's Pocket-book," and "Every Man his own Lawyer," to be among those pests with which mankind is occasionally afflicted. Faithfully relying on the truth of this rule, we are bound fairly to admit that every rule has its exception; and, however sceptical we may have been, as to the possibility of such an exception being perfected, the perusal of the book* before us has removed that doubt. immediately to obtain proper legal advice; and it is in this point of view we consider this work highly beneficial, as pointing out to the general reader the necessity of his being guided, in his dealings with matters of contract, and against his trusting to his own legal skill; or it may happento use the language of the noble and learned author-" it is not until you have gone too far to retreat, that you learn what errors you have_committed." That this was, to some extent, the object of the author, we learn from himself, as he tells his correspondent that if the work "merely teach you to distrust your own knowledge on the subject, it will not have been written in vain." In this the learned author has been eminently successful. The subjects treated of in this little book, and the amount of consideration given them in so small a compass, is surprising. They are on the law of sales and purchases-of the different estates or interests which a man may have in property-of the rights of husband and wife-of the power of a father and mother over their children-on mortgages -on leases-on settlements-on wills-the duties of trustees, and statutes of limitations. The primary rules of law arising on the questions discussed, are stated with great clearness, and there is a total absence of those professional terms which generally render works on such subjects not intelligible to the non-professional reader. We shall merely refer to one or two passages, as ordinary specimens of the manner in which these subjects have been treated. Treating of the distinction between the mode of procedure in courts of law and of equity, in their remedies for the non-fulfilment of contracts : There is no writer upon legal subjects, of modern days, who has been more happy in the selection of his subjects than Lord St. Leonards; we need only refer to his admirable treatise on the complicated and difficult questions arising out of the execution of powers, and the law affecting the relation of vendors and purchasers; and he now has written a handy and a useful book, and though we are not sure it would be the book with which we would "beguile a few "The essential difference between law and hours in a railway carriage," we certainly recom-writing, consists in this, that equity will give you equity, as it affects the subject upon which I am mend it as a work "for the million." It is not easy exactly to express how it is, that this work avoids the objection we have adverted to. Though every sentence conveys an undoubtedly authentic principle of law, the impression left after a perusal is, that should you become involved a dispute, as to any of the subjects there discussed, the prudent course would be *A Handy Book on Property Law, in a Series of Letters by Lord St. Leonards. William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh and London, pp. 192 in the thing itself for which you have contracted; whereas the law can only give a pecuniary compenfulfilling his contract. Thus, if you were to sell sation for the dishonesty of the other party in not your estate to your neighbour, Tompson, and were afterwards, disliking the bargain, to refuse to convey it to him, he would have it in his election to proceed against you either at law or in equity. If he resolved to proceed at law, he would bring an action against you for the recovery of damages for breach of contract, and a jury would decide the amount of the damages which you ought to pay; but you I would retain the estate in the same manner still as if you had never contracted to sell it. But if he upon her by any settlement, or agreement for a settlewished to have the estate itself, he would file a billment, made on the occasion of her marriage." in equity against you, for what is termed a specific performance, or a performance in specie, and the court would not, like a court of law, in effect, let you off the contract on payment of damages, but would compel you to convey the estate itself to the purchaser upon his paying the purchase-money to you. But, of course, as the court compels you to perform the agreement, there are no damages to pay. This equity is founded upon the principle, that the court considers that as actuality performed which is agreed to be done; so that the instant after you have entered into a contract to sell an estate, the court considers the estate as belonging to the purchaser, and the purchase-money as belonging to you, and so vice versa. The terms specific performance, and action for breach of contract, will now, I hope, be familiar to you. I shall frequently be compelled to use them in the course of my correspondence." And advising trustees as to the safe keeping of trust funds: And again, treating of the power of the husband and wife over her property:— "I must yet give you some information about the rights of property in married women. Both real and personal estate may be settled upon a woman for her separate use, so as wholly to exclude any right of the husband, and such a provision generally enables the woman, although married, to dispose of it by alienation; but this may be, and frequently is, guarded against by an express clause against anticipation, which, during the marriage, effectually prevents any alienation of the fund. A wife having a separate estate, cannot be compelled to contribute to the family wants, or to maintain her children. Although a married woman with her husband can convey or transfer all her interests in real property, yet neither she nor her husband can deprive her of any interest provided for her out of mere personal estate-funded property for example to take effect on her husband's death. So that if you provide a portion for your daughter on her marriage, and settle it on the husband for life, and then on your daughter for life, and then to the children, you may feel assured that your daughter will benefit by your bounty on her husband's death. Many attempts have been made in Parliament to take away this security, and to enable the husband and wife to sell her life interest, and so strip the woman of the provision made for her. These attempts have hitherto been successfully resisted, but a partial measure has just been carried, providing that married women may, by deep acknowledged in manner required by the Act, with their husband's concurrence, dispose of every future or reversionary interest to which the woman, or her husband in her right, shall be entitled in any personal estate under any instrument made after the 31st December, 1857, and relinquish or release any power she has, or her right or equity to a settlement out of any personal estate; but this power does not extend to any reversionary interest which she is restricted from alienating, nor does it enable her to dispose of any interest in personal estate settled "Never allow the money to be received, or, if that cannot be avoided, to be retained by brokers, agents, or solicitors. If you have a co-trustee who is a solicitor, unless you repose confidence in him, you should, upon lending the money upon any security, employ a solicitor of your own. It is only the other day that one trustee sold the trust-stock and gave the money to his co-trustee, a solicitor, to invest upon a mortgage to be obtained from a client of the co-trustee's; the latter fraudulently obtained a mortgage to both for the money from the client, and the mortgage was set aside as against both the trustees, so that the honest trustee had been a party to an act by which the money was lost. You may be safe in allowing your co-trustee to receive the trust-money, if you join in the receipt of it only for the sake of conformity, but it is dangerous to do so, and it is always better to have it paid into a banker's you can rely upon in your joint names. If you permit your co-trustee to receive it, you must look sharply after it, for you will not be absolved from seeing that it is in due time applied according to the trusts. Where one of three trustees was a solicitor, and acted in the trust as a solicitor for himself and the other trustees, and was allowed to receive the purchase-money for an estate which they sold, and for which they all gave a receipt, it was held that the solicitor received the money, not in that character, but in the character of trustee. "In a case of real difficulty, you should be careful how you act under counsel's opinion, for if you are wrongly advised, and act accordingly, you will be responsible. And now, as I shall explain to you in my next and last Letter on this subject, you may in a summary, and comparatively with former proceedings, an inexpensive mode, obtain the opinion of the Court of Chancery on the rights of the parties. Following literally the words of your trust will not always be safe for instance, although you were empowered to lend the trustmoney on real or personal security, and are declared not to be responsible for any loss, yet it would not be safe to lend the money to a trader, and of course not to any one in doubtful circumstances, to your knowledge." CONSTITUTED BY ACT OF PARLIAMENT. LIFE ASSURANCE COMPANY. EDINBURGH (Head Office) 3, GEORGE-STREET. ESTABLISHED 1825. GLASGOW, 35, ST. VINCENT-PLACE A very large portion of the Profits is allocated periodically to the Assured on the principle of a TONTINE. Divisions have already taken place at five periods, viz.-1835, 1840, 1845, 1850, and 1855. The following are examples: The Share of Profits attaching to a Policy may be applied to increase the Sam Assured, or the value may be received in Cash, or be applied to reduce the Annual Premiums. General Statement of the Company's Business from 1846 to 1856. Sums proposed for Assurance Sums in Policies issued 10,490 8,390 £6,001,741 4 8 4,787,301 18 1 The Sixth Division of Profits will be made on 15th November, 1860. CONDITIONS OF ASSURANCE. UNCHALLENGEABLE POLICIES AND FREE RESIDENCE IN ANY PART OF THE WORLD Since 1851, when this Company promulgated the system of "Select Assurance," admission to which renders Policies indisputabl and unchallengeable on any ground whatever, the question of “ Terms and Conditions" has become a most important point of consideration, and the day is quickly approaching when no one will hold a Policy from an office which does not give similar advantages. What a boon is it to all classes of Assurers to know, that whatever may happen, wherever the Assured may go, the claim will be met at death, subject to one simple condition, that the annual premium originally stipulated be punctually paid! ADVANCES ON THE SECURITY OF POLICIES-AND SURRENDERS. The Directors have lately adopted rules of the most liberal character with reference to Loans on the Security of their Policies, and to Surrenders, allowing surrender value on Participating Policies from the commencement of the Assurance, while the same sum which would be given for surrender will be given in loan without expense beyond the trifling stamp duty, and at a rate of interest which securities on land alone command. With these facilities, no Policy need be forfeited, except by carelessness, so long as the Assurance is of sufficient value to authorise an advance equivalent to the Premium. Resident Secretary in Dublin, SAMUEL SMYLIE, 66, UPPER SACKVILLE-STREET. Orders for the IRISH JURIST left with E. J. MILLIKEN, 15, COLLEGE-GREEN, or by letter (post-paid), will ensure its punctual delivery in Dublin, or its being forwarded to the Country, by Post, on the day of publication. All communications for the IRISH JURIST are to be left, addressed to the Editor, with the Publisher, E. J. MILLIKEN, 15, COLLEGEGREEN. Correspondents will please give the Name and Address, as the columns of the Paper cannot be occupied with answers to anonymous communications--nor will the Editor be accountable for the return of manuscripts, &c. TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION (payable in advance) ;-Yearly, £2. Single Number, 2s. 6d. Published by EDWARD JOHNSTON MILLIKEN, 15, College-green, and printed at the Dublin Steam Press Printing Office, 65 Upper Sackville-street, by ROBERT G. SOUTER, Agent, who is authorized to receive orders for Advertisements.- February 15, 1858. |