EXPLANATION TO THE READER.

The design of this work is that it shall be, as far as possible, self-interpreting. All technical terms used in its pages are explained in its pages, in their alphabetical order.

The arrangement of subjects is strictly Alphabetical.

The arrangement of articles is, as far as possible, Chronological. Dates are given whenever possible. Writers on Insurance subjects generally have a great disregard for chronological exactitude.

Words in Small Capitals placed in brackets, as [USURY], mean that the subject will be further treated of under that head.

When Small Capitals are used in the text without the brackets, it signifies that the subject is, or will be, treated as a separate article.

Offices founded in London or books published there, are not individually so designated in the following pages. The rule we have followed is to state all the exceptions. Therefore, where it is not specifically stated otherwise, London is to be assumed.

We are especially desirous of noticing all INSURANCE PAMPHLETS. Many of these are privately printed, or only accessible through their authors. Our thanks will be due for any contributions of this description.

page.

A Table of the principal Abbreviations used in the work is given on the preceding

HAND AND HEART SO., East Harding St.-Estab. 1710, for Birth and Marriage Ins., by means of fixed weekly contributions; the benefits to be received being also fixed. Details will be given under MARRIAGE INS.

HAND AND SUN FIRE OFFICE.-Under this title a new Ins. Office was projected in Lond. in 1720. It was said in the first announcement of it to be promoted by a member of the Sun Fire Office "for good reasons"; and under the hist. of that Office we shall give more details. It will be observed that its title was composed of a partial union of the names of the two then most important Fire Offices. [POVEY, CHARLES.] [SUN FIRE OFFICE.] HANDCOCK, ELIAS ROBINSON.--Sec. of Royal Exchange Assu. Corp. since 1875. Mr. Handcock entered the office as a junior in 1857, and passed through the various departments, until in 1861 he was appointed Assistant Sec. We believe he was the first officer

of the Corp. who ever made any systematic visit to its provincial agents. HANDCOCK, ROBERT.-Was Actuary of Leeds and Yorkshire Ins. Co. from 1854 down to its amalg. in 1864. HANDLEY, FRANCIS.- -Was Man. Director of Industrial Fire, founded 1875. HAND-PUMPS.-The idea of Hand-pumps was taken from the old-fashioned squirt, or hand-engine. Improvements have been made in them of late years.

In 1707 it was enacted that each parish within the Bills of Mort. should keep a handengine, as well as a large engine.

For many years a hand-pump has been carried with each fire engine of the London Brigade. They have been found of the greatest service in keeping doors, windows, etc., cool. They throw from six to eight gallons per minute to a height of from 30 to 40 feet, and can be used in any position.

Mr. Braidwood always said the main rule to be observed in the early stages of a fire was to get as nearly as possible to its source, "so that the water may strike the burning materials." The hand-pump enables this to be done in many cases very readily. In all hotels and large public buildings one should be kept constantly charged.

It is stated on the authority of Mr. C. F. T. Young that while the great fire was raging in Tooley Street in 1861, and all the most powerful engines in London were playing upon it with very little effect, that Beale's Wharf was saved, and the progress of the flames eastward from that conflagration was stayed by a hand-pump!

Many fires have been, and many more will be, arrested in their first stages by such simple and ready means. The hydropult appears to be one of the most convenient forms of hand-pump. [FIRE ENGINES, HAND.]

HANDS OF JUSTICE, DEATH BY.-It has been a condition of the contract of Life Ins. from the very beginning that persons dying by the hands of justice forfeit all rights under such contracts, although the actual judicial reasons assigned for such forfeiture have been the subject of some conflict, as will be seen in what follows. See later as to assigned pol. In Accident Ins. there is a like exemption in the contract.

1669.-The art. of the So. of Assu. for Widows and Orphans, founded this year, and which was the first Life Asso. of which we have any knowledge, contained the following: 17. That if any subscriber to this So. shall commit any crime whereby he shall be sentenced and put to death, the widow or orphan, or orphans, person or persons mention'd in the pol. delivered to the said subscribers, shall have no right or title to claim the contribution of this So.; and all sums before that time paid or contributed by the said subs. shall be forfeited.

The pol. of nearly all subsequent Life Offices have contained a like condition; but even where there has been no such condition, the pol. in such cases is held to be void under the common law. See 1830.

1716.—The art. of the Generous So. of Ins. founded this year, contained the following: xvii. That no claim shall be allow'd upon any person that shall be convict, or suffer

VOL. VI.

I

for any treason, felony, burglary, or other capital crimes, or shall die other than a natural death.

1827.—In the remarkable case of Bolland v. Disney, which came before the English Court of Chancery this year, the following were the facts: A pol. had been issued by the Amicable So. on 11 January, 1815, on the life of Henry Fauntleroy, and the So. bound itself to pay on his death such a proportion of the funds as would become due under the pol. according to the So.'s Charter and Bye-laws. In Oct. 1824, Fauntleroy was declared a bankrupt; shortly after, he was convicted of forgery, and on 30 March he was executed according to his sentence. The prems. had been duly paid up to the time of his death. The conditions of the pol. contained an enumeration of certain circumstances under which the pol. should be void. Death by the hands of justice was not one of these. The case came before the Court on a bill filed by the assignees of Fauntleroy, praying that an assignment of the pol. which had been made in 1819 might be declared void, and that the Amicable might be decreed to pay to the plaintiffs what was due on the Ins. The only question argued was between the plaintiffs and the Amicable So., who contended that because Fauntleroy had perished by the hands of justice, no person could make any claim against them under the pol. of ins. The counsel for the So. argued that the nature of the ins. was a species of indemnity against the chance of death, as depending upon the course of nature and the accidents of life; but that it was not the purpose of the contract to indemnify the ins. against his own act; and if he by his personal agency terminates his existence, he cannot make the So. liable. Again, that the members of a co-partnership are bound by an implied faith arising out of the partnership relation. A partner is not at liberty to do an act which shall withdraw funds from the partnership and convert them into part of his own assets. Finally, that at all events the question was one of a nature purely legal, and decision ought not to be pronounced against the So. without giving them an opportunity of obtaining the opinion of a common law tribunal. The Master of the Rolls said: Where the pol. does not provide that the obligation to pay shall determine, if the event insured against shall happen in a certain specified manner, then, if the event do happen in that manner, the obligation to pay shall not determine merely because the conduct of the party ins. produced the event-even though such conduct was an offence against the criminal law of the country. To avoid the obligation to pay, the act of the party ins. which produced the event must be done fraudulently, for the very purpose of producing the event. Decree for plts. (3 Russell, 351.)

1830. The decision last quoted was, however, reversed in the case of Amicable So. v. Bolland, before the House of Lords this year-the ruling being: If a person having an ins. upon his life commit a felony for which he is tried and executed, the pol. is rendered void, though it contain no condition to this effect. Lord Chancellor Lyndhurst, in giving the decision in this House of Lords case, said:

The question under these circumstances is this: whether the assignees can recover against the Ins. Co. the amount of this ins.; that is to say, whether a party effecting with an Ins. Co. an ins. upon his life, and afterwards committing a capital felony, being tried, convicted, and finally executed -whether under such circumstances the parties representing him, and claiming under him, can recover the sum insured in the pol. so effected. Suppose that in the pol. itself this risk had been insured against; that is, that the party insuring had agreed to pay a sum of money year by year upon condition that in the event of his committing a capital felony, and being tried, convicted and executed for that felony, his assignees shall receive a certain sum of money-is it possible that such a contract would be sustained? Is it not void upon the plainest principles of public policy? Would not such a contract, if available, take away one of those restraints operating on the minds of men against the commission of crimes? namely, the interest we have in the welfare and prosperity of our connexions. Now if a pol. of that description, with such a form of condition inserted in it in express terms, cannot, on grounds of public policy, be sustained, how is it to be contended that in a pol. expressed in such terms as the present, and after the events which have happened, can we sustain such a claim? Can we, in considering this pol., give to it the effect of that insertion, which, if expressed in terms, would have rendered the pol., as far as that condition went, at least altogether void?

1842.—In the English case of Borradaile v. Hunter, before the Courts this year, C. J. Tindal pointed out that "the dying by the hands of justice is the dying in consequence of a felony previously committed by him"; and the reporter of the case raises, in a note, the following point: "Suppose the attainder to be reversed upon error brought by the heir or executor of the party executed, the party would still have died by the hands of justice; but it would hardly be contended that through this wrongful act, in invitissimum, his family were also to be deprived of the benefit of a contract entered into by him for their behoof."

Mr. Bunyon [Law of Life Assu. p. 80], reviewing the preceding, says: "The cases also may be suggested of an execution after a reprieve, or by the mistake of the Sheriff, who supposes the assured to be another person, who is actually under sentence of death.” But in practice no such difficulties have arisen.

1846. In the English case of Clift v. Schwabe, where the real question at issue was that of suicide, Mr. Justice Patteson, in his judgment, remarked as follows:

I apprehend that the actual felony is no part of the cause of exception from liability. If it were, it would be competent to the plt. to prove that the deceased, though dying by the hands of justice, was in truth innocent of the crime for which he suffered; in the same manner as it is no doubt competent to an executor to traverse an inquest of felo de se, found upon view of the body of his testator, by a coroner's jury; or that the deceased, although killed in a duel, had fired his pistol in the air, and never contemplated shooting at his opponent. Such defences would surely be excluded;

for the words of the exception are express, "die by the hands of justice," whether justly or not, or by duelling," whether it were felony or not. It seems, in truth, that the exception is not framed with reference to the commission of any felony or crime, but to guard against the time for payment of the sum insured being accelerated by the voluntary act of the party interested in the money.

1853.-There arose in the U.S. Courts this year the case of Spruill v. North Carolina Mutual Life, wherein the circumstances are unique. The pol. was upon the life of a slave, and contained a provision that "in case the said slave shall die by means of any invasion, insurrection, riot, or civil commotion, or of any military or usurped authority, or by the hands of justice, this pol. shall be void, null, and of no effect." The slave having been killed in an attempt made to arrest him as a runaway, it was held (reversing the decision of the Court below), that the Ins. Co. was liable under its contract. The Court said: "The death of the slave Harry does not come within any of the exceptions contained in this pol. It is not pretended that his death was occasioned either from the want of proper medical aid, or by an invasion of the country.' After giving definitions from dictionaries of the terms used, the Court continued: "Let us now test the case by the definition above stated. The slave Harry was owned by the plt., and was at the time of his death a runaway. The individual who shot him was one of the regular patrol, who were then engaged in discharging their proper duty, in their proper district; and finding the slave there, they endeavoured to apprehend him, as it was their duty to do, and in the attempt made by him to escape he was killed. Here was no seditious rising against the Gov., nor was there any riot. The patrol was there for a lawful purpose; there was no tumult, nor any military or usurped power; nor did Harry die by any judicial judgment or proceedings. The plt.'s case is not within any of the exceptions or conditions of his pol. We cannot adopt the ingenious suggestion of the defts. counsel that the defts. intended to insure against what is called a natural death, as distinguished from a violent death. It is sufficient to say such is not the contract." (Life and Accident Ins. Rep. vol. i. p. 624.)

In later times it has come to be the practice to waive the forfeiture clauses in the case of bona fide assigned life pol. When such a concession was first made, we cannot determine with precision. [LIFE INS. PRACTICE.]

In Accident pol., no assignments being recognized, the question of a like concession cannot arise.

[DUELLING.] [FELO DE SE.] [FORFEITURE OF INS. POL.] [INSANITY.] [SUICIDE.] [UNLAWFUL ACTS OF INSURED.] [VOLUNTARY EXPOSURE.]

HANGING, DEATHS FROM (Class, Violent Deaths; Orders (4) Suicide, (5) Execution.The deaths registered under this head in E. & W. range under two categories (1) from hanging adopted as a means of suicide; (2) by hanging under sentence of execution. These last are spoken of under EXECUTIONS. In 10 consecutive years the deaths by hanging in the Order of Suicides were as follows: 1858, 570; 1859, 540; 1860, 569; 1861, 592; 1862, 611; 1863, 562; 1864, 564; 1865, 591; 1866, 522; 1867, 488; showing a variation from 30 p. million of the pop. in 1858 and 1860, 1861, and 1862, to 27 in 1864, and 22 in 1867. [VIOLENT DEATHS.]

HANN, JAMES, "King's College, Lond."-Was Consulting Act. of the Practicable Invalid and Gen. Life Assu. Co. projected in 1845.

He next

HANNAM, Wм.-Has occupied many positions in connexion with Ins. Asso., and did much, years since, to popularize the bus. In 1853 he was Inspector for Deposit and General; in 1854 he held a similar position in the Hope Mut. He afterwards became one of the founders of the Clarence, and still later of the Homœopathic. represented the Medical Invalid in the North of England (about 1855) with great success. He was one of the founders of the Boiler Ins. Co. (1859); and afterwards represented the Consolidated Investment Co. (about 1864). In 1874 he aided in promoting the Gt. National Fire.

Among his publications on Ins. topics are the following:

1857.-Gift to the Uninsured, or Thirty Short Answers to Thirty Common Objections. This pamph. had a most extraordinary circulation-reaching prob. 750,000.

Also, Hints to Medical Referees.

1858.-Proposition for a Change in the System of working Life Assu. Societies, calculated very considerably to promote their Extension and Usefulness. [LIFE INS. PRACTICE.] Also, Thirty Practical Aids to Life Assu. Agents.

1860.-Life Assu. as an Investment.

HANNAY, ROBERT.-Pub. in Edin. in 1822: Defence of the Usury Laws, with a Proposal

to Lower the Legal Rate of Int. [INT. OF MONEY.] [USURY.]

HANNYNGTON, MAJOR-GEN., F.I.A., F.S.S.-One of the Actuaries engaged in the India Office. He has published the following practical works:

1867.—Interest T. for all Rates, and specially applicable to Mutations of Interest and varying Balances; large 8vo. pp. 76. The plan of arrangement, and purpose contemplated, are original and novel.

1872.- Table for converting Shillings, Pence, and Farthings, into Decimals of a Pound; and for the Reconversion of Decimals.

1874.-Table of Logarithms, four figures, I to 10,000. T. of Anti-Logarithms, added in 1880.

In 1865 he contributed to the Assu. Mag. [vol. xii. p. 184] a letter: On the Adaptation of Assu. Formula to the Arithmometer of M. Thomas.

In 1879 he contributed to the same publication a letter: On Mr. Gray's Methods of Constructing Life Tables.

HANOVER. Formerly an Electorate, and afterwards a separate kingdom, which, however, became united with Prussia in 1866. Its pop. in 1861 was 1,888,070. In our review of Ins. in GERMANY we have noted most of the points affecting Hanover. The following are supplemental :

1530.-It is recorded that an Ins. Asso. was founded here at this date. This was prob. in the form of a Gild.--See HAMBURG.

1753.-A system of compulsory State Fire Ins. was introduced here at this date, and has continued down to the present time. This was prob. only a reorganization of an earlier scheme.

There was a system of paid Fire Brigades estab. through the kingdom, including Fire Watch. The inhabitants were compelled also to assist under certain regulations—the Royal servants, priests, and medical men being exempt.

HANOVER LIFE INS. Co., MORT. EXPERIENCE OF.-In 1865 Dr. Theodor Wittstein, Act. of the Hanover Life Ins. Co., prepared a T. of the Mort. Experience of that Co. during a period of 34 years, from 1831-2 to 1864-5. This T. we have already given under GERMAN MORT. T.

HANSA, OR HANSE.-An Asso. or So. formed exclusively for purposes of Trading in the Country and Abroad, vide Spelman's Glossary, and Jacob's Law Dict. Hence Hansehouse" [Hans-hus] in many of the early towns having had trading Gilds, as Beverley, etc. See GILDS.

HANSE TOWNS, MARITIME LAWS OF [Jus Hanseaticum Maritimum].-Towards the close of the 14th century the confederated cities of the Hanseatic League appear to have undertaken the task of composing an uniform body of laws, of which the earlier statutes of Hamburg [1270] and Lubeck [1299]-nearly identical in their terms-constituted the foundation.

1369.-The first Recessus, or Ordin. on Private Maritime Law, enacted by the Congress, prob. dates from this period.

1591.-Between the last date and the present a series of short enactments had been adopted by the Hanseatic Congress. These were now consolidated into an Ordin. [Recessus] of this date, by a general assembly of Deputies of the Hanse Towns, aided by those of other free and maritime towns, assembled at Lubeck for the purpose. This Ordin. is always regarded as of great authority. A French translation of it is given in Cleirac's collection, and is quoted by Mr. Justice Abbott as the Hanseatic Ordin. Benecke quotes the Ordin. of Hamburg, Lubeck and Bremen of 1591, prob. meaning this Code.

1614. The Recessus of this year was drawn up by the Syndic Domann, who was charged with the task by the Congress of 1608. This is generally cited as the Jus Maritimum Hanseaticum. It was printed in German at Hamburg in 1657, by Kuricke, with a Latin translation and commentary; and reprinted in his collection by Heineccius, entitled Scriptorum de Jure Nautico et Maritimo fascilus. The subjects treated are here arranged in a great number of art., classed under 15 titles or chap.; and although fundamentally the same, with a few improvements, is much more clear and succinct than the former compilation.

This Code gives in more complete detail than the Laws of Oleron, the Judgments of Damme and West Capelle [HOLLAND, INS. ORDIN. OF], or the Usages of Amsterdam, or even the Collection of Wisby, the legal and equitable principles which regulate the acquisition and transference of property in vessels absolute and limited; the mutual interest and duties of part and joint owners; the claims and security arising from the repairs and furnishings made alike in home or foreign ports; the reciprocal duties, powers, and rights of the owners, master, mate, pilot, and crew of the vessel, in relation to navigation, storage, and wages; the relative rights and obligations to the contract of affreightment; agreements of reciprocal aid in voyages; the doctrine of damage from collision, of salvage and average, also the practice of Bottomry and Respondentia.

It has here to be remarked (as Mr. Reddie has already pointed out) that although the contract of Bottomry obviously implies an acquaintance with the theory of maritime risks, the contract of Marine Ins. is not once alluded to in this Ordin. Yet there is every reason to believe that this contract was well known at this date; certainly in those Cities of the League where commercial intercourse with the Maritime Cities of the Mediterranean was prevalent.

M. Pardessus has advanced the theory, that the hazardous character of the contract of Ins. did not suit the cautious and plodding spirit which guided the legislation of the League; or that its influential leaders may have seen in the transactions of Ins. only a great innovation, of which the advantages were still not sufficiently developed to admit of any attempt to subject them to positive rules, and of which the conditions required in each case to be regulated by special contract. We confess these reasons appear to us altogether insufficient. It has to be remembered that the League owned vessels enough