This Co. intends, for the first time in this country, to combine with the bus. of L. assu. in all its branches, that of the Administration of Trusts. Trust cos. prevail extensively through the U.S., and have been found productive of the greatest advantages. The object is to substitute a public body for individuals in the execution of trusts. . . . That which is a man's business is generally well and diligently done. At present the execution of a trust is not regarded as a bus., and is consequently too often performed in a slovenly and imperfect manner. . . . All these hazards and inconveniences are obviated by resting the trust in a public body..

Into the ins. department every improvement will be introduced which is suggested by equity, and has received the sanction of experience; the intention being to multiply the inducements to ins. by dispensing with restrictive conditions, or clauses of forfeiture unnecessarily severe, and by offering increased facilities in the effecting and realizing of pol. It is also proposed to extend the principle and benefits of L. assu. by affording the means of providing against other contingencies besides that of the death of the assured, by placing at his disposal a fund, which may be available on any emergency or for any purpose-such as the portioning or advancement of children-the extension of bus.-temporary sickness and the like. With this view it is intended to grant deferred annu. on strictly equitable terms, and to regard the aggregate payments, whether upon a life pol., or for the purchase of a deferred annu., as a fund standing to the credit of the pol.-holder, which may at any time be converted into a fair equivalent in some other shape, or be made available as a cash credit account for a reasonable advance from the Co.

Then the following regulations regarding foreign travel were in advance of those usual at that period:

Pol. will not necessarily be forfeited by passing beyond the seas; but such regulations will be adopted as may reconcile the protection due to the Co., with a fair consideration of the interests of the assu. The usual trips either to the adjacent islands or to the continent of Europe will not be considered as varying the ordinary risk... ; but if the party whose life is ins. shall depart beyond the limits so prescribed, or go from the U.K. to any country which is the theatre of war or civil tumult, or in which any pestilential disorder shall be then prevailing, the pol. will be forfeited, unless before the day of the next periodical payment, or the death of the party assured, if it should first happen, notice shall have been given to the office of such departure or visit, and the add. prem. required for such extra risk duly paid.

We do not find that this Co., with all its influential names and novel features, ever got really to work. We have been informed that a Co. of the same name was founded in 1838, and died out in 1849; but we find no trace of it.

BRITISH COMMERCIAL INS. Co., for the protection of trade, founded in 1820, with an authorized cap. of £1,000,000, in 20,000 shares of £50. The objects embraced in the orig. "proposal" were: The ins. merchants, manufacturers, and tradesmen, for losses by the bankruptcy or insolvency of their debtors. Also for ins. on lives; for the sale and purchase of annu. ;, the receiving of investments in order to a trading cap. ; the endowment of children; the redemption of mortgage; and the estab. of a widows' and orphans' fund, solely for the relief of the indigent families of those who shall have been proprietors, assurants, annuitants, or investors in the funds of the Co.

Under the head of Ins. against Losses in Trade, the prosp. said:

The first object of the Co. being to provide a remedy against the present depression of domestic trading of the country, by the revival of credit; it may be necessary to state that the calculations of the Co. have been made from positive authorities, and upon the broadest basis of inquiry. They have been made with the certainty of a fair and honourable profit to the Co., which consideration cannot fail to operate in gaining the confidence of the insurer, for it is only in the profits of the Co. that the security of the public can be maintained.

Pol. may be effected with the Co. by merchants, manufacturers, and traders, to ins. against losses in trade by the bankruptcy or insolvency of their debtors, by ann. prem. on the average amount of their running credits, or by ins. on life. The rates of ins. may be referred to in the proposals of the Co., distinguishing the several risks of credit, in common ins., hazardous, and doubly hazardous. These rates will be given under head of COMMERCIAL CREDIT INS.

Deposits were required to be made by intending life insurers: 5s. on £100 proposal; 10s. between 100 and up to £500; and I between £500 and £1000. If proposer declined to complete, deposit to be forfeited; if Co. declined to accept, to be returned. The distinctive feature of the L. branch was that very low rates of prem. were charged, there being no profit or bonus scale: Whole life rates, age 15, L1 9s. ; 20, £1 155.; 25, £2; 30, £25s. ; 35, £2 11s. ; 40, £3; 45, £3 10s. ; 50, £4 6s. ; 60, £6 75. 4d. ; 67, £8 12s. Id.

In the Deposit department tables were given showing the amounts to be withdrawn at given periods by deposit of 2s. 6d. weekly; £2 11s. quarterly; or £100 paid down. [DEPOSIT INS.]

The Co, had a Fire branch. It returned in Gov. duty, in 1824, £2985. In the following year this branch of its bus. was trans. to the Protector F. The cap. appears

then to have been reduced to £600,000, of which £90,000 was paid up.

In 1832, by 2 & 3 Wm. IV. c. xxxviii., the Co. was enabled to sue or be sued in the name of one of the Directors or Sec. Its bus. at that date appears to have been confined to life, annu., and endow. for children; and it then granted parti. life pol. Diseased lives were ins. at special rates.

In 1847 the above Act was repealed, and other provisions made, by 10 & 11 Vict. c. lxxxiv. The Co. might thereafter be sued in the name of one its Directors, or the Sec. for the time being.

In 1850 the Co. issued 371 new pol., the new prems. thereon being £6592. The claims paid amounted to £31,893. The prems. received on these same pol. had been £30,655. The profit by lapsed pol. was estimated at £13,600. The assets of the Co. were stated to amount to £249,711, exclusive of £510,000 of subs. cap.

In 1854 the Co. made a deposit of $100,000 in the State of N. Y. and commenced to transact bus. there. Mr. Geo. M. Knevitt was the agent.

In 1860 the Co. was amal. with the Brit. Nation. In 1865 the last-named Co. amal. with the European. In 1871 the European passed into liq. We observe that there is now [June, 1872] before the Court of Chancery a petition for winding up the Brit. Commercial.

Mr. Ebenezer Ferine had been Man. -Director of the Co. for many years, and remained so up to the date of amalg.

BRITISH COMMERCIAL INS. [No. 2], founded at Plymouth in 1872, with a proposed cap. of £5,000,000, in 500,000 shares of 10, for the purpose of carrying on the bus. of accident, fire, and marine ins. The founder of the Co. is the Chevalier Harry Clench, who subs. for 3000 shares, giving him a stake of £30,000 in the enterprise. Two of the other promoters, Mr. W. E. Hicks, and Col. E. C. Warner, subs. for 1000 shares each. Mr. Clench to pay all expenses of formation of the Co., and to be entitled to £1 25. p.c. on nominal cap., or in all, £55,000. The directors are each to receive 100 fully paid-up shares as part of their first year's remuneration.

BRITISH AND CONTINENTAL GUARANTEE AND INDISPUTABLE LIFE POLICY Co., projected in 1852, but never got beyond prov. regis.

BRITISH EMPIRE LIFE ASSU. Co. [No. 1] founded in 1839, with an authorized cap. of 500,000, in 20,000 shares of £25. The head office was at Whitehall, with a branch in the City. The Board of Direction included many influential names; and the various office bearers were men of position. The full title of the Co. appears to have been : The Brit. Empire Assu. Co. for granting Assu., Loans, immediate and deferred Annu. for the purchase of Annu. and Rev. Interest, and Assu. of Pensions to officers in the service of Her Majesty and the Hon. East India Co. The orig. prosp. said:

Naval and military officers and others may assure with this office upon a general rate of prem., which shall cover risks of all climates and actual warfare-an advantage never before offered by any assu. office; and facilities will also be given to military men, who effect life assu. with this Co., for advancing their interests in the army.

The directors also, from possessing accurate data of the mort. of Europeans who have resided in India from 1760 to the present time, have had rates of prems. computed for the true risk of life at each of the presidencies, and which will be found more moderate than any yet offered to the public for the purpose of effecting life assu.

The Co. will grant pensions and annu. immediate, deferred, or survivorship; thus affording to civilians, officers of the army and navy, and the Hon. East India Co.'s service, an opportunity of securing a provision for themselves at a given period, or at their decease, to their widows, families, or relatives; which pensions will be found of the most liberal character, consistent with the perfect security of the Co.'s funds.

Half-credit pol. were issued to lives not exceeding 55. The period of credit extended to 7 years, int. at 5 p. c. being paid in advance. Lieut.-Col. Henry Dundas Campbell was Resident Director; Mr. Alexander Jamieson, LL. D., was Act.

About 1843 the Co. underwent some re-organization. Mr. Geo. Bicknell became Man. Director, and Mr. Sydney Crocker became Sec. Among the "advantages" then offered was the following, which we regard as an ingenious expedient for replenishing a failing exchequer :

Assurers, who may wish to release themselves from the trouble and anxiety of ann. payments, and from the danger by neglect of lapsing the pol., may deposit any principal sum with the Co. at an int. of £4 p.c., on condition that the int. be applied in the payment of the prem. for such sum as it will assu., according to the age of the party. Thus, a person, aged 26, wishing to assu. £1000, by depositing £500 will be entitled to the int. of £20, which sum, at £2 p.c. (the prem. at 26), will assu. the required amount. The deposits may be withdrawn at any time, on giving 6 months' notice, and the parties will be free, as in ordinary assu., to discontinue their pol. if they think proper.

In 1845 the bus. of the Co. was trans. to the Licensed Victuallers, afterwards Monarch. BRITISH EMPIRE MUTUAL FIRE ASSU. So., founded in 1848, on the Mutual principle; and was worked in connexion with the British Empire Mut. Life. The fire duty return progressed as follows: 1848, £624; 1850, £2095; 1855, £6272. Mr. W. S. Gover was Sec. In 1857 the bus. was trans. to the General. BRITISH EMPIRE MUT. LIFE ASSU. Co. [called for distinction, Brit. Empire No. 2], founded in 1847, on the purely Mutual principle, without any subs. cap. ; but there was authority to raise by way of loan for the purposes of the Co. (if required) the sum of £20,000. No portion of such sum has been required. The objects of the Co. were (1) Life Ins. in all its branches, (2) Loans, (3) Fidelity guarantee. We believe this last branch of bus. has never been carried on by the Co. Being constituted on the purely mut, plan, the asso. should have been termed a so. and not a co. We shall speak of it as a so., except when we quote official documents.

By the Deed of Sett. dated 26 Jan., 1847, the participating pol.-holders for the time being were to constitute the So. Claims on the So. were to be paid 2 months after proof, with a proviso that "whenever a sudden increase of deaths shall happen from any cause, it shall be lawful for the Co. to defer, so long as circumstances may render it necessary or expedient, the payment of any proportion not exceeding in the whole 3 equal 4th parts of the whole sum which under any assu. made by the Co. may become payable upon any death." The sum deferred to bear interest at 3 p. c. p.a. Each pol. to contain a provision exempting the directors signing it from any personal liability. First

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4182 A Hormity with the zooth sec. of s under the 7 & 8 Vict. The sec. of Life Ascu, Cos. smter Cs Act, 1902. shall cause clicy heider for a sum not in common with any other The So. does not take any hought is fairly entitled to

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this a sestained some very unjust treatmeng, in having is RECESSES) Jerry acers a cuncison teriided forth to the world as an anos EUA Sa a imperUST INDZICY. The So. need not be ashamed to have to us a da entre Curing me our years ending with 1850, the So had revNS 28828 me matams being sp.c. of the recepo; while & sole a, CISS LIVEN 2 1100-beng 32 p. of its entire Res, WI SPERRE SY AS A MENS 3v news this expenditure the So. had Seed & WeLovia as; and is sentent inancat is has been increasingly

27 1854 4 SPCNsion occurred in the mis of the So NW. S. Gover, who had been its Sec. From the commencement le that date, versi e vund another office; one of its directors use recred. 3d by dis perad the So. had become irmly esab.; and the change hid tot £fect is succe

lans early years the So cagel a reluce me of trem. for the ns of male lives. This practice has now been or some wears iscencinued. FEMALE LIFE.] We shall speis further dereva under Bar Exxas Mot. MORT EXPERIENCE OF The So. ins. “doubtful lives (DISEASED LITs) use gants BuzzING SO. INSURANCES. The So. is ander sound and are management, and connues to prosper. The report for the year 181 discloses the telewing gures: New process accepted during the year $30, ins 2734347, new grens Chereen, Toal income of year, £103.792: caims including bonuses, Tecal cams raid from commencement of So, £473855 Pocal prodis seributed - 242,132. The accumulated funds, £438. 3ro. The flowing are the leading land-marks in the progress of the So. :

1849

1855

1503 13-1

Income

Acumulated fund

70002117

The present Sec. is Mr. A. L. Sas Act. and Accountant. Mr. Josiah Martin. Mach of the success of the So. in the provinces is due to the indefatigable exertions of the Agency Superintendent, Mr. M. B. Sutton.

BRITISH EMPIRE MUT., MORT. EXPERIENCE OF-In 1865 there was pub. A Contribution to the Medical Statistics of Life Azu, with Hints on the Selection of Lives, by John Mann, M.R.C.S., "Examining Surgeon in the Brit. Entire Mat Life Assu. Ca. The author says:-"From the commencement of the B. E. Life Assu. Co. I have wished to gather the materials for such a report of its first 10 years, which is now accompeshed." The author does not, however, present any connected report of the experience of the So. in such a form as can be presented to the reader at one view; but he analyzes the experience

of several other offices, and states the experience of his office, by way of confirmation or contrast. We shall have occasion to quote these disconnected passages from time to time. The So. has, at a more recent date caused its experience to be very carefully collated. We trust the results may be pub, for the general benefit of life ins, interests. BRITISH EQUITABLE ASSU. Co., founded in 1854, with an authorized cap. of £100,000, in 1000 shares of £100, with power to increase to £500,000. The cap. now stands at £250,000, in shares of £100. The Co. was reg's under Joint-Stock Cos. Regis. Act, 1844. By the 17th sec. of the Co.'s Deed, the liability of shareholders ceases immediately on trans. or forfeiture of shares. The arrangement as to shareholders parti. in profits is a very equitable one; current int. on paid-up cap. is paid out of general funds, into which int. on investments is carried. The profits to the shareholders beyond is derived exclusively from pol. in the non-parti. branch. The general scheme of profits is regulated by the bye-laws of the Co. under the authority of the Deed. The bonus division takes -place every third year; and by the above arrangement the parti. pol. secure all the advantages of a mut. office. Bonuses may be applied to making the pol. payable during lifetime of insured.

The Co. was founded by Mr. William Sutton Gover, the present Man. Director and Act., on the occasion of his secession from the Brit. Empire Mut. His appointment as Man. is contained in the 46th sec. of Deed. The Deed is dated 15th July, 1854. It contains no clauses requiring comment beyond those already noted.

The Co. ins. "declined," ie. DISEASED LIVES; and it has an "advance department." It also issues non-forfeiture pol., on the "ten-prem. plan ;" and "settlement pol."

The progress of the Co. has been on the whole very satisfactory, and it is now firmly estab. Its new bus in 1871-17th year of its existence-consisted of 1934 pol., ins. £320,319, and yielding in ann. prem. £9820; claims by 172 deaths, £28,487, including bonuses; total claims from commencement, under 1173 pol., £187.558; surrender values paid, 1871, £1777; total pol. in force, end of 1871, 17,009, ins. £2,930, 210; ann. prem. thereon, £93.998; total accumulated fund, £273,073- Mr. John Wilkinson Farey is the much-respected Sub-Man. of the Co.

BRITISH EXCHEQUER LIFE Assu. Co., founded in 1856, with an authorized cap. of £100,000, in 20.000 shares of £5. Mr. Wm. Waite was Man.-Director of the Co.; Mr. Alexander Colvin, Act. and Sec. The prosp. said:

Formerly the system of L. ins.] was but little understood, and its advantages were principally confined to the more wealthy classes of society; the great bulk of the people were in utter ignorance of its vast capabilities, and until recently no extraordinary efforts were made to popularize and bring these advantages within the reach of the middle and industrial classes, who in fact stood most in need of assistance. . . . It would appear almost incredible that so many thousands, and hundreds of thousands of persons, whose means will admit of their doing so, have omitted so important and sacred a duty. It is believed that up to the present time there are not more than 200,000 who have availed themselves of the advantages of life assu. for family purposes; this seems more remarkable and unaccountable, since the death of every 1000 husbands in the middle and lower ranks leaves behind them at least 4000 women and children in penury and distress, if not absolutely want.

The distinctive feature of the Co. was that whole-term insurers on the "withdrawal scale" [a table of prems, about 10 p.c. higher than ordinary life prems.] might at any time withdraw one-half of the prems. paid on the pol., paying 5 p.c. int. for the loan, and giving no security beyond an indorsement of the pol. After payment of 5 prems. a parti. pol.-holder was entitled to receive a free pol. for the entire prems. paid. In 1868 the bus. of the Co., which was very small, became united with the Brit., Foreing, and Colonial.

BRITISH FIRE ASSU. OFFICE, founded towards the close of the last century, the date most commonly named being 1799; but we are disposed to attribute it to some three or four years earlier, for reasons which will presently appear.

On the occasion of the promoters of the Globe applying for a charter in 1799, this Co. petitioned against the same. From this petition we take the following clauses, which embody in the main the early hist. of the office:

That your petitioners several years ago estab. a So. or Co. called the British Fire Ins. Co., for ins. against fire within the U.K. of Gt. Brit. and Ireland, and all other parts and places within His Majesty's dominions, upon an ample capital, and made themselves also responsible for all payments which might become due under their policies, without any charter, or any reservation or limitation between themselves and those amongst the public who should insure with them.

That your petitioners humbly conceive, that if the said bill should pass into a law, it will be a great prejudice to the interest of your petitioners, by giving the said intended Co. various privileges and advantages over your petitioners, who have, after the most persevering labour and assiduity, at a very great expense, and with an ample capital, estab. an undertaking for carrying on the bus, of F. ins. within the U.K. of Gt. Brit. and Ireland, and elsewhere within His Majesty's dominions, by means of which, and other present existing offices, the merchants and manufacturers have been supplied with ins. to the full extent of their wants, and that at the lowest terms which can be afforded, with reasonable profit to themselves, and security to the public. And the proprietors of agricultural stock throughout the kingdom have been materially benefited both in the rates and modes of insuring that species of property; and your petitioners have paid large sums of money in consequence of such ins. That in every considerable town in the kingdom there are offices under the direction of your petitioners for making F. ins., and in several of which towns your petitioners have contributed very considerable sums for the estab. of fire engines, and other means of protecting the property of individuals.

In 1805 the Co stood 5th on the list of F. offices as to amount of duty collected, the amount being £18,744.

BRETTLE, JOSEPH C., was Sec. of Royal Naval and Military, etc., Life, for some years, down to 1853.

BREVE.-A writ by which a person is summoned or attached to answer an action, complaint, etc., or whereby anything is commanded to be done in the Courts, in order to justice, etc. It is called breve from the brevity of it. - Wharton. BREVE CONSULUM MARIS.-A manual compiled for the magistrates of Pisa entrusted with the administration of the maritime jurisdiction, in which were minutely explained the rules and the forms which they were to observe in the exercise of their functions. A manual of this description existed in the middle of the 13th century. There were also the Breve Curia Artium; the Breve Curia maris; and the Breve Consulum Curia Mercatorum, continuations and later modifications of the above. [PISA, MARITIME STATUTES OF.]

BREVE PORTUS CALLERITANI (Cagliari), compiled in 1318 by the commissioners of the Republic of Pisa, which had then long had estab. Courts [? Consular Courts] in Sardinia. [MARINE INS., HIST. OF.]

BREWERS', DISTILLERS', LICENSED VICTUALLERS', AND GENERAL LIFE AND FIRE ASSU., AND LOAN AND ENDOw. Co., founded in 1851, on the proprietary principle, with an authorized cap. of £125,000, in shares of £10. About £56,000 of its cap. was subs. The paid-up cap. was returned as £2960, which was soon lost, and calls were made upon the shareholders to close up the affairs of the Co.

Its first and last payment on F. duty amounted to £89 15s. 3d.; this was made in the Dec. quarter of 1851.

BREWERS' DRAYMEN.-In a paper by Mr. H. W. Porter, B. A., which appeared in the 9th vol. of Assu. Mag. [1860], On some Considerations suggested by the Ann. Reports of the Reg.-Gen., being an Inquiry into the Question as to how far the Inordinate Mort. in this Country, exhibited by those Reports, is Controllable by Human Agency, we find the following instructive remarks:

The Registrar observes, that the red injected face of the butcher is an indication of disease-to the ordinary observer this might be an indication of robust health. Similarly with respect to brewers' draymen, their appearance would indicate that they were blessed with strong constitutions; this is not however the case. It is found in the hospitals that these men are a very difficult class to treat when attacked with inflammatory symptoms; and they are very prone to such attacks, and succumb readily to them. Their horses, which are often good matches for their masters in appearance, have very much the same attributes as the men; and as the draymen prob. acquire their peculiarity of appearance, and of constitution, from the quantity of beer they imbibe, and owing to the insufficient amount of active walking exercise they take in proportion to their potations, so perhaps are the horses affected by much the same causes, by being fed to some extent on the brewers' grains, which act no doubt on their livers as the beer does on those of their masters. . . .

BRIDGES, WILLIAM, was Sec. of Universal Emigration and Colonization Ins. Co. at its commencement in 1849. In 1850 he became Act. and Sec. of the Mitre L., which position he retained until 1859. In 1854 he was advertised as Act. of the Ark (No. 2). He subsequently became Sec. of the Friendly Sos. Inst. He pub. in 1850, Freehold Assu. and the Farmer's Estate So.

BRIEFS [usually called King's or Queen's briefs] are licences to make collection for repairing churches, restoring loss by fire, etc. Several centuries since these briefs were of very frequent use, as will be seen in our hist. of FIRE INS. Before F. ins. became general, a large fire hardly ever occurred without these documents being called into requisition. In 1705 was passed, the 4th Anne c. 14, An Act for the better collecting Charity Money on Briefs by Letters Patent, and preventing abuses in relation to such charities. Wherein it is recited: "Whereas many inconveniences do arise, and frauds are committed in the common method of collecting charity money upon briefs by letters patent, to the great trouble of the objects of such charity, and to the great discouragement of well-disposed persons. For remedy whereof it was provided that from 25th March, 1706, all copies of briefs for collecting charity money should be printed by the Queen's printers. Ministers of churches and of chapels, on some Sunday within 2 months after receipt of copy of brief, were to openly read the same before the sermon. The churchwardens were to indorse on brief the amount collected, and remit the same with brief to the "undertaker" employed in the matter. These undertakers were men appointed for working the particular charity to which the brief related, and were paid a commission on the proceeds. They were liable to penalties if they failed to comply with the provisions of this Act. All the returned briefs were to be deposited with the Reg. of the Court of Chancery. The Act further recites: "And whereas there hath been an evil practice in farming and purchasing for a sum of money that should or might be collected on such briefs, to the very great hindrance and discouragement of almsgiving on such occasion." The Act forbade such practices thereafter. BRIG. The general term for a vessel having two masts, with a boom mainsail, being other. wise square-rigged—that is, having her sails brought to yards hung horizontally by the middle. Supposed to be an abbreviation of brigantine. BRIGGS, HENRY, one of the greatest mathematicians of the 16th and 17th centuries. He was born near Halifax, in Yorkshire, 1556. He died in 1630, aged 74. He wrote to Archbishop Usher in 1615 that he was wholly taken up and employed about the noble invention of logarithms, which had come out the year before, and in the improvement of which he had so great a share. Briggs expounded the construction of logarithms in his