-h

that I and my executors, and administrators, shall and will from time to time, and at all times hereafter, at the request, cost, and charges of the said executors, administrators, or assigns, make, do, and execute, all such further and other acts, deeds, matters, and things, as shall be deemed requisite in the law, for better or more absolutely confirming the assignment hereby made, and enabling the said

-h- executors, administrators, and assigns, to recover and receive all and singular the sum and sums of money which shall become payable or recoverable under or by virtue of the said instru ment or Policy of Assurance, and the assignment thereof hereby made. In witness whereof, I have to these presents set my hand and seal, this day of in the year of our Lord

one thousand eight hundred and

Signed, sealed, and delivered by the above-named

in the presence of

Received on the day and year last above-written,

from the above-named.

INDORSEMENT FOR FIRE POLICY.

[Where the Property Assured is removed to other premises than those upon which the same were previously assured.] MEMORANDUM.

That the several goods, chattels, and effects mentioned in the within-written Policy are now removed to the premises situate and being at [No. 7, Vincent Street, Glasgow,] where the same are alone assured.

Witness,

Dated this

day of

185-.

(Signed)

[Manager, Clerk, or Agent of the Assurance Society.]

FORM NO. 30.

INDORSEMENT FOR FIRE POLICY.

[Where the Property Assured is transferred from one person to another.]

MEMORANDUM. That the several goods, chattels, and effects assured by the within-written Policy are now assigned and transferred from the within-named [A. B.] to [C. D.], of No. 6, Trinity Street, in the borough of Southwark, [Licensed Victualler]. Dated this day of 185-.

(Signed) A. B.

E. F. [Manager, Clerk, or Agent of the
Assurance Society.]

Witness,

RESTRICTIONS

In American Policies on Lives, as to the going abroad of the As

sured, &c.

That in case the said [the person whose life is insured] shall without the consent of this company, previously obtained and indorsed upon this Policy, visit Oregon, California, or New Mexico, or pass beyond the settled limits of the United States, (except into the settled limits of British America,) or shall, without such previous consent thus indorsed, visit those parts of the United States which lie south of the southern boundaries of the States of Virginia, Kentucky, and Missouri, between the first day of July and the first day of November, or shall, without such previous consent, thus indorsed, enter into active military or naval service, &c. [see infra, §§ 284, 285,] or shall, without such previous consent, thus indorsed, be personally employed as an engineer or fireman in running a locomotive or steamer, or in the manufacture of gunpowder, or in case the said [the person whose life is insured] shall become so far intemperate as to seriously impair health, or induce delirium tremens. [Then the usual conditions as to dying by his own hand, or by a duel, or by the hands of justice. See infra, Chap. XIII.] Some policies require theconsent of the company, as to voyage by sea, or upon lakes, &c., as they may think expedient.

FORMATION OF TABLES OF MORTALITY.—THE INFLUENCE OF OCCUPATION, AND DENSITY OF POPULATION, ON

LONGEVITY.

[FROM JAMES ON LIFE AND FIRE ASSURANCE.]

The establishment of Life Assurance is universally acknowledged to be one of the wisest and most important features of modern civilization; and the highly interesting inquiries with relation to the sanitary condition of the population of the United Kingdom which its. introduction has particularly given rise to, may fairly be said to have promoted that decided step towards the amelioration of public health, which is now being made by the Government, and a great body of philanthropic individuals among the professional and wealthy classes.

The practice of Life Assurance is founded on the doctrine of probabilities, which proceeds on the hypothesis, that a circumstance, or train of circumstances, which has once occurred will occur again. One of the most interesting and valuable applications of the calculations of probabilities, is the formation of tables of mortality, their object being to make known the law according to which a certain number of individuals, born at the same period, necessarily die.

The operations of Life Assurance are based on the results deduced from such Tables of Mortality compiled in particular districts, or extending over a large amount of population; by which it is ascertained how many persons of a certain number born (say for instance 100,000) complete a given age, die in each year of age from birth, or live to the oldest age upon the table. It is by means of a table of this kind, combined with interest of money, in such a ratio thereof as may be properly applied to transactions of this kind, having due regard to its continual variation, and the nature of the risk incurred, that the values of life annuities are obtained; from which annuities, all the premiums charged by the various Assurance Companies are subsequently deduced. As in the instance of the purchase of a freehold estate, or a perpetual or a limited annuity, so with reference to a life insurance, - its own abstract value must be first ascertained, which may afterwards be increased or decreased, according to the rate of interest the particular investment is expected to return, so that the lower the scale of profit may be to the purchaser, the higher will be the price required.

It may therefore be inferred that the average duration of life forms the foundation of all assurance calculations, and the broader the basis of that average can be made, the easier, the safer, and more successful must be the results of the business of a life office.

At the close of the seventeenth century, the attention of learned men, both on the continent of Europe and in England, was drawn to the subject of vital statistics, and great labor and research applied to the formation of tables of mortality, as deduced from actual observations.

"Halley, who constructed the first table of mortality, (in 1693,) employed the following method:- He made for the city of Breslaw, in Silesia, an enumeration of all individuals who, in the period of four years, died between birth (0) and 1 year; between 1 and 2 years; between 2 and 3 years; and so on, to the most advanced period of life; at the same time considering the population as stationary, or as affording annually a number of deaths equal to the number of births, and that all the individuals whose deaths he enumerated, had been born at the same time, he deduced from the respective ages the laws according to which they successively perished.

"He took the sum of all the deaths, deducting from the number infants which died between birth (0) and 1 year, the remainder indicated the number of survivors; from this last remainder he deducted the number of infants which died between 1 and 2 years, to obtain the number of survivors, and so on." (a)

We may also particularly refer to the Swedish tables, constructed from returns collected in the years from 1770 to 1776 inclusively, and from the whole population of Sweden and Finland. This table has, however, been since recently corrected from later data. The next table, and a highly valuable one too, (because it approximates so nearly to English authorities, to which we will presently refer,) if that of Mons. De Parcieux, in which is exhibited the mortality prevailing amongst the nominees of the French Tontines.

Of the tables of mortality most known and appreciated in England, we must mention the table of mortality deduced from observations made in London, during upwards of twenty years, which included

(a) "Popular Instructions on the Calculations of Probabilities; translated from the French of M. A. Quetelet, by Richard Beamish, Esq., C. E., F. R. S., &c." London: John Weale.

1839.

G

the year 1740, when the mortality was considered almost equal to the plague. By this table the life premiums of the Equitable Assurance Society were first adjusted; but that office afterwards adopted, and has since retained, the Northampton Table of Mortality; and the London Table, from its total inapplicability to present circumstances, has fallen into disuse.

The Northampton Table was formed by Dr. Price from the bills of mortality during a period of from the year 1735 to 1780, in the parish of All Saints, in that town, which then contained a little more than half of its population, and on the supposition of a stationary population, whereas it was an increasing one. The results of this table represent the declension of life to be much greater than the actual average of the general population, and therefore as an authority it is not deemed so valuable, nor is it used so frequently by the various life offices as formerly.

The Carlisle Table was framed by Mr. Milne, from observations made by Dr. Heysham of the mortality in that town during the years 1779 1787, upon a population of 8,000 persons, and represents the general mortality to be much less than that shown by the Northampton Table; and, as a whole, redounds greatly to the credit of its compilers, and will be a lasting monument of their research and labor. In consequence, however, of the prevalence of smallpox during the period of observation, and the want of a greater number of lives at particular ages, and the table not being graduated, but confined strictly to the data afforded at each age, the Carlisle Table is not to be recommended for temporary assurances; for, on account of the irregularities in the probabilities of dying in one year at several of the ages, the premiums deduced from them would in some instances be greater for young lives than old ones. Such irregularities would also materially affect survivorship assurances.

The Equitable Experience Table was formed by Mr. Griffith Davies, from the decrements of life amongst the members of the Equitable Society; and subsequently by Mr. Morgan, from more complete data.

The Government Table was compiled by Mr. Finlaison, Actuary to the National Debt Office, having separate values for male and female lives, the rate of mortality on the females especially being much lower than most other tables, - indeed, they almost approach to an extreme, perhaps too great to be adopted in general practice.