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no one had caved about when , alive , wag canonised into a sort of patron saint upon her death . There were talks of an outbreak on the occasion of the funeral . However , the day was Very wet . miserable , and the body of the poor young Princess was conveyed to the church of San Lorenzo in the quietest manner , and the affair passed oft" in silence . . ¦ ¦ "
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MUTUAL ASSURANCE SOCIETIES , No . II . L . IABIIjITIKS OF THEIR POLICY HOLDERS . To prevent any misunderstanding as to the object of the observations in our last issue , in regard to these institutions , we now beg'to state that we entertain the highest opinion of their utility and public importance ; but the recent proceedings in the Vice-Chancellor ' s Court in respect to the " Security Mutual , ' have led us to d raw attention to the present very unsatisfactory state of the law . We are in search of improvement , and a better legal position , fbr a class of societies calculated _ to ' benefit' the prudential portions of the population more than any other instituitions of the country
which have a financial and :. commercial . bearing on then- interests . It did not , therefore , come within the scope of our observations to enter into the history of the origin of the company thus pipmiaiently brought out of obscurity into an unenviable ^ notoriety , ' jfo doubt its management has been of the most .. culpable :, description / or so -disastrous results could n ever have been brought about . To go into the details , however , of so ephemeral , and it may be said , of a scheme so infamously conducted , and thence to expose the ; discreditable behaviour of its promoters , would be of quite inhior importance to an exposition of the existing very detective state of the law . To this latter view Ave mean , therefore , to chiefly confine bur
observations , . . The order recently made by the Vice-Chancellor Iviiiderslev is not in any way legally authorised or sanctioned on the ground that the Directors of the ^ Security . Mutual Life Assurance Society" have neglected or abused the trust assumed by them . Malpractices on the part of the directors fbrm . no element in the legal liability declared of 30 / . for every 1 / . paid by the policy-holders in shape of |> reniiujn . Hud the directors been paragons of perfection , the policy-holders would still have been equally liable fbr any losses which might have happened in its affairs ; and it is a pro-.
tection to innocent policy-holders , who have practically no voice oi authority in the direction of the affairs of such institutions , that is now sought for . One good purpose , to be served by giving prominence to this remarkable case , will be to induce greater caution on the part of the public in connecting , themselves with societies which off ' yr no guarantee fbr the fulfilment of their engagements . It must , however , not be overlooked that the state of the law , now so much regretted , is equally applicable to all kinds of Mutual Societies , arid our best institutions of this kind escape its ruinous consequences , wholly on account of the
management being entrusted to competent and honourable men . It is' ' Known to all who have given special attention to this Question , that it is , hi these times of busy competition , all but an accident whether a person in the provinces joins a weak or a , sti'ong company . It in notorious that some mere mushroom companies have continued to be represented in many of our largest manufacturing districts by men of the highest respectability and leading positions , and any test . beyond thisof the stability of the company can senrccly bo expected to bo employed by intended nssurerM in the country . Again , the age of an oflicc , and its largo revenue , arc no guarantees for either its stability or permanence , for within a very short time no loss than five old life
ofliccs have been compelled to transfer their business to other companies . One of theso had been established more than linlf-u-contury , another nearly forty years , two others about thirty-four years each , and the fifth upwards of twenty years , and this docs not exhaust the list of old oilices about . to merge into others , ]? rom this state of things , nn important lesson to the assured in Mutual Societies is tp bo drawn , as to their legal responsibilities . It is quite true , thajb although none ot the ox- 'Companies now reforrod to belong to the mutual oltiss of institutiona , still , within the samo period several Mutual Societies have also boon forced to seek amalgamation . The Mutual Societies wore oortainly , however , nat of tho samo ago 5 but what' guamntoo is
It is not likely that any institution long esta ^ blished will relinquish business , unless it has been playing a losing game ; and , notwithstanding the balance of more watchful management in favour of proprietary "' -companies ,- / from the great stake usually held in them by their directors , let us ask what has been the result of the ' experience of those referred to ? The proprietors of one company lose all their capital , and have also to pay 501 . a share in addition , in order to be released from their liabilities . Another company has had to relinquish twothirds of an original proprietary paid-up capital of nearly 100 , 000 £ ; and no doubt the proprietors suffered largely in all .. the other concerns to which we have alluded . We do not mean to assert that
there that a Mutual Society may not have as protracted a duration as any of the others , and yet be finally Under the necessity of breaking up . In ordinary experience it is generally observed , that what is everyone ' s business is the business of no one , and the affairs of a proprietary body might , therefore , be fairly expected to be better managed , and if this observation be held to have any weight , it would follow that we need be no more sanguine as to the career of a Mutual Society , than as to that of a proprietary company .
at the present moment there is any large and longestablished mutual company in an embarrassed condition ; but ' neither was it for many years known that any one of the proprietary companies now under consideration was in anything but a thoroughly sound state . It is , tlierefbre , ' imperative on eyery prudent man to profit by past experience , and to see that , in the case of complications arising in the institution with ' . which he is Inmself connected , the legal eventualities are limited to at least the loss of his investments in it , arid do not involve the sacrifice of his wholefortune .
These disasters in Assurance institutions are by no means confined to , and characteristic of , the experience of recent years . Careful students of the subject will at once see that occasional failures are inherent in the very nature of the adventure , whether the business be conducted on the purely mutual or the proprietary plan ; , and hence tha necessity for a 1 invited responsibility for policy-holders . On referring to the Essay by Mr . Gale , on " Contingent and Eventual Losses , " it will be found that in the twenty year ' s , 1816-35 , although assurance companies were then but few in number , tipwards of thirty schemes broke down . There is a cheap periodical , which for more than fifteen years lias been conducted with crreat snirit , thorough independence , and having
the most beneficial influence on the ' conduct of the assurance companies . themselves . We refer to the Post Magazine , published weekly , at a cost ^ of one penny , and , although uniformly read with profit by those more immediately connected with the management pf these companies , we fear that it is only seen by a very small portion of the quarter of a million persons assured in the various institution ' s of the Empire . Every policy-holder , whether his interest be large or small , should subscribe for this publication . It will . prove to be a good investment ; for from no other source can he hope to obtain the earliest , the best , and most accurate information regarding all the assurance institutions of every class . It is , of course , impossible for us to indorse all the opinions of its writers , but the abundance and accuracy of the facts from time to
tune furnished , are invaluable In addition to the statement , made by Mr , Gale , of the failure of societies prior to 1836 , were it not to occupy too much space , we could furnish a largo list of others ; but those who are desirous of understanding ihe effect of . recent ' legislation on assurance projects , cannot do better than consult the Pout Magazine and its companion Almanac , on the results of the numerous and needy progeny of schemes conceived and launched into existence under tho germinating warmth' of the 7 th and 8 th Viet ., cap . 110 . That Act , the favourite nursling of the loading
actuaries , secretaries , and managers of tho lifb institutions of tho period at which ' it became law , is at onco the most singular and , remarkable , document in ¦ ' the Statute jtfook , ¦ Tho evidence taken before tho'Parliaineritary Committee , and also 1 | io Report of the Committeo itsolfj on the recommendation Pf which the bill was introduced , show that it was desirable , and it was tho wish and intention tochoojetho growth of now institutions , undhonco tho patent purposo of tho 7 th imcl 8 th Viet ., cnj > . 110 , being to secure tho monopoly of trade in life riaks , it was thought tliut ho must , imleod ,
be a bold and singularly intrepid person , who would attempt to found a new company under this most stringent Act ; but , fortunately for the safety and justification of the existence of all really natural and beneficial laws ,, it was soon discovered that the artificial and ill-considered means taken to cany into effect the provisions of the 7 th and 8 th Viet ., cap . 110 , were , not only abortive of the intentions of its promoters , and most zealous advocates , but were actually in the'highest degree productive of the most evil consequences which the originators anil supporters of the measure were anxious to avert . Whether , an institution deals-in money , or in the commodities whii ? h . money represents , it matters little , oi * in fact nothing ; there should be no distinction in consequence" in the laws which remilate its transactions .
Of all undertakings , therefore , which can be safely trusted with self-governing- powers , a Mutual Assurance Society ought , without doubt , to have primary and pre-eminent claims on tire Government of the country . Institutions of this class conserve , perhaps , even to tin objectionable extent ,-the existing order pf things , and . to this circumstance , perhaps , more ¦ than to those of all others , is owing the fact that Mutual Societies have hitherto maintained their position in a commercial sense in so inferior a' degree , and not progressed with the times .
Twenty years ago , a great political agitatorthe greatest and the must intellectual to which , perhaps ,- this empire has ever given birth—it is told , saved one of our best mutual sock-ties from a-severe crisis , if not from a much wor . se state ot affairs ... A ' great- authority lia'l pronounced an error of alarming amount as having been made in the estimates of its assets and / liabilities .. What has taken place . before in one , may happen again'in other societies ; and although belter methods are now employed : to determine the actual financial position of nearly all companies , still much obscurity and uncertainty . ' must even now exist , under -the . present tests employed , as to wliother any particular
institution is really solvent or not . The ' proper appreciation of tlic full value and import of technical knowledge on , this subject is centred within . so small a number of persons ; and as from the nature of the subject , it must for a long time necessarily continue so , there is no hope of ' now making its importance well understood- by tho mass of the people really interested in the success of these Institutions . A great effort is , . therefore , evidently n eeded to bring a ' sufficient pressure ou . the Legislature to introduce such measures as are really demanded to place tho assurance institutions of the kingdom in that legal position which , froni . tlieir national importance and political ' valuethey are entitled to hold .
, Tho additional risk attaching to the plan ot mutual assurance has . been ¦' rich-nitted almost universally ; still a few ohl-iiisliioned people will bo found to cling not only to their nncestoriul patrimony , but their equiillv valuable and remarkable stock , of economical ideas on fiiuinee ai . ul commerce , and the unalterable attachment of oui ivspecteU exponent of the Post Mitgazine to tht-ivvgrown institutions of tho day cannot be due wholly to that well-estnbli . shed law i > f natural pragma
which insists on ji succession of change »• ¦> < - /^ ° . f tiul not . onlv to" u we . ll-ordere . d "U'l " beni'hciu state , of thingrt in the physical , Witt also in tlio moral and legal world . ' .. If man were introduced into this scone of conflicts and of iwpmitions , period and i ' reo from an misdirection , l « gal cheeks , ami guarantees lor : nw conduct would by unneeo ^ Ury , nud wniuovei might , therefore , bo the law .- * ulRrting . hnnt-btocK Companies for the time being , they coul < huvo no influence on the conduct of minds , wo well coiwututed . It is in overlooking ho obvious a principle , that our law-makers and luv-givern niiinlie . st 1 ho if . j j > _ :... * iit . k iijwlv nolllic * l ^ 1
mucn incapacity or governing m . " > ' -v , Nearly all our inptilutionn amiuw thy power nnu capaeity ofperlbction in iiionil attribute , and cwclare any other condition of Iliene an a dvlilnTnio violation of thorn . So that lawn ninl eiuietmen * aro inndo not to prevent and counteract ., hi * mon declension , but to deloU tlt'iiurturu , fn ;»» moi j portbotion , and to puninh Hint , turmln'lo win n urines out of a state of tiling winch nw existence to the abrtunoe of tlio vir . v . ol » l . y l " which ought to bo iion-oxintiMit , to jiwtiiy u " enactments of tlio law on tho principle they 111 c
present made . , , \ nu ( At all times , whatovor may bo iho precnu onfl taken , it will bo found that urw « ninco ctunpnnicB
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404 THE LEADER . [ No 470 , Mabch 26 , 1859 .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), March 26, 1859, page 404, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2287/page/20/
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