PUMP COURT.

are, however, put forward. Bi-metallism makes no pretension to prophecy nor to particular knowledge of the

EDITORIAL, ADVERTISEMENT, AND PUBLISHING OFFICES, 33, Exeter Street, Strand, W.C.

JUNE 19, 1889.

terested aggression as is the resistance, active and passive, which is offered to it. It is a fad, and the opposition to it is a fad. Meanwhile extremely bad influences are at work. Side by side with tenant difficulties in Ireland, we have much extermination of the Irish landlord class. Very much of Irish landlordism has passed into Irish pauperism. In the daily Irish conflict between law and lawlessness, law now loses much of its hold on the imagination, and in the consequent void an opening follows for the pernicious current socialism. What beyond everything the circumstances of the times require is enlightenment on the puzzle of bi-metallism. It is by far the largest question of our time, involving as it does the foundations of our money system, as laid more than forty years ago by Sir Robert Peel. Since then the principles of banking have been largely changed, and if many of our industries have been enormously developed, others have been impaired or destroyed. India, then but the trading post of a chartered company, has become Imperialised, and its rupee, once reckoned at ten to the pound sterling, now stands at fifteen to the pound sterling, which is a depreciation of onethird.

THE BI-METALLISM PUZZLE.-II.

OF India, and of its silver depreciation, what shall be said? The men who receive rupees at 1s. 4d., when they bargained for them at 1s. 10d., have an undoubted grievance; but who amongst us is without a grievance? Should all other existing grievances be neglected by statesmanship, and this one of the rupee be attended to? Then, if the rupee is to be attended to, what compensation is to be extended under contracts

which, made at 1s. 4d. per rupee, must be met at 1s. 10d. per rupee. Is the Indian Government or is the British taxpayer to provide a sum in compensation for a difference which extreme men estimate at £800,000,000? For a long course of years the transactions of the two hundred and fifty millions of British subjects in the East have been in a steadily diminishing value in silver rupees, and, divested of clap-trap, what bi-metallism advocates is a restoration of the rupee to its former value in exchange. Again where is our statesmanship? It is in the bogs and wastes of Ireland; well employed, no doubt, but in comparison the Irish question is a minnow, whereas the neglected, drifting question of the rupee is a whale. Meanwhile, the Indian population in no way suffer from rupee depreciation. On the contrary, their condition in the mass sensibly improves. This is a fact of much social interest. It recalls the goldsmith period in England when coin was the currency, instead of promises to pay coin, when beef was one-halfpenny a pound, and when day wages were only fourpence. At that time England had the present military prominence of Germany. trade was then narrow, but so also was its poverty. Payment in coin, and payment in promises to pay in coin, which are not fulfilled, and which are not intended to be fulfilled, has presumably exercised an influence upon the world at large greater, immeasurably, than famine or the sword, and the measure of the influence now bubbles up before us through the depreciated rupee and the agitation for bi-metallism.

Its

Bi-metallism means legal tender silver, as well as legal tender gold; and as we have legal tender paper in Bank of England, and in Scotch and Irish notes, the case of silver is a strong one. There can be as little logical as reasonable objection to silver, and were the bi-metallists now to widen their views, and to insist that mere promises, which are not kept, should cease, and that in lieu thereof silver should be paid, much latent sympathy might be aroused. It might then be urged that rings in capital would fail, that the hostility between labour and capital would cease, and that, apart from India, the old-time low prices and low wages, with massive abundance, especially in foods, would give a new impetus to productive agencies. No such plausibilities

THE BANK-NOTE PROMISE.

AFTER all, the bank-note promise is but a lover's one; a thing not to be taken literally, but with a grain of salt. We may take a note to the counter of the Bank of England, or to the counter of an English, Scotch, or Irish bank of issue, and according to our pleasure may be paid in gold, silver, or copper; just as a lover, who has promised an abandonment of what comprehensively may be called fast life, is once in a while to be found in bed before cockcrow. Accordingly the bank-note promise is of a kind with the summer of a single swallow. It is a fiction. It is even a fraud within the definition of that somewhat elastic word. Promise to retire at maturity the three months' accommodation bill which your friend has backed for you; you at the time knowing that you have not, and cannot have a sixpence in the pound available for the purpose, and you have the situation. In short, the banknote promise is not kept, is not meant to be kept, and positively cannot be kept. Then why is it made? Why is it legalised? Why is it not regarded and dealt by like other false pretence? These questions must be pressed, because if the forces which make for the disruption of society are to be faced and overcome, there must be no such weak spot in the armour as a circulating medium, a currency, a money, an equivalent for things and for service, which in the nature of things puts honesty to the blush. already have the County Council refusing to recognise firms who do not pay a certain rate of wages, and we now have tramway conductors, drivers, and stablemen in convention in the small hours after midnight. Coal miners, iron-workers, nay, workmen in all the industries are at the present time more or less in arms against capital; and, should it become known to them that this capital which finds them in occupation and in bread is fraudulent in conception, purpose, and effect, how immeasurably their cause would be strengthened, and that of stability and order weakened. Surely the cowardice which refrains from bringing money into line with the general advance since the Bank Act settlement of 1844 cannot be too

We

strongly deprecated. There should be truth in money. An impossible promise to pay alike without the intention or the means of payment, which further is not given effect to, and yet passes current as if it were gold, silver, or copper, is an abomination of the kind known as Simpson in the milk trade. We have, in short, a milk-and-water money system, instead of a pure milk one.

What is behind the bank-note promises of the Bank of England? Speaking in round numbers, the Bank of England promises to pay £15,000,000 of the notes in the hands of the public, and yet is not in possession of a single sixpence for so doing. This is a fact a well-known fact

which, mentioned in society or in the street, gets a stereotyped string of excuses and explanations. Clearly, then, if excuses are admissible, why not also listen to the grudge which the murderer had against his victim? to the

financial sleight-of-hand of the forger? or to the destitution of the thief? Sauce for the goose should likewise be sauce for the gander, and law may be either a thing of principle or of circumstances; and in the ordinary way of a false pretence it is a thing of principle, but in the extraordinary way of a false pretence about being able to pay £15,000,000 in notes without a sixpence for the purpose, law is a thing of circumstances. The circumstances in extenuation of the position assigned by Parliament to the Bank of England are various, the leading one being that the Bank of England is not called upon to pay those notes. The forger of accommodation bills who retires one series by the discount of another says the same thing; he wrongs no one, and does not his fraud provide employment for his workpeople and freight for his ships? Certainly it does both; and there are not wanting those who have the same to say of the absolutely inconvertible £15,000,000 in notes of the Bank of England. This inconvertible £15,000,000 is regarded by such as an addition to the capital of the country. Assuming the contention to be correct, although the reverse is the fact, then capital may be a fraud, as doubtless it often is, and is so in this case. Why compel us to live under such an imputation-the imputation that commerce, industry, and wages are founded on a clever trick? Why not founded on common honesty? If we are to have bank-notes, let them be honestly convertible into coin or honestly inconvertible; and let us no longer remain exposed to the danger inseparable from this accession to the general knowledge that our money system is an imposture. Anarchy, Socialism, and Communism could not find nor use a more potent weapon against established things and order than a demonstration to the effect that legally and systematically the masses are imposed upon by the bank-note promise.

What is behind the authorised note issues of the Scotch and the Irish banks?-not a sixpence. The English banks of issue, other than the Bank of England, are similarly privileged. These last may issue nearly £7,000,000 in promises to pay; the Irish banks upwards of £6,000,000; and the Scotch banks nearly £3,000,000. With the Bank of England authorised issue, this is an aggregate of upwards of £30,000,000 in bank-note promise. Were this note issue to be transferred to the County Councils there would be something, although not much, to be said in its defence, but to continue it in its present form is an outrage on right and common sense. It is perpetual pensioning in its worst form; an exclusive right to lend and traffic in promises. And such promises: neither intended to be made good nor made good, and yet veritable substitutes for gold, silver, and copper money. The note of a bank of issue, except in the exceptional instances of coin being required for it, goes out into the world of life, industry, and commerce, as old time Tyburn highwayman upon Blackheath or pirate upon ocean. On the Stock Exchange there are special rates for the handling of these promises from one fortnightly settlement to another. No payment is then made, nor is there any repayment; only hand-to-hand giving and taking in endless circle in lieu of gold, silver, or copper coin. Surely, if there is meaning in words, payment cannot be made in promises of payment, but in actual payment of the represented coin. Nor is this quibbling, for if promises to pay are as good as the fulfilment of the promises, why not dispense with coin? Either the one or the other is absurd, and that the shadow should be invested with the attributes of the substance is in plain speech a job. Take for illustration some of the ordinary operations of trade and commerce. The promises of a Yorkshire or a Lancashire bank of issue buy the cotton and the wool; next they buy the yarn; and next they buy the fabric. These three operations, to pass by probably as many more, taken at 4 per cent. each, impose a tax on production and in restraint of trade of 12 per cent. The operatives grumble, as well they may, but they fail to put the saddle on the right horse; their employers giving their lives to their work may be earning next to nothing by it; while the promiseto-pay banker, who does not pay, in a plethora of wealth is ever on the outlook for leaseholds and freeholds whereon he may make provision for an ever-expanding business. Surely this is the Brown Bess, flint-lock manner of banking, not the magazine-gun system. It is surely a survival. Again, the promises of the Bank of England may buy groundrents, brick and mortar, and timber and window-sashes, and the Bank of England rate for its promises to pay has been

run up to 10 per cent. Take the ground-rent as one, the brick and mortar as two, and the timber and windowsashes as а leave third, and out of sight the slater, the plumber, the painter, the paperhanger, and the ironmonger, and we have again three charges each of four per cent. How is such a system to be defended? it is incapable of defence. A private corporation of lenders, in promises to pay, tax at will our habitations, the raw material of our trade, and in some form or other all our buying and selling. How the collective imposts have been borne we all know; want, wretchedness, and crime in the East and luxury in the West. The sooner we end or mend the bank-note promise the better for the welfare of the realm.

A DEGRADED AVOCAT-M. QUESNAY DE
BEAUREPAIRE.

THE doings of lawyers all the world over is necessarily the concern of this journal, and it is with regret that we learned that the French Government of the day had, after several trials, succeeded in finding a subservient tool to draw up the most absurd indictment that ever disgraced the annals of law or of legal administration in a civilised country. We, too, have had our Jeffery, our Scrooge, and other degraded lawyers, who stopped at nothing to conciliate their masters, and prostituted their talents and their learning to the vile purposes of this or that faction which happened to be in power, thereby degrading not merely their own miserable selves, but bringing contempt and odium on a noble art. But with us such a spectacle of degradation among men in the higher walks of the law is no longer possible. It was reserved for France to find in a Quesnay de Beaurepaire a traitor to his profession-one who furnishes ground for the old slander about the venality of lawyers. But there is another and a brighter side to the picture, which shines all the more conspicuously from the dark background furnished by this de Beaurepaire. The bright side of the picture, we need hardly say, is that the Government found difficulty in procuring their tool. M. Bouchez, their Procureur-General, a practising lawyer of repute, absolutely refused, although strongly antiBoulangist, to degrade himself and his profession by presenting the indictment asked for; and after searching in vain even in the byways of the profession, they were obliged to have recourse to a literary person-a lawyer only in name, who never had any practice nor anything to do with law. It is some consolation to us to know this, and we decline altogether to recognise this itinerant penman as one of our craft.

瓜

A BILL INTITULED AN ACT FOR CODIFYING THE LAW RELATING TO THE SALE OF GOODS. [LORD HERSCHELL.] Preliminary.

1. Short title.-This Act may be cited as "The Sale of Goods Act, 1889."

2. Extent. This Act shall not extend to Scotland or Ireland. 3. Commencement.-This Act shall come into operation on the first day of November, one thousand eight hundred and eightynine.

4. Interpretation of terms.-(1.) In this Act, unless the context or subject-matter otherwise requires,

"Action" includes counter-claim and set-off.

Delivery" means transfer of possession actual or constructive from one person to another.

"Document of title to goods" has the same meaning as it has in the Factors Acts.

"Factors Acts" mean the Factors Acts 1823 to 1877, or any enactment amending or substituted for the same.

"Future goods mean goods to be manufactured or acquired by the seller after the making of the contract of sale.

"Goods" include all chattels personal other than things in action and money. The term also includes emblements and things attached to or forming part of the land which are intended to be severed before sale or under the contract of sale.

"Person" includes a body of persons, whether incorporated

or not.

"Property" means the general property in goods, and not merely a special property.

"Seller means a person who sells or agrees to sell goods. Specific goods mean goods identified and agreed upon at the time a contract of sale is made.

"Warranty" means an agreement with reference to goods which are the subject of a contract of sale, but collateral to the main purpose of such contract.

"Writing" includes print, and " written" includes printed. (2) A thing is deemed to be done in "good faith" within the meaning of this Act when it is in fact done honestly, whether it be done negligently or not.

(3) A person is deemed to be insolvent within the meaning of this Act who either has ceased to pay his debts in the ordinary course of business, or cannot pay his debts as they become due, whether he has committed an act of bankruptcy or not.

PART I.-FORMATION OF THE CONTRACT.
Contract of Sale.

5. Sale and agreement to sell.—(1.) A contract of sale is a contract whereby the seller transfers or agrees to transfer the property in goods to the buyer for a money consideration, called the price, which the latter pays or agrees to pay. There may be a contract of sale between one part owner and another.

(2.) Where under a contract of sale the property in the goods is transferred from the seller to the buyer the contract is called a sale; but where the transfer of the property in the goods is to take place at a future time, or subject to some condition thereafter to be performed, the contract is called an agreement to sell" or, as the case may be, an agreement to buy.' (3.) An agreement to sell or buy becomes a sale when the time elapses or the conditions are performed subject to which the property in the goods is to be transferred.

66

Quasi-Contracts of Sale.

6. Satisfied judgment in trover, trespass, or detinue.-Where in an action for trespass to, or the conversion or wrongful detention of, goods, the plaintiff recovers the full value of the goods as damages, and the defendant satisfies the judgment, the transaction operates as a sale of the goods from the plaintiff to the defendant as from the time when the judgment is satisfied. Capacity of Parties.

7. Capacity to buy and sell.-Capacity to buy and sell is co extensive with capacity to contract.

Provided that where necessaries are sold and delivered to an infant he must pay a reasonable price therefor.

"Necessaries" in this section means goods suitable to the infant's condition in life, and to his actual requirements at the time of the sale.

Formalities of the Contract.

8. Contract of sale, how made.- Subject to the provisions of this Act, and of any statute in that behalf, a contract of sale may be made in writing (either with or without seal) or by word of mouth, or partly in writing and partly by word of mouth, or may be implied from the conduct of the parties.

9. Contract of sale for £10 and upwards.—(1.) No contract for the sale of any goods of the value of ten pounds or upwards shall be allowed to be good unless the buyer shall accept part of the goods so sold, and actually receive the same, or give something in earnest to bind the contract, or in part payment, or unless some note or memorandum in writing of the contract be made and signed by the party to be charged or his agent in that behalf.

(2.) The provisions of this section shall apply to every such contract, notwithstanding that the goods may be intended to be delivered at some future time, or may not at the time of such contract be actually made, procured, or provided, or fit or ready for delivery, or some act may be requisite for the making or completing thereof, or rendering the same fit for delivery.

(3.) There is an acceptance of goods within the meaning of this section when the buyer does any act in relation to the goods which recognises a pre-existing contract of sale, whether there be an acceptance in performance of the contract or not.

(4.) The provisions of this section shall not apply to a contract of exchange of goods.

Subject-matter of Contract.

10. Existing or future goods.-(1.) The goods which form the subject of a contract of sale may be existing goods or future goods.

(2.) There may be a contract for the sale of goods, the acquisition of which by the seller depends upon a contingency which may or may not happen.

(3.) Where by a contract of sale the seller purports to effect a present sale of future goods, the contract operates as an agreement to sell the goods.

11. Goods which have ceased to exist.-Where there is a contract for the sale of specific goods, and the goods unknown to the seller have ceased to exist at the time of the contract, the contract is void.

12. Goods perishing before sale, but after agreement to sell.Where there is an agreement to sell specific goods, and subsequently the goods, without any default on the part of the seller or buyer, perish before the property passes to the buyer, the agreement is thereby avoided.

The Price.

13. Ascertainment of price.—(1.) The price in a contract of sale may be fixed by the contract, or may be left to be fixed in manner thereby agreed, or may be left to subsequent arrangement.

(2.) When the price is not determined in accordance with the foregoing provisions the buyer must pay a reasonable price. What is a reasonable price is a question of fact dependent on the circumstances of each particular case.

14. Agreement to sell at valuation.-Where there is an agreement to sell goods on the terms that the price is to be fixed by the valuation of a third party, and such third party cannot or does not make such valuation, the agreement is avoided; provided that if the goods or any part thereof have been delivered to and appropriated by the buyer he must pay a reasonable price therefor.

Conditions and Warranties.

15. Implied condition or warranty may be expressly excluded.Where a condition or warranty arises in a contract of sale by implication of law, it may be negatived or varied by express agreement.

16. Sale by description.-Where there is a contract for the sale of goods by description, the goods must correspond with the description; and if the sale be by sample, it is not sufficient that the bulk of the goods correspond with the sample if they do not also correspond with the description.

17. Stipulations as to time of payment.—(1) Unless a contrary intention appears from the terms of the contract, stipulations as to time of payment are not deemed to be of the essence of a contract of sale.

(2) In a contract of sale "month" means prima facie calendar month.

18. Contract of sale may be accompanied by warranty.—(1) A contract of sale may be accompanied by one or more warranties, expressed or implied, given by the seller to the buyer.

(2) A warranty may be either included in the contract of sale, or may be given after the contract of sale is completed. (3) Where a warranty is given after the contract of sale is completed, it must be supported by fresh consideration.

19. Buyer may treat condition as warranty.-(1.) Where a contract of sale is subject to any condition for the benefit of the buyer, the buyer may elect to treat the non-performance of such condition as a breach of warranty, and not as a ground for rescinding the contract.

(2.) Whether a stipulation in a contract of sale is a condition or a warranty depends in each case on the construction of the contract.

(3.) Where a contract of sale is not severable, and the buyer has accepted part performance of the contract, a breach of any condition on the part of the seller can only be treated by the buyer as a breach of warranty.

20. Implied warranty of title.-By a contract of sale the seller impliedly warrants his right to sell the goods, unless the circumstances of the sale or agreement to sell are such as to show that the seller is transferring only such property as he may have in the goods.

21. Rule of caveat emptor.-Subject to the provisions of this Act and of any statute in that behalf, there is no implied warranty of the quality, fitness, or condition of goods supplied under a contract of sale.

Provided that

(1.) Implied warranties of quality, fitness, or condition.An implied warranty of quality, fitness, or condition may be annexed by the usage of trade.

(2.) Where the buyer, relying on the seller's skill or judgment, orders goods for a particular purpose known to the seller, and the goods are of a description which it is in course of the seller's business to supply (whether he be the manufacturer or not), there is an implied warranty that the goods shall be reasonably fit for such purpose. (3.) Where goods are ordered by description from a seller who deals in goods of that description (whether he be the manufacturer or not), and the buyer has no opportunity of examining the goods, there is an implied warranty that the goods shall be of merchantable quality and condition.

(4.) Where there is a contract for the sale of goods by a manufacturer, as such, there is, in the absence of any trade usage to the contrary, an implied warranty that the goods are of the seller's own manufacture.

(5.) An express warranty does not negative a warranty implied by this Act, unless inconsistent therewith.

Sale by Sample.

22. Sale by sample.-(1.) A contract of sale is a contract for sale by sample when there is a term in the contract, express or implied, to that effect. The exhibition of a sample during the making of the contract does not of itself make it a contract for sale by sample.

(2.) In the case of a contract for sale by sample(a.) There is an implied warranty that the bulk shall corre spond with the sample in quality and condition. (b.) There is an implied condition that the buyer shall have a

reasonable opportunity of comparing the bulk with the sample.

(c.) There is an implied warranty that the goods shall be free from any defect, rendering them unmerchantable, which would not be apparent on inspection of the sample.

PART II.-EFFECTS OF THE CONTRACT.

Transfer of Property as between Seller and Buyer.

23. Goods must be ascertained.-Where there is a contract for the sale of unascertained goods no property in the goods is transferred to the buyer unless and until the goods are ascertained.

24. Property passes when it intends to pass.-(1.) When there is a contract for the sale of specific or ascertained goods the property in them is transferred to the buyer at such time as the parties to the contract intend it to be transferred.

(2.) For the purpose of ascertaining the intention of the parties regard shall be had to the terms of the contract, the conduct of the parties, and the circumstances of the case.

25. Rules for ascertaining intention. Unless a different intention appears, the following are rules for ascertaining the intention of the parties as to the time at which the property in the goods is to pass to the buyer.

Rule 1.-When there is an unconditional contract for the sale of specific goods in a deliverable state, the property in the goods passes to the buyer when the contract is made, and it is immaterial whether the time of payment or the time of delivery, or both, be postponed. Rule 2.-Where there is a contract for the sale of specific goods, and the seller is bound to do something to the goods for the purpose of putting them into a deliverable state, the property does not pass until such thing be done.

Rule 3.-Where there is a contract for the sale of specific goods in a deliverable state, but the seller is bound to weigh, measure, test, or do some other act or thing with reference to the goods for the purpose of ascertaining the price, the property does not pass until such act or thing be done.

Rule 4.-When goods are delivered to the buyer on approval or on "sale or return" or other similar terms, the property therein passes to the buyer:

(a.) When he signifies his approval or acceptance to the seller;

(b.) If he does not signify his approval or acceptance to the seller, but retains the goods without giving notice of rejection, then, if a time has been fixed for the return of the goods, on the expiration of such time, and if no time has been fixed, on the expiration of a reasonable time. What is a reasonable time is a question of fact.

Rule 5.-(1.) Where there is a contract for the sale of unascertained or future goods by description, and goods of that description and in a deliverable state are unconditionally appropriated to the contract, either by the seller with the assent of the buyer, or by the buyer with the assent of the seller, the property in the goods thereupon passes to the buyer. Such assent may be express or implied, and may be given either before or after the appropriation is made.

(2.) Where, in pursuance of the contract, the seller delivers the goods to the buyer or to a carrier or other bailee (whether named by the buyer or not) for the purpose of transmission to the buyer, and does not reserve the right of disposal, he is deemed to have unconditionally appropriated the goods to the contract.

26. Reservation of right of disposal.-(1.) Where there is a contract for the sale of specific goods, or where goods are subsequently appropriated to the contract, the seller may, by the terms of the contract or appropriation, reserve the right of dis posal of the goods until certain conditions are fulfilled. In such case, notwithstanding the delivery of the goods to the buyer, or to a carrier or other bailee for the purpose of transmission to the buyer, the property in the goods does not pass to the buyer until the conditions imposed by the seller are fulfilled.

(2.) When goods are shipped, and by the bill of lading the goods are deliverable to the order of the seller or his agent, the seller is prima facie deemed to reserve the right of disposal.

(3.) When the seller of goods draws on the buyer for the price, and transmits the bill of exchange and bill of lading to the buyer together, the buyer is bound to return the bill of lading if he does not accept the bill of exchange, and if he wrongfully retains the bill of lading the property in the goods does pass to him.

not

37. Risk prima facie passes with property.-Unless otherwise agreed, the goods remain at the seller's risk until the property therein is transferred to the buyer, but when the property therein is transferred to the buyer, the goods are at the buyer's risk whether delivery has been made or not.

Provided that where delivery has been delayed through the default of either buyer or seller the goods are at the risk of the party making default.

Provided also that nothing in this section shall be deemed to

affect the duties or liabilities of either seller or buyer as a bailee of the goods of the other party.

The Scottish Im perial Insurance Company.

(To be continued.)

INSURANCE.

THIS is a company whose name should be blazoned far and wide, so that intending insurers in England, and, indeed, anywhere out of Scotland, may avoid them as they would the plague. Whether their name stinks as much on their native heather as it does now among the Sassenach we don't know, and care as little. But if we are to argue from their recent conduct, we should say that they could have but little reputation at home, seeing that they cared so little about it. Here is a company that comes uninvited among English people, and touts for their business, accepts their money, and when they have to pay refuse, for no reason that we know of. But when action is brought, then for the first time they produce the card they had up their sleeve all the while, and say in effect, "We are a Scotch company; English Courts are foreign Courts; you must come over to auld Reekie and fight us. Meantime, the chance of your being able to go on, even in Scotia's liberal Courts, is much lessened, for we cripple you now with the costs you incur both ours, and your own, for supposing that you could sue us in the country where we made the contract with you, and took your money." We repeat, that any company which had a reputation of any value at home would hardly, we should think, so act abroad. The Legislature, however, must look to it that the citizens of this country be protected from the possibility of such wrongdoing on the part of any company of any nationality whatsoever. It is easy to legislate so that any insurance office which is not amenable to English Courts of Justice may be made guilty of obtaining money under false pretences, if it obtains premiums in this country. The dread, however, which this case will inspire in the ordinary citizen of dealing with any Scotch company, even those of better name and higher fame than the Scottish Imperial (Imperial! What a satire on the name? How much apter would Scottish pettifogger or quibbler be?), will be made ample use of by skilful agents of English companies. Be sure of that. The fact that the policy, which is the subject-matter of dispute, was that of a solicitor's clerk, and that it is his wife who has been defeated by the technicality, is calculated to increase our indignation. The case has created quite a sensation among the officials of the Scottish insurance offices. That two English judges in the Court of Queen's Bench should hold that a domiciled Scotchman or Irishman cannot be sued in the English Courts, and that a Scotch or Irish corporation is in the same position, is a bitter pill for the managers of Scotch insurance offices who imagine-and rightly-that they see their business in England, from which such a large proportion has hitherto been derived, verily vanishing before their eyes. Some of said managers are accordingly writing, one after another, to explain that their case is different from that of others. They have a special Act of Parliament providing that every policy effected by a person described as of any place in England or Ireland shall be deemed to be effected with an insurance company having its domicile and head office in the City of London or in Dublin. It is true that this applies to certain of the Scotch offices, but policyholders and intending assurers will do well to ascertain which they are, as it certainly does not apply to nearly all. Public interest was first aroused in the case by the letter of "W. G. B." to the Times in the City article of the 3rd inst. He called attention to the fact that the Court upheld the decision of a Judge in Chambers, who had restrained an action brought against the company upon one of its policies, ruling that a Scotch or Irish corporation, though carrying on a large business in England, cannot be sued in the English Courts. The law is by no means new, but the case serves as a reminder to all English holders of policies in Scotch insurance companies of their position. Few of them could have contemplated that they would be unable to enforce their claims in the Courts of this country, unless by virtue of the provisions of some special statute. Briefly stated, the facts are these: Mrs. Watkins, the widow of a solicitor's clerk,

brought an action in London against the Scottish Imperial Insurance Company to obtain the sum assured upon a policy of insurance effected by her husband on his life with the company. The Scottish Imperial Company having no such statute as above referred to, contended that, being a Scottish corporation, the English Courts had no jurisdiction. This contention was upheld by a Judge in Chambers, and appeal being made from his decision to a Divisional Court, the case was heard on the 27th of May before Justices Mathew and Grantham, who affirmed the judgment of the Judge in Chambers. Technically, therefore, the Scottish Imperial Company has gained the day, but it is not too much to affirm that they have lost influence to an enormous extent, and we anticipate the English representatives will find it difficult to effect new business in this country. It is a marvellous thing that the office should dare to bring forward the plea of no jurisdiction. They must now take the full consequences of their ill-advised action. Their best policy now is to withdraw their plea, and pay the poor widow her money.

WE notice the name of Mr. J. Fisher The New York Smith, the general manager of this mamLife. moth office, as a donor to the Patriotic Volunteer Fund. This shows how completely Mr. Fisher Smith identifies himself with the people among whom he does business, and must tend still further to popularise this already popular office among us. We expect other American companies will now follow suit, among them that creature of imitation, Mr. D. C. Haldeman, of the Mutual of New York. If we can induce him to shell out and look pleasant, so much the better for the fund. He may just as well do it at first as at last. But what were Mr. Kelly and Mr. Munkittrick, of the Equity of the States, thinking of that they allowed Friend Fisher Smith to forestall them in this fashion? The fact is, the latter does from heart and instinct what the others may do from policy, and the result is that their action gets "sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought." "Bis dat qui cito dat," and we thank Mr. Fisher Smith for setting an example which ought to have many imitators among English as well as American insurance managers.

Caledonian In

surance

Company.

THE oldest Scotch insurance office is the Caledonian. Founded in 1805 for the transaction of fire business, the life department was added in 1833. The business, while not phenomenal, has uniformly been of the best and most profitable character. The life department has progressed rapidly within the last few years. The new assurances effected during 1888 were for £432,852, as compared with £356,758 in the previous year, showing an increase of £76,094. For the tenth year in succession the new life business has exceeded that of any preceding year in the history of the company; and comparing the business now transacted with that of fourteen years ago, it will be found, as the chairman pointed out in his speech at the annual meeting, that the relative increase made by the Caledonian within that period is greater than that of almost any other ordinary life office in the kingdom. The The following are the figures at septennial intervals:

In 1876 the life premium income was £60,692, in 1882 it was raised to £76,664, and last year it amounted to £105,402. Twelve years ago the life funds were £559,709; in 1882, £718,140; and in 1888, £915,613, or an increase of £71,956, by far the largest sum in a single year that the company has been enabled to add to its assurance fund for many years. The increase at all points is most striking and noteworthy. The company has uniformly been managed at a moderate rate of expenditure. The ratio last year shows, as might be expected, a slight

advance, which does not call for special comment. fire department the premiums were £124,570, after deducting reinsurance premiums, as compared with £47,987 in 1876, having increased by considerably more than two and a half times within the last dozen years. The fire losses in 1876 were 56 per cent. of the net premium income, and last year were 49.93 per cent. The average rate from the commencement of the company is nearly 60 per cent., therefore the year 1888 has indeed been a harvest-time for the Caledonian. The commission and management expenses are £42,467, being 34.09 per cent., against 33.50 in 1887. The total fire insurance funds, including the paid-up capital, which in 1876 amounted to £186,639, last year reached the sum of £374,694, being rather more than three times the amount of the fire premiums. This exhibits a degree of financial strength almost unequalled. The directors have wisely taken advantage of the exceptionally good year to make a moderate addition to the already strong reserve. They have accordingly added £10,000 to the fire guarantee fund, and £500 to the reserve premium account, which now stands at £62,500, or one-half of the premium income, which represents the provision for the current fire risks up to the dates when the next premiums become due. This reserve, while not always made, is a most commendable feature, and, per se, shows the wisdom of providing for the current half-year's amount of unexpired risk before apportioning the dividend to the proprietors. Some authorities, whose competency to form a well-balanced judgment on the subject has not been questioned, consider a reserve of onethird of the premium income to be sufficient; but while not committing ourselves to any decided opinion at the moment as to what the exact proportion ought to be, it will be perfectly clear to our readers that, in being able to reserve one-half of its premium income, the Caledonian enjoys a very enviable position among fire offices. The remaining surplus for the year is £32,194, and the directors recommend that from this sum a dividend of £1 3s. per share be paid, which will absorb £20,700, and leave a balance of £11,494 to be carried forward. This compares with £1 18. last year, and with such a capital return on their money the shareholders may be well satisfied. The investments of the Caledonian are unexceptional, and yield a high rate of interest. The valuations are conducted on the strictest possible bases, and handsome bonuses are distributed to the policy-holders. The company also grants very large surrender values, of which condition, however, the assured do not avail themselves to any extent, as they are fully contented with their contract, and know they can withdraw at any time, and always receive a large portion of their premiums back if they so wish. The Caledonian was the first British office to adopt the non-forfeiture plan, and has carried out the spirit of the principle in a most liberal manner. The actuary has embodied in the new prospectus apparently every new improvement introduced into the business of life assurance. Mr. David Deuchar, the manager and actuary to whom so much of the success of the company is directly due, is in every sense of the word a successful manager, and an actuary of the highest standing. He has, too, the rare gift of personal magnetism, and there is probably no other insurance office marked in so large a degree with esprit de corps and loyalty on the part of both indoor and outdoor staff to the able management of this old and wealthy company.

Liverpool and London and Globe

Insurance
Company.

readers.

THIS company hails from Liverpool, and may be known by name to many of our Although widely known, and having connections in all parts of the world, it unfortunately is not gaining ground. It is a huge concern by reason of numerous amalgamations, and as long ago as 1846 the London, Edinburgh, and Dublin was transferred to the Liverpool and London; and among many other transfers we may mention that of the Monarch in 1857 (which had previously absorbed the Licensed Victuallers' and other companies), the Unity Fire in 1862, and the Globe in 1863, by special Act of Parliament, the name of the Globe being added to the designation of the Liverpool and London. This latter amalgamation increased the income considerably, and carried with it a paid-up share capital of a million, which was converted into permanent annuities. The fire premiums