An annuity and assurance office, stimulated by the success of the Equitable, was commenced under the title of “the Universal,” but history is silent as to its results. Many other attempts were made, some of a purely local character, which were very successful; others, more ambitious, failed in their endeavours. In 1792 the present Westminster Society commenced business, and in 1797 was followed by the Pelican, now in active existence. Some time prior to these, there was an advertisement of a new assurance office on the lives of men, women and children at the Bell and Dragon, otherwise called “Lincoln’s Inn Eating-house in Portugal Street, Lincoln’s Inn, Back Gate.” It need not be added that it was not by means of the “back gate to the Bell and Dragon” that the Westminster and the Pelican obtained their deserved success.
CHAP. XI.
LEGAL DECISIONS.—WILLIAM PITT, AND GODSALL AND CO.—ROMANCE OF LIFE ASSURANCE.—THE GLOBE.—NEW COMPANIES.—THE ALLIANCE—ITS PROMOTERS.—IMPROVEMENT OF THE VALUE OF LIFE CONSEQUENT ON THE IMPROVEMENT IN SOCIETY—ITS DESCRIPTION.—TRIAL CONCERNING THE DUKE OF SAXE GOTHA.—IMPORTANT LEGAL DECISION.
It has been said that corporations have no souls to be saved or bodies to be kicked; but it may be added that they have a wild kind of justice meted to them when they appeal to a jury. So early as 1801, this was proved in a case of life assurance.
In 1799, a Mr. Robson, at the instance of a Mr. Kerslake, who was to grant the former an annuity, proposed his life for insurance to the Westminster Insurance Company. The usual forms were passed through, the usual undertaking entered into that the assured was in good health, his age being only twenty-three, and the policy was issued by the office. In three months he died. The Westminster Society made inquiries which perhaps they should have made before, and those inquiries discovered that Mr. Robson had been labouring for some time under what is popularly known as a tendency to consumption; that in 1797 he had suffered from hæmorrhage in the lungs, but had recovered; that in February, 1799, though he had another similar attack in a more violent degree, he had said nothing about it, opening the policy on his life in March. In the autumn he took cold, fell into a rapid decline and died. There was clearly a predisposition to disease, and though it is a very important consideration, whether a policy once open should not be indisputable, yet until this is so, there is in a case like the present but one view to be taken. The company rightly refused to pay, and an action was brought to compel them.
“Who shall decide when doctors disagree?”
One party swore there were no symptoms which indicated consumption. The other took their oaths that consumption was inevitable with such symptoms. In vain Lord Kenyon charged the jury in favour of the Westminster, the jury knew better than his lordship, and had no notion of a policy being opened without being discharged, whatever the deceit might be. They decided against the company. Another trial was sought and granted, but in vain. The new jury maintained the principles of the old, and the company lost its money and gained the vituperation of the unthinking.
The great minister of the past century died insolvent, and from this arose one of those actions, which at once confirm a law and establish a principle. In 1803 William Pitt was indebted to Godsoll and Co., his coachmakers, upwards of 1000l. To secure some part of this in the event of his demise, they assured his life for seven years with the Pelican Company, for 500l. at the rate of 3l. 3s. per cent. In 1806, three years after this, the premier died without sufficient assets to meet his liabilities. The greatness of his services to the country, the fact that he had died in debt being a proof of his self-abnegation, demanded an acknowledgment, and the state very properly determined to pay his creditors. This was not sufficient for the coachmakers; an immediate claim was made by them for payment of the 500l. assured. As Godsoll and Co., however, had received the entire amount of their bill when Mr. Pitt’s other debts were discharged, the Pelican refused to pay, on the ground that their insurable interest in the life of the deceased had been terminated by the payment of his debts, and that as the insurance was to meet a special debt, since discharged, they could not recover.