"And that the right in the said sum of 20,000 francs, corresponding to the premiums to be paid, combined with the aleatory value of the risk assured, formed a part of the assets of the insured, who could dispose, and did dispose of it, and that, the legatee not having accepted the bequest, it devolved upon his heirs, who found it in his estate; "And that consequently the said sum ought to have been included by the defendants in the return to be made of the succession, and was liable to the succession duty; "And that the decree brought into Court, having decided in the contrary, has violated the above mentioned provisions of the law "Quashes it." (7 February 1872.) So far as jurisprudence goes, this decision of the Court of Cassation is quite unexceptionable, for it has laid down the only principles conformable to the present state of French legislation; but we do not mean to say that the law ought not to be altered. We know life insurance deserves to be encouraged by the government, and in France needs such encouragement, and we should have no objection to any legislative amendment that would either make a general exemption from the succession duty in favour of life insurance policies, or, at least, exempt from it all policies, under a certain sum, made for the benefit of one's wife, husband, or children. Note on Mr. Woolhouse's paper "On the Philosophy of Statistics.” MR. D. Carment has pointed out to us a close verbal agreement between a passage in Mr. Woolhouse's paper "On the Philosophy of Statistics" (see p. 37 of this volume), and Mr. O. G. Downes's translation of M. Quetelet's Letters on the Theory of Probabilities. It appears, indeed, that certain portions of pages 40, 41, and 42, have been transcribed from the latter work with but little alteration. Mr. Woolhouse states, with reference to this, that "the object "sought to be accomplished in the paper is that of embodying a "full and comprehensive view of what has been done on a subject "not generally understood, and at the same time of making the "discussion as complete as possible by giving much original and important matter not to be found elsewhere in form or substance." Considering the wide range of the subject, and its intimate connection with an important branch of mathematical science, entire originality is of course not to be expected in a full account of it; and Correction of an Error in Milne's Treatise on Annuities and WE are indebted to Mr. Henry Hoskins, of 28 Notting Hill Square, for the following: In a footnote on pp. 254-256, Mr. Milne has investigated the value of a joint-life annuity on the hypothesis of equal decrements throughout life, but for the latter part of the investigation, commencing at the 5th line of the footnote on p. 255, should be substituted: Thus it appears that the total value of the annuity is u (1—um) 1 π 1 2 Qu (m+m') mm' mum +1 may be transformed to μ Qu (m + 1)2um+1-u for W, and observing Cor. 1. When the annuity is payable at the same v equal intervals in the year at which the interest is convertible, v being =π, and μ=1, the formula last obtained becomes m' ) -m 2v (2 · (1 + ';') ̃ ̄” — { 22 + 1 − (m +m') } )] Cor. 2. When the expectation of the senior of the two lives is s years and that of the junior j years, m=2vs, m'=2vj, and the formula becomes V being the value of an annuity certain of one pound for the term of 28 years. Cor. 3. When the interest and the annuity are each payable but once a year, v=1, and the value of the annuity is The Life Assurance Companies Acts, 1871 and 1872. 34 & 35 VICT. CHAP. 58. A.D. 1871. An Act to amend the Life Assurance Companies Act, 1870. c. 61. [24th July 1871.] WHEREAS by section three of the Life Assurance 33 & 34 Vict. Companies Act, 1870, a sum of money is required in certain cases to be deposited with the Accountant General of the Court of Chancery, to be invested and returned by him in manner therein directed, and it is expedient to make further provision in respect of the deposit, investment, and return of such sum: Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: and sums de posited under 33 c. & 34 Vict. 61, s. 3. 1. Every sum required by the Life Assurance Com- Payment into panies Act, 1870, to be deposited with the Accountant Cruets as to General of the Court of Chancery shall be paid into the Court of Chancery, and orders with respect to the payment of such money into and out of court, and the investment and return thereof, and the payment of the dividends and interest thereof, may be from time to time made, altered, and revoked by the like authority and in the like as orders with respect to the payment into and manner Amendment out of court, and the investment of other money, and the application of the dividends and interest thereof. 2. Section twenty-five of the Life Assurance Companies of section 25 of Act, 1870, shall be construed as if the words " chapter 33 & 34 Vict. c. 61. Construction twenty-four" were and had at and from the date of the passing of such last-mentioned Act been inserted therein in place of "chapter forty-one;" and Her Majesty's Printers shall in all copies of the Life Assurance Companies Act, 1870, which may be printed after the passing of this Act, insert the words "chapter twenty-four" in the place of the words "chapter forty-one" in section twenty-five of the said Life Assurance Companies Act, 1870. 3. This Act shall be construed as one with the Life and short title. Assurance Companies Act, 1870, and that Act and this Act may be cited together as The Life Assurance Companies Acts, 1870 and 1871, and this Act may be cited as The Life Assurance Companies Act, 1871. Deposit by An Act to amend the Life Assurance Companies Acts, [6th August 1872.] 1870 and 1871. BE it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: 1. Whereas by the provisions of the "Life Assurance Companies Acts, 1870 and 1871," a life assurance company is required to pay a sum of money into the Court of Chancery by way of deposit, and the certificate of incorporation of such company is not to be issued unless such deposit has been made, and such deposit is to be returned to the company as soon as its life assurance fund amounts to the sum therein mentioned; and doubts have arisen as to the construction of the said provisions, and it is expedient to remove such doubts; be it therefore enacted as follows: The said deposit may be made by the subscribers of the memorandum of association of the company, or any of them, in the name of the proposed company, and such deposit upon the incorporation of the company shall be deemed to have been made by and to be part of the assets of the company. The said deposit shall, until returned to the company, be deemed to form part of the life assurance fund of the company, and shall be subject to the provisions of section four of the Life Assurance Companies Act, 1870, accordingly. The Board of Trade may from time to time make, and when made revoke, alter, or add to, rules with respect to the payment and repayment of the said deposit, the investment of or dealing with the same, the deposit of stocks or securities in lieu of money, and the payment of the interest or dividends from time to time accruing due on any such investment, stocks, or securities in respect of such deposit. Any rules made in pursuance of this section shall have effect as if they were enacted in this Act, and shall be laid before Parliament within three weeks after they are made, if Parliament be then sitting, or if not, within three weeks after the beginning of the then next session of Parliament. 2. Whereas, by section four of the Life Assurance Com- Separation of panies Act, 1870, it is enacted that, "In the case of a life funds. company established after the passing of this Act, trans 66 66 66 acting other business besides that of life assurance, a separate account shall be kept of all receipts in respect "of the life assurance and annuity contracts of the company, and the said receipts shall be carried to and form a separate fund, to be called the life assurance fund of "the company, and such fund shall be as absolutely the "security of the life policy and annuity holders as though "it belonged to a company carrying on no other business "than that of life assurance, and shall not be liable for any contracts of the company for which it would not "have been liable had the business of the company been only that of life assurance;" and further provisions were made by the same section, with respect to the application of the above recited part of the said section to existing companies, and doubts have arisen with respect to the construction of the said provisions, and it is expedient to remove such doubts; be it therefore enacted, That the portion of section four of the Life Assurance Companies Act, 1870, above recited shall apply to every company established before the passing of that Act, provided that the Life Assurance Companies Act, 1870, and this Act shall not diminish the liability of the life assurance fund for any contracts of the company entered into before the passing of the Life Assurance Companies Act, 1870. 3. Whereas by section ten of the Life Assurance Companies Act, 1870, it is provided that, "Every annual "statement so deposited after the next investigation shall "be accompanied by a printed copy of the abstract required to be made by section seven,' "be it therefore enacted that the words "next investigation" shall be construed to mean the first investigation after the passing of the said Act. The Board of Trade shall lay before Parliament any statement or abstract of report which is deposited with them by any company, and purports to be in pursuance of the Life Assurance Companies Act, 1870, although the Deposit of statement required by 33 & 34 Vict. and abstract c. 61, s. 10. |