amount, ought to be cancelled or disposed of, and ordered that so much of the rents and profits as were not necessary for keeping up the rest of the policies, should be paid to the wife on account of the annuity. If, however, this annuity had not been settled, the trustees would have had no alternative but to keep up the insurance for the benefit of children not in existence, and of the wife, who was thus placed in the unnatural situation of being compelled to look to the death of her husband, as the only means of extricating her from poverty. (a) Nor is it easy to see how any jurisdiction, short of that of parliament, could have relieved the trustees from their duty, if it had been imposed upon them by the trusts of the settlement. 7. In all cases where a fine, foregift, or other pecuniary advance has been made upon a lease determinable upon a life or lives, insurance upon the life, or the survivor of the lives, where more than one, is usually applied; so if a fine is payable upon the renewal of a lease granted for a life, or two or more lives, an insurance for the purpose of covering the fine when payable is desirable, and is a convenient form of spreading over a larger surface a sum which might be with difficulty raised at once, and at some unexpected point of time. It appears also essentially necessary, where a tenant for life is desirous of raising money upon mortgage of his life-interest; as without it, the lender may the next day be deprived of his security, although the more usual practice in such cases is to raise the sum by annuity, and make the life-estate a security. 8. When money is raised by the grant of an annuity, there is in general a stipulation in the deed that the grantor shall appear at some insurance office to be insured; as before observed, if the grantor were compelled to stipulate to pay the premiums, the whole transaction might be endangered on the ground of usury; for thus the principal would no longer be hazarded, at the same time that annuity interest, instead of legal interest, would be payable; but the grantee in general virtually imposes upon the grantor the burden of insurance by purchasing his annuity at such a rate as compensates for the payment of the premiums of insurance by himself. From the peculiar nature of annuity transactions, there is no contract, with reference to which insurance becomes so necessary; because in general, few will (a) Fv. W, June, 1830, Vice-Chan. MS. resort to borrowing money upon annuity who have any security to offer, by which to raise money at the usual and legal rates of interest. Annuities, from their nature, are exempt from the statutes respecting usury, because, in these transactions, not only the interest, but the principal also is by the terms of the contract (a) in hazard. If the principal be secured by the terms of the contract, without reference to the possible insolvency of the borrower, any device to receive more than legal interest will be usurious. (b) Interest has been considered as a premium upon the forbearance to sue for the debt, and our idea of usury in this country is founded upon that principle. (c) Although an annuity may be purchased for a very inadequate price, yet the transaction does not appear to be illegal, unless there be fraud, oppression, undue influence, or other circumstances which might induce a court of equity to interfere. It was found, from the circumstance, that few, but very necessitous persons, would resort to a mode of raising money, in which there was no restriction as to terms but the conscience of the lender, and where, on the other hand, from the situation of the borrower, not very many were disposed to lend but the speculative or unprincipled, that great frauds had been practised. These frauds were the more gross and exorbitant, because both parties were usually desirous that the transaction should be secret. The. credit of the borrower and the character of the lender might equally suffer by notoriety. The legislature, therefore, were compelled at length to interfere, not by putting a direct check upon the practice, but with the view, by rendering publicity necessary, indirectly to put an end to it. It has now been rendered necessary that a memorial of the particulars of all such transactions, together with the names of all parties, should be enrolled in Chancery. (a) Nurse v. Wilson, 5 T. R. 353. (b) See Chesterfield v. Janssen, 1 Atk. 340; 2 Ves. 142. (c) Nurse v. Wilson, 3 T. R. 353. LIFE TABLES, According to the late Census of the United States, Massachusetts being taken as a standard for the Northern States, and Maryland for the Middle States. Completed Males. Females. Males. Females. Males. Females Males. Females. Age. Yrs. Yrs. Yrs. Yrs. Yrs. Yrs. Yrs. Yrs. RATIO OF MORTALITY, For general estimates, adopting the current classification of the States, the American Census exhibits the following ratio of mortality, disregarding the ages at death. SOCIETY OF LONDON. [This Society has an extensive range of business.] TABLE A. WHOLE LIFE. TABLE B. WHOLE LIFE. WITH PROFITS. PREMIUMS FOR THE ASSURANCE OF next Annual Yearly Quarterly Birth- Premium. Premium. Premium. Day. next Annual Yearly Quarterly Birth- Premium. Premium. Premium. Day. |