A LLOYDS POLICY.
ZS • Touching the Adventures and Perils which we the Assurers are contented to bear and do take upon us in this Voyage, they are, of the Seas, Men-of-War, Fire Enemies, Pirates, Rovers, Thieves, Jettisons, Letters of Mart and Counternu:trt, Surprisals, Takings at Sea, Arrests, Restraints and Detainment's of all Kings, Princes, and People, of what Nation, Condition or Quality soever, Barratry of the Master and Mariners, and of all other Perils, Losses and Misfortunes-that have or shall come to the Hurt, Detri- ment or Damage of the said Goods and Merchandises and Ship."
OF the many schemes devised to obtain relief from misfortunes and protection against losses, Marine Insurance may fairly claim to be the oldest. Its inception is lost in obscurity, but its intimate connexion with commerce leads to the assumption that it had its origin in the very beginning of commerce itself. It was in operation centuries before Life Assurance was thought of, and there is no doubt it is the original application of the principle of insurance. While various forms of Marine Insurance policy are employed by other countries, that in general use in Great Britain is what is known as a Lloyds Policy. This form was adopted by Lloyds in 1779, and it differs but slightly from an earlier form dated 1680 still preserved by that corporation, which again, in certain important features, resembles the more ancient Florentine formula of 1523. In 1850, a revision of the initial declaration, " In the name of God, Amen," was made by substituting the less solemn " Be it known that," and on two subsequent occasions additions were made to the text by the introduction of what are termed the Waiver Clause and the Frustration Clause. With -these exceptions the present form, from which the extract prefacing this article is taken, is to all intents and purposes the same as that in use in this country two or three centuries ago. It is necessary, therefore, when reading a Lloyds Policy to bear in mind, that it was originally designed in and for another age than our own, and.to meet conditions in the navigation of the seas widely different from those existing now. The Lloyds form of policy has long been an object of condemnation in our Law Courts and some of the most eminent legal authorities have alluded to it in very unflattering terms. Lord Mansfield spoke of the " ancient and inaccurate form of words in which the instrument is conceived." Other judges have expressed wonder that policies should be drawn with so much laxity ; one has gone so far as to say that " the Lloyds Policy is an absurd and incoherent instrument," while, only the other day, it was remarked by a learned Lord of Appeal that " one often finds in cases dealing with the carriage of goods at sea it is the habit of those dealing with them to deal with documents which contain an antiquated jargon." Notwithstanding all such weighty and unfavourable criticism, however, the commercial community of Great Britain has adhered with persevering tenacity to the old and hardly intelligible form which was. introduced at so early a period into England when the practice of Marine Insurance was first. adopted.
It may be that the length of time it has been in use and the innumerable decisions in respect of it which have been delivered by our. Law Courts have given the Lloyds form of policy such. a degree of certainty that it is likely to remain as it is for all time. There. is, at least, the significant fact that although the Marine Insurance Act of 1906 received the considered attention of the leading authorities on Marine Insurance and Maritime Law for the long period of twelve years, the form of policy reproduced in the Schedule is the well worn and severely criticized Lloyds• Policy. It is on record that an alternative form was proposed during the preliminary discussions but was not adopted, nor has it been adopted, by any of the new Marine Insurance Companies; Lloyds .Policy, therefore, as we see it to-day, with all its crudities of language and faults in construction, remains in form or substance the standard policy of marine. insurance of the greatest maritime nation the world has ever seen. From Lloyds Calendar for 1921 we learn that much speculation is often caused with regard to the meaning, of the letters " S. G." which appear in Lloyds Marine Insurance Policy, and• that Colonel Sir Henry Hozier, K.C.B. (Secre- tary of Lloyds from 1874 to 1906), believed nobody exactly knew what these letters meant. It seemed to him. that they signified no more than Salutis Gratin—for the sake of safety —which words were generally used. in commercial transac- tions inthe Middle Ages, when Latin was a catholic language for commercial purposes. There were; however, other opinions. It had been suggested they stand for Ship and Goods.. Another view was that they have also an Italian origin, Somma Grande—total amount (insured). In Mr_ Henry Bt. Grey's recently reprinted. Lloyds ; Yester- day and To-day, other. two interpretations are given, one by Mr. W. E. Found, of Lloyds,.who leans to thetheory that the letters stand for Salm Guardia, Safe. Guard--and the other by Mr. Grey himself, who ia more inclined to think that the letters stand. for " Signatories Guaranteed " or " Security Guaranteed "—much in the same way as articles are labelled " warranted" to-day.
There is, of course, no limit set to conjecture, and its exercise in respect of these mystic letters may well prove inexhaustible. It is submitted, however; that -there are still two other interpretations which, if not more conclusive, are perhaps as acceptable as any yet suggested. The first of these is that the letters," S. G.' stand for. Sieurata Generale —General Security (or policy)--signifying the nature of the particular instrument of contract 011 which they appear. Mr. Frederick Martin, in his History of Lloyds and of Marine Insurance in Great Britain, mentions that the ancient Statute of Florence enacted that every description of Underwriting (scritta) must be effected after a prescribed form " as contained in the .general and universal policy at present in use "—" sotto it tenore della. sicurata generate et universale rho al presente usata." The second interpretation offered is also based on the inherent and peculiar nature of the contract. Emeri- gon, the French writer on Marine Insurance, states that Pothier says that the contract of insurance is syne allagmatic, for it produces reciprocal obligations, " media a footnote it ise.xplained that this term is used for the same purpose in the Roman Law. It describes a contract obligatory on one side as.well as the otheras " sale," and is opposed to contracts in which a single party binds himself towards another, as in the loan of money. It is perhaps, with a view to conform to the principle and to the nature of the contract that the Code: de Commerce requires con- tracts of insurance to be signed both by the assured and the insurer. When regarded from this standpoint, the letters " S. G.," it is submitted, stand for Syngraph, Syngraphus—,iyn,. together, and Graph°, I write—. signifying a written contract or engagement imposing mutual obligations reciprocally binding, such as a treaty or the like. The New English Dictionary furnishes several instances of the use of the word in the 17th century- as applying to a document of this nature. In 1633, " I have here a syngraphus, a writing with articles that must be drawn between us." In 1656 the meaning is given as " A writing or deed made or signed with the hand of him that makes a bargain," and in 1662, quoting from a diary, " Dr. Basiers--the greate traveller—ehow'd me the Syn- graphs and original subscriptions of divers Eastern Patriarchs—to our Confession."
It may be urged that the letters " S. G." in a Lloyds Policy are immaterial to the contract, but if this is so, it is surely passing strange that they should, for no known purpose, continue to occupy so conspicuous: a place in a commercial document of such world-wide reputation and importance, and that their • origin and• significance is left to conjecture and speculation.
T. HERBERTSOM Baron.
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