Clayton v Owen
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 28 June 1862 |
| Date | 28 June 1862 |
| Court | High Court of Chancery |
English Reports Citation: 54 E.R. 1148
ROLLS COURT
S. C. 31 L. J. Ch. 825; 6 L.T. 802; 8 Jur. (N. S.) 1117; 10 W. R. 770.
[285] clayton v. owen. June, 27, 28, 1862. [S. C. 31 L. J. Ch. 825; 6 L. T. 802 ; 8 Jur. (N. S.) 1117 ; 10 W. K. 770.] The 13 & 14 Viet. c. 115, s. 2 (1850), prohibits assurances in friendly societies beyond 100. The former Acts contained no such prohibition. Held, that an assurance for 499 effected subsequently (1852) in a society established under the former Friendly Societies Act was valid. A decree had been made in January 1862, for the administration of the estate of the testator, George Owen, who died in 1861. It appeared from the certificate, that the testator effected a policy of assurance on his own life, in the National Provident Institution, dated the 26th of October 1852, in the sum of 499, 19s., which was made payable, on his decease, to his widow Ann Owen, and if there should be no such widow, then to the executors, administrators or assigns of the assurer. The testator paid the premiums on the policy down to his death on the 15th of December 1861; the Defendant, Ann Owen, his widow, survived him and proved his will. The question, whether the money secured by this policy formed part of the outstanding personal estate of the testator, or belonged to the Defendant, Ann Owen, absolutely, was, at the request of the Plaintiff, reserved for the consideration of the Court. The estate was insolvent, the assets being only sufficient to pay ten shillings in the pound on the testator's debts, and a balance of 1111, 6s. was found due from the executrix. The National Provident Institution was established under the provisions of the 10 Geo. 4, c. 56, and the 4 & 5 Will. 4, c. 40, and the policy was granted in accordance with the powers contained in these Acts, which were passed to encourage parties to provide for their families. By the 10 Geo. 4, c. 56, s. 2 (the Friendly Societies Act), it waa enacted that it should be [286] lawful for any number of persons in the United Kingdom to establish a society for the purpose of raising, by subscriptions of the members or by voluntary contributions or donations, "a stock or fund for the mutual relief and maintenance of all and every the members thereof, their wives or children, or other relations, in sickness, infancy, advanced age, widowhood or any other natural state or contingency, whereof the occurrence is susceptible of calculation by way of average." By sect. 37, no assurance, instrument or document made in pursuance of the Act is liable -with any stamp duty. The 3 & 4 Viet. c. 73, s. 1 (1840), provided that the exemption from stamp duty should not extend to cases where...
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