Life Assurance Companies Act 1870
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1870 c. 61 |
| Year | 1870 |
Life Assurance Companies Act, 1870
(33 & 34 Vict.) CHAP. 61.
An Act to amend the law relating to Life Assurance Companies.
[9th August 1870]
B E 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 Short title.
1. This Act may be cited as ‘TheLife Assurance Companies Act, 1870.’
2 Interpretation of terms.
2. In this Act—
The term ‘company’ means any person or persons, corporate or unincorporate, not being registered under the Acts relating to friendly societies, who issue or are liable under policies of assurance upon human life within the United Kingdom, or who grant annuities upon human life within the United Kingdom:
The term ‘chairman’ means the person for the time being presiding over the court or board of directors of the company:
The term ‘policy holder’ means the person who for the time being is the legal holder of the policy for securing the life assurance, endowment, annuity, or other contract with the company:
The term ‘financial year’ means each period of twelve months at the end of which the balance of the accounts of the company is struck, or if no such balance is struck, then each period of twelve months ending with the thirty-first day of December:
The term ‘Court’ means, in the case of a company registered or having its head office in England, the High Court of Chancery; in the case of a company registered or having its head office in Ireland, the Court of Chancery in Ireland; in all cases of companies registered or having its head office in Scotland, the Court of Session, in either division thereof:
The term ‘registrar’ means the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies in England and Scotland, and the Assistant Registrar of Joint Stock Companies in Ireland.
3 Deposit.
3. Every company established after the passing of this Act within the United Kingdom, and every company established or to be established out of the United Kingdom which shall after the passing of this Act commence to carry on the business of life assurance within the United Kingdom, shall be required to deposit the sum of twenty thousand pounds with the Accountant General of the Court of Chancery, to be invested by him in one of the securities usually accepted by the Court for the investment of funds placed from time to time under its administration, the company electing the particular security and receiving the income therefrom, and the registrar shall not issue a certificate of incorporation unless such deposit shall have been made, and the Accountant General shall return such deposit to the company so soon as its life assurance fund accumulated out of the premiums shall have amounted to forty thousand pounds.
4 Life funds separate.
4. In the case of a company established after the passing of this Act transacting 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 in respect to all existing companies, the exemption of the life assurance fund from liability for other obligations than to its life policy holders shall have reference only to the contracts entered into after the passing of this Act, unless by the constitution of the company such exemption already exists: Provided always, that this section shall not apply to any contracts made by any existing company by the terms of whose deed of settlement the whole of the profits of all the business are paid exclusively to the life policy holders, and on the face of which contracts the liability of the assured distinctly appears.
5 Statements to be made by companies.
5. From and after the passing of this Act every company shall, at the expiration of each financial year of such company, prepare a statement of its revenue account for such year, and of its balance sheet at the close of such year, in the forms respectively contained in the first and second schedules to this Act.
6 Statements by company doing other than life business.
6. Every company which, concurrently with the granting of policies of assurance or annuities on human life, transacts any other kind of assurance or other business shall, at the expiration of each such financial year as aforesaid, prepare statements of its revenue account for such year, and of its balance sheet at the close of such year, in the forms respectively contained in the third and fourth schedules of this Act.
7 Actuarial report and abstract.
7. Every company shall, once in every five years if established after the passing of this Act, and once every ten years if established before the passing of this Act, or at such shorter intervals as may be prescribed by the instrument constituting the company, or by its regulations or byelaws, cause an investigation to be made into its financial condition by an actuary, and shall cause an abstract of the report of such actuary to be made in the form prescribed in the fifth schedule to this Act.
8 Statement of life and annuity business.
8. Every company shall, on or before the thirty-first day of December one thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, and thereafter within nine months after the date of each such investigation as aforesaid into its financial condition, prepare a statement of its life assurance and annuity business in the form contained in the sixth schedule to this Act, each of such statements to be made up as at the date of the last investigation, whether such investigation be made previously or subsequently to the passing of this Act: Provided as follows:
(1) (1.) If the next financial investigation after the passing of this Act of any company fall during the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, the said statement of such company shall be prepared within nine months after the date of such investigation, instead of on or before the thirty-first day of December one thousand eight hundred and seventy-two:
(2) (2.) If such investigation be made annually by any company, such company may prepare such statement at any time, so that it be made at least once in every three years.
The expression date of each such investigation in this section shall mean the date to which the accounts of each company are made up for the purposes of each such investigation.
9 Forms may be altered.
9. The Board of Trade, upon the applications of or with the consent of a company, may alter the forms contained in the schedules to this Act, for the purpose of adapting them to the circumstances of such company, or of better carrying into effect the objects of this Act.
10 Statements, &c. to be signed and printed and deposited with Board of Trade.
10. Every statement or abstract herein-before required to be made shall be signed by the chairman and two directors of the company and by the principal officer managing the life assurance business, and, if the company has a managing director, by such managing director, and shall be printed; and the original, so signed as aforesaid, together with three printed copies thereof, shall be deposited at the Board of Trade within nine months of the dates respectively herein-before prescribed as the dates at which the same are to be prepared. And 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.
11 Copies of statements to be given to shareholders, &c.
11. A printed copy of the last deposited statement, abstract, or other document by this Act required to be printed shall be forwarded by the company, by post or otherwise, on application, to every shareholder and policy holder of the company.
12 List of shareholders.
12. Every company which is not registered under ‘The Companies Act, 1862,’ and which has not incorporated in its deed of settlement section ten of ‘The Companies Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845,’ shall keep a ‘Shareholders Address Book,’ in accordance with the provisions of that section, and shall furnish, on application, to every shareholder and policy holder of the Company a copy of such book, on payment of a sum not exceeding sixpence for every hundred words required to be copied for such purpose.
13 Deed of settlement to be printed.
13. Every company which is not registered under ‘The Companies Act, 1862,’ shall cause a sufficient number of copies of its deed of settlement to be printed, and shall furnish, on application, to every shareholder and policy holder of the company a copy of such deed of settlement on payment of a sum not exceeding two shillings and sixpence.
14 Amalgamation or transfer.
14. Where it is intended to amalgamate two or more companies, or to transfer the life assurance business of one company to another, the directors of any one or more of such companies may apply to the Court, by petition, to sanction the proposed...
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