The assignment of policies of life assurance is so important where the question of an advance against this kind of security is under the consideration of the banker that we print below the Act of 1867, 30 & 31 Vict., cap. 144, on the subject.

Cap. CXLIV.

An Act to enable Assignees of Policies of Life Assurance to sue thereon in their own Names. [20th August, 1867.]

Whereas it is expedient to enable Assignees of Policies of Life Assurance to sue thereon in their own Names :

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. Any Person or Corporation now being or hereafter becoming entitled, by Assignment or other derivative Title, to a Policy of Life Assurance, and possessing at the Time of Action brought the Right in Equity to receive and the Right to give an effectual Discharge to the Assurance Company liable under such Policy for Monies thereby assured or secured, shall be at liberty to sue at Law in the Name of such Person or Corporation to recover such Monies.

2. In any Action on a Policy of Life Assurance, a Defence on equitable Grounds, or a Reply to such Defence on similar Grounds, may be respectively pleaded and relied upon in the same Manner and to the same Extent as in any other personal Action.

3. No Assignment made after the passing of this Act of a Policy of Life Assurance shall confer on the Assignee therein named, his Executors, Administrators, or Assigns, any Right to sue for the Amount of such Policy, or the Monies assured or secured thereby, until a written Notice of the Date and Purport of such Assignment shall have been given to the Assurance Company liable under such Policy at their principal Place of Business for the Time being, or in case they have Two or more principal Places of Business, then at some One of such principal Places of Business, either in England or Scotland or Ireland, and the Date on which such Notice shall be received shall regulate the Priority of all Claims under any Assignment; and a Payment bona fide made in respect of any Policy by any Assurance Company before the Date on which such Notice shall have been received shall be as valid against the Assignee giving such Notice as if this Act had not been passed.

4. Every Assurance Company shall, on every Policy issued by them after the Thirtieth Day of September One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, specify their principal Place or principal Places of Business at which Notices of Assignment may be given in pursuance of this Act.

5. Any such Assignment may be made either by Endorsement on the Policy or by a separate Instrument in the Words or to the Effect set forth in the Schedule hereto, such Endorsement or separate Instrument being duly stamped.

6. Every Assurance Company to whom Notice shall have been duly given of the Assignment of any Policy under which they are liable shall, upon the Request in Writing of any Person by whom any such Notice was given or signed, or of his Executors or Administrators, and upon Payment in each Case of a Fee not exceeding Five Shillings, deliver an Acknowledgment in Writing under the Hand of the Manager, Secretary, Treasurer, or other principal Officer of the Assurance Company of their Receipt of such Notice; and every such written Acknowledgment, if signed by a Person being de jure or de facto the Manager, Secretary, Treasurer, or other Principal Officer of the Assurance Company whose Acknowledgment the same purports to be, shall be conclusive Evidence as against such Assurance Company of their having duly received the Notice to which such Acknowledgment relates.

7. In the Construction and for the Purposes of this Act the Expression "Policy of Life Assurance," or " Policy" shall mean any Instrument by which the Payment of monies, by or out of the Funds of an Assurance Company, on the happening of any Contingency depending on the Duration of Human Life, is assured or secured; and the Expression "Assurance Company" shall mean and include every Corporation, Association, Society, or Company now or hereafter carrying on the Business of assuring Lives or Survivorships, either alone or in conjunction with any other Object or Objects.

8. Provided always, That this Act shall not apply to any Policy of Assurance granted or to be granted or to any Contract for a Payment on Death entered into or to be entered into in pursuance of the Provisions of the Acts Sixteenth and Seventeenth Victoria, Chapter Forty-five, and Twenty-seventh and Twenty-eighth Victoria, Chapter Forty-three, or either of those Acts, or to any Engagement for Payment on Death by any Friendly Society.

9. For all Purposes this Act may be cited as "The Policies of Assurance Act, 1867."

It is absolutely necessary where bankruptcy intervenes that a life office should have notice of the assignment of any policies to third parties, but this is not sufficient unless the policies be actually in the possession of the persons to whom assigned; but where no bankruptcy has occurred, it has been held that the notice was not essential.

With regard to the deposit of title deeds by way of equitable mortgage, as security against banking advances, it is necessary to bear in mind that a legal mortgage, though executed subsequently to, if the mortgagee has no notice of a previous equitable mortgage, has priority over, an equitable mortgage, and that an equitable mortgagee, in the absence of a contract, has no right to insist upon a legal mortgage; but he will apply to a court of justice to give effect to his equitable charge.

Therefore with the deeds a memorandum should be given, setting forth the purpose of the deposit, and undertaking, if called upon, to execute a legal mortgage.

And that there may be no doubt as to the validity of the security the deeds, or at all events, the principal portion of them, must be in the hands of the equitable mortgagee, and the lien be given at such a time, and under such circumstances, that no suspicion can possibly arise.