§ [No. 23]
§
Clause 13, page 13, line 4, at end insert—
(c) not to vary in such a manner as to increase the liabilities of the company any contracts of insurance of a specified description, being contracts effected in the course of carrying on long-term business and in force when the requirement is imposed.
§ THE EARL OF LIMERICKMy Lords, I beg to move that this House doth agree with the Commons in their Amendment No. 23. In another place the question was asked why, when a restriction was imposed on an insurance company under Clause 13, it should be permitted to vary long-term contracts although specifically prohibited from varying general insurance contracts. The original reason for this was that the need to vary long-term contracts inevitably arose more commonly than is the case with short-term ones, that the policy-holder's rights to vary were not necessarily defined in the policy, and that it would often be a hardship to him to be unable to obtain a variation such as the issue of a paid-up policy or the premature surrender of the policy for cash. It was subsequently accepted, on the other hand, 1575 that variations of other kinds were possible and that these might in some circumstances increase the company's liabilities, contrary to the intention of the restriction. This possibility is dealt with by this Amendment.
§ Moved, That this House doth agree with the Commons in the said Amendment.—(The Earl of Limerick.)