24 BUSINESS OP LIFE INSURANCE

anee charter on the chief ground named by the two stock companies.

The commissioners to whom Parliament referred the question, reported that in view of the untried and much questioned plan proposed to be used, they recommended that no charter bo granted and also expressed the opinion that the promoters should be required to show their faith in the proposition by putting up ample capital. In closing, they clinched their argument by stating that if the organisers were really anxious to prove that their views were correct, they might, under the common law, form "an unincorporated voluntary association," in plain English, an unlimited liability partner-ship. And that is what they did, forming the "Equitable Society for the Assurance of Lives and Snrvivorships," now known as the Equitable Life Assurance Society of London, in the year 1762. This was the first level premium company.

It is noteworthy that the arguments put for-ward also by the parliamentary commission, viz.: that every life insurance company, even though on a mutual plan, should have a guarantee capital, has more than once been put for-ward since that time and the statute books of nearly every state to-day contain prohibitions of the organisation of new mutual companies—a thing which had an important influence in