THE SUPPLEMENTAL CHARTER. (16th January 1730, 3d Geo. II.) mer Patent. GEORGE the Second, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, &c. To all to whom these Presents shall come, Greeting. WHEREAS the Corporation, called Recital of forby the name of the Amicable Society for a Perpetual Assurance Office, have by their Petition humbly represented unto Us, that upon the humble Petition of divers Persons therein named to her late Majesty Queen Anne, setting forth, that they had agreed upon and entered into a voluntary Society for the mutual benefit and interest of every Person that should at any time be a Member thereof, in order to provide for their Wives and Children, and other Relations, after a more easy, certain, and advantageous method than any that had been thought of; and upon its being certified to her said Majesty that the said design would be of singular Use and Relief to many Families, by providing for great numbers of Widows and Orphans, who might probably be otherwise left wholly destitute of a maintenance; her said Majesty was graciously pleased by her Letters Patent, bearing date at Westminster the Twenty-fifth Day of July, in the fifth Year of her Reign, to incorporate and establish the Persons therein named, and all and every other Person and Persons who should be admitted to be a Subscriber or Subscribers to the said Perpetual Assurance Office, according to the directions therein contained, not exceeding Two Thousand Persons in the whole, to be and be called one Body Corporate and Politic in Deed and in Name for ever, and to have perpetual succession by the name of The Amicable Society for a Perpetual Assurance Office, together with several powers, privileges, liberties, and authorities, in and by the said Letters Patent granted, and particularly specified, as by the same may more fully and at large appear: That the said Corporation have ever since been a subsisting Body, and to the best of their endeavours acted under and in pursuance of the said Letters Patent; and have made improvements, and been found to be a common good and benefit, according to the ers wanted. original design and institution of the said Society. But that the said Corporation have Further powat several times, and on sundry occasions, found themselves reduced to great inconveniences and difficulties, for want of some further Powers and Authorities than are contained in the said Letters Patent, or which, by the By-Laws thereby authorized to be made, they are empowered to use and exercise; and which, if granted them, they humbly conceive, and are advised, would much tend to the good and benefit as well as relief and harmony of the said Society; That for want of such further Powers and Authorities encouragement has been given to some to decline any regular Payments of their Contribution-monies, and to dispute the power of an absolute exclusion for the default, of being five quarters in arrear thereof; and others to claim a right of voting and balloting at Elections, and other occasions relating to the said Corporation, who had no real Property or Interest themselves in or to such Policies, by which they pretended to be Members of or Contributors to the said Corporation, and otherwise irregularly to interfere in and disconcert the affairs thereof; and having humbly prayed Us, that We would be graciously pleased to grant unto the said Corporation such further Powers and Authorities, and in No Member real Contribu tors on his or her own Life. such manner, as to Us shall seem meet; We, taking the Premises into our Royal Consideration, are graciously pleased to grant unto the said Corporation and their Successors such additional Powers and Authorities as are hereinafter mentioned and contained. I. KNOW YE THEREFORE, that We of Our especial Grace, certain Knowledge, and mere Motion, have granted, declared, ordained, and directed, and by these Presents, for Us our Heirs and Successors, do grant, declare, ordain, and direct, that no Member of the said Corporation shall have any right to vote or act in any General Court of the said Corporation, except only such as are real Contributors thereunto upon his or her own life; and that the Directors of the said Corporation for the time being, or any Two or more of them, shall have power at any of Directors may the General Courts to administer an Oath administer an to any Person or Persons appearing there ing on a right as a Member or Members thereof, and pretending or insisting to have a right to vote or ballot at any election for Directors, or in relation to making of By-Laws for the better ordering or government of the said Corporation, or any other question or matter which shall concern the said Corporation; which Oath shall be to the following Oath to any Person insist to vote. the Oath. effect, viz. That such Person or Persons The tenor of is or are lawfully possessed of a Policy in the said Corporation on his or their life 'or lives, and is or are a Contributor or Contributors thereto in his, her, and their own right, and not otherwise:' And in case of refusal or neglect to take such Oath or Oaths by any such Person or Persons, upon tender thereof to be made to him, her, or them by any Two or more of the said Directors as aforesaid, such Person and Per- Persons refussons so refusing or neglecting shall be cluded from balloting, voting, or acting such General Court as a Member of the said Corporation. ing to take the ex- Oath to be ex at cluded from voting. II. And of Our more especial Grace, certain Knowledge, and mere Motion, We have granted, declared, ordained, and directed, and by these Presents, for Us our Heirs and Successors, do grant, declare, ordain, and direct, that it shall and may be lawful to and for the Directors of the said Corporation for the time being, or any Two or more of them, to administer Oaths to any such Directors may Person or Persons as will voluntarily take the Oaths relating same for or concerning the state of Health to the health of any Person or Persons that shall be proposed to be admitted into the said Society, of Members; and of and relating to the Deaths of any Members or Nominees therein, or in rela administer of proposed Members, and to the Deaths |