EARLY HISTORY OF INSURANCE

235

to pay me after the death of my daughter ? ” or “ Do you promise to pay to my daughter after my death ? ” were pronounced legally valid by Ulpian,¹ and subsequently confirmed by Justinian² and Basil,³ yet these could only have been considered to be special permissions granted to fathers, had it not been shown in this passage that the general ruling permitted the making of such stipulations on the life of another person. It is of interest to note that this is the only ⁴ place in the Corpus Juris Civilis in which the making of contracts on the death of some one else other than the stipulators is provided for excepting in the special importance cases father and daughter.⁵ Thirdly, as to of these the importance of the decisions bearing on such contracts, stipulations as were dependent on death for their due performance. The need of such decisions is clearly shown by the fact that they are incorporated in the Institutes, which book was compiled by order of Justinian with a view to its serving as a first textbook on Civil Law for the law students of his time ; it was not intended to be a comprehensive treatise,⁶ but, as is stated by Justinian in his preface, a concise textbook setting out the elements of law and dealing with nothing that was not of practical use or that was superfluous. Consequently the matters dealt with therein are the more important part of the law, with, in some cases, a short statement of the reasons for such laws. This being so, it follows that if the decisions as to the validity of the stipulations under consideration were worthy of being given a place therein, they must have been of considerable practical importance, whence a fortiori the practice of making such stipulations must have been general and of such an extent as to render a knowledge of the legal decisions thereon a very necessary part of the training of a young lawyer.

    ¹ See Chapter XX, p. 223.         ² See p. 227.

    ³ See p. 237.                     ⁴ But see pp. 237 and 239 below.

    ⁶ See Chapter XX, p. 223, and p. 237.

    • Proem : Institutionum Justin :

    § 3. . . . specialiter mandavimus ut nostra auctoritate nostrisque suasionibus Institutiones componerent, ut liceat vobis prima legum cunabula non ab antiquis fabulis discere, sed ab imperiali splendore appetere;

  et tam aures quam animae vestrae nihil inutile nihilque perperam positum, sed quod in ipsis rerum obtinet argumentis, accipiant.