Our website is made possible by displaying online advertisements to our visitors.
Please consider supporting us by disabling your ad blocker.
Friendly Societies Act 1875
| Act of Parliament | |
 | |
| Long title | An Act to consolidate and amend the Law relating to Friendly and other Societies. |
|---|---|
| Citation | 38 & 39 Vict. c. 60 |
| Introduced by | Stafford Northcote MP (Commons) |
| Territorial extent | [b] |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 11 August 1875 |
| Commencement |
|
| Repealed | 1 January 1897 |
| Other legislation | |
| Amends | See § Repealed acts |
| Repeals/revokes | See § Repealed acts |
| Amended by | |
| Repealed by | Collecting Societies and Industrial Assurance Companies Act 1896 |
| Relates to | |
Status: Repealed | |
| History of passage through Parliament | |
| Records of Parliamentary debate relating to the statute from Hansard | |
| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
The Friendly Societies Act 1875 (38 & 39 Vict. c. 60) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed by Benjamin Disraeli's Conservative government following the publication of the Royal Commission on Friendly Societies' Final Report to consolidate and amend enactments relating to friendly societies.
It was one of the Friendly Societies Acts 1875 to 1895.[1]
The act encouraged friendly societies to register with the Registrar of Friendly Societies by granting them the legal right to own land and property in the name of their trustees and the power to take out legal proceedings, in return for registration. Registered societies were subject to regulation: for example they were required to submit returns to the Registrar every five years which gave details of their financial affairs and in-force business which could be used by the Registrar to evaluate their assets against their liabilities under life assurance, annuity and sickness business.[2]
Friendly societies paid de facto old-age pensions in the form of sickness benefit, and the Act defined "old age" as 50 and above. Although a court ruled that "natural decay" was not "sickness" the majority of friendly societies did not accept this ruling as they were in competition with each other, and wanted to continue paying pensions to attract new members.[3]
The act allowed friendly societies considerable self-management "but insured the adoption of sound rules, effective audit, and rates of payment sufficient to maintain solvency. It established the friendly societies, and with them the people's savings on a satisfactory basis".[4]
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).
- ^ The Short Titles Act 1896, section 2(1) and Schedule 2
- ^ John Macnicol, The Politics of Retirement in Britain, 1878-1948 (Cambridge University Press, 2002), p. 114.
- ^ Macnicol, p. 118.
- ^ William Flavelle Monypenny and George Earle Buckle, The Life of Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield. Volume II. 1860–1881 (London: John Murray, 1929), pp. 704-5.
Previous Page Next Page
