againft Drinkwater Mob; by which I mean a Mob under fuch circumstances as would amount to a levying War against the King, that is, against his Office and Government. the Royal Ex change Affurance Company. They rofe on account of the price of Provifions, and fell upon a Baker and Miller the first day, and upon a Maltfter and two Bakers the second day. The utmoft that I can collect from these facts is, that they thought the price of Provifions was owing to the Perfons who followed thofe Occupations, and therefore chastised and punished them for here is no fetting a price, or forcing them to fell at a rate they thought a proper one. The Facts stated evidence Anger, Refentment, and Indignation against particular Trades, and it feems to have been a fudden fwell of their Paffions, transporting them into a Felony, but I fee no marks of Treason in it, as defcribed by the Cafes; there was no previous Concert for that purpose, not the least avowal or manifeftation of a design to make any general Abatement of the price of Provisions all over the Kingdom, or any where except Norwich. Supposing the destruction of Provifions to be a mode of abating the price of Provisions, and that by punishing these Millers, Bakers, and Maltfters, they hoped and meant to abate the price of Provifions at Norwich; yet it wants univerfality of purpose, which is the distinguishing feature of a Rebellious Mob, and it wants that speciem belli,” which Lord Hale lays so much stress upon in his defcribing and defining fuch a Rebellious Mob as would make the Actors in it Traitors. 66 But it is faid, Fires from Mobs are more likely to happen than Fires from regular Armies, either acting for or against the State; and therefore that we fhould give these words a liberal, enlarged conftruction; 9 ftruction; and that it is a hard Cafe to make the Defendants Drinkwater againft the Royal Ex furance Company.. anfwer for a Lofs arifing from a "vis major," not to be prevented change Afby any Caution, and that, if doubtful, the scale fhould turn in their favour. The firing of Houses by Mobs does not often happen. Conflagration affects Friends and Enemies alike; and therefore pulling down Houses, when Mobs go beyond breaking of windows, is the common mode of expreffing their refentment; but War knows no diftinction between Friends and Foes; and firing Houses and Towns indifcriminately are the unavoidable confequences of it. In my Opinion there is a prodigious difference between Mobs and Armies. The Laws, executed with spirit, will always suppress a Mob: the Magistrates did it with ease in this Cafe. The undaunted courage of an individual, or the perfonal appearance of a Man of Credit and Reputation, difperfes or affuages thefe Fevers of the People: experience, as well as hiftory, fhews it, according to that beautiful fimile in Virgil: Ac, veluti magno in populo quum fæpe coorta eft But fuppofe a Mob fired a house before they dispersed, all hands are inftantly employed to extinguifh it; but againft Armies, neither the courage, nor character of individuals, can filence the thunder of cannon, or prevent the bursting of bombs; the inhabitants think of nothing against Drinkwater nothing but faving their own lives, and inftead of the activity of the Royal Ex- Firemen to check Fire, Soldiers become Firemen to spread it: the change Af furance Company. probability of its spreading in one Cafe bears no degree of proportion to the probability of its spreading in the other; the danger is not fo great, and the refiftance much more eafy; the reafon for guarding against the one does not apply fo powerfully as against the other. As to the hardship of the Cafe, it is clear there are Cafes of equal hardship, which are more likely to happen, and do more frequently happen, and yet cannot poffibly be reached by these words; viz. the "felonious" firing by one or more, or by any Mob, if it is not a Rebellious one. A year feldom paffes without our trying people for fuch Firings. If the Law has not thought proper to provide against Cafes equally hard, and twenty times more frequent, why fhould we extend it to a rare Cafe, when it is admitted to be ineffectual to reach a frequent one? As to the Cafes of Carriers, Gaolers, and Leffees, they do not influence this Cafe; but because the Law, for wife reasons, makes them answerable against inevitable accidents, it does not follow from thence that a person must be answerable against such accidents, upon a private Contract, unless it is conceived in fuch Terms as manifeftly indicate an Agreement to be answerable for them. The general words of the Policy clearly manifeft fuch an Agreement in all fuch Cafes, not excepted by the Provifo; and I cannot think it a found conftruction of these words to extend them, upon account of the hardship, to a very unusual Cafe, and, at the fame time, leave the common and ordinary Cafes, of equal hardship, totally unrelieved by them. The The words of the Plea are, "unlawfully, riotoufly, and tumultu“ously affembled," which fhew they had not the least apprehenfion of any thing more than of a common Mob. I am of opinion therefore that there must be Judgment for the Plaintiff. And accordingly, there being three Judges againft one, the POSTEA was delivered to the PLAINTIFF. IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS. APPEAL FROM THE COURT OF CHANCERY IN IRELAND. RICHARD KEILEY, Efq; Executor of JOHN KEILEY, Efq; AGAINST APPELLANTS. JOHN FOWLER, Son and Heir at Law and Adminiftrator of RICHARD FOWLER, deceased, and Nephew and Ex-RESPONdent. ecutor of WILLIAM FOWLER, deceased 1768. V. Brown's ift February, SIR JOHN OSBORNE, Bart. being feifed (amongst other Lands and Keiley against Hereditaments) of the Towns and Lands of Sleady and Ballykerrins in the County of Waterford in Ireland, in confideration of £.60 Vol. 6. 309. paid him by William Cronyn, by Leafe dated December 2, 1719, demised the fame to faid William Cronyn, To hold from tft May, then laft, for nine hundred and ninety-nine years, subject to the Payment of the yearly Rent of £.100 fterling, and to a Quit Rent of £. 16. 8s. per annum. William Cronyn, being in poffeffion of the Premifes under this Leafe, made his Will, dated July 15, 1726, and thereby devised (inter alia) in the following words, "I do leave and bequeath to my Daughter, Jane Cronyn, all my worldly Subftance, Lands, Stock, "Corn, 5 |