Indemnity

Indemnity, an instrument or contract whereby a person is protected against loss, or against the risk of legal proceedings. Fire insurance, for example, is a contract of indemnity; not so life insurance, which is a contract, not to make good an uncertain loss, but to pay a certain reversionary sum. Acts of indemnity are sometimes passed by parliament for the protection of public officers; thus, in 1801 and in 1817 acts were passed to protect officers who had taken part in the apprehension, &c. of persons suspected of treason. From the year 1727 onward general acts of indemnity were passed from time to time for the benefit of those who omitted to take the oaths of office required by the acts imposing disabilities on dissenters. For the great French war indemnity, see FRANCE, Vol. IV. p. 783.