Tacitus has himself in one passage intimated distinctly what he himself understood annals to be, as distinguished from history. In his Annals' (commonly so called) iv. 71, he states his reason for not giving the continuation and conclusion of a particular narrative which he had commenced, to be simply the necessity under which he had laid himself by the form of composition he had adopted of relating events strictly in the order of time, and always finishing those of one year before entering upon those of another. The substance of his remark is, that "the nature of his work required him to give each particular under the year in which it actually happened." This, then, was what Tacitus conceived to be the task which he had undertaken as a writer of annals, "to keep everything to its year." Had he been writing a history (and in the instance quoted above, he insinuates he had the inclination, if not the ability, for once to act the historian), he would have considered himself at liberty to pursue the narrative he was engaged with to its close, not stopping until he had related the whole. But remembering that he professed to be no more than an annalist, he restrains himself, and feels it to be his business to keep to the events of the year. It is of no consequence that on other occasions Tacitus may have deviated somewhat from the strict line which he thus lays down for himself—that he may have for a moment dropped the annalist and assumed the historian. If it should even be contended that his narrative does not in general exhibit a more slavish submission to the mere succession of years than others that have been dignified with the name of historians, that is still of no consequence. He may have satisfied himself with the more humble name of an annalist, when he had a right to the prouder one of an historian; or the other works referred to may be wrongly designated histories. It may be, for instance, that he himself is as much an historian in what are called his Annals' as he is in what is called his 'History.'

In iii. 65, of his 'Annals,' Tacitus tells us that it formed no part of the plan of his Annals' to give at full length the sentiments and opinions of individuals,

except they were signally characterized either by some honourable or disgraceful traits. In chap. 22 of the treatise on Oratory, attributed to Tacitus, the author expresses his opinion of the general cha racter of the style of ancient annals; and (Annal. xiii. 31) he carefully marks the distinction between events fit to be incorporated into annals and those which were only adapted to the Acta Diurna. [ACT.]

The distinction we have stated between history-writing and annal-writing seems to be the one that has been commonly adopted. An account of events digested into so many successive years is usually entitled, not a history, but annals. The Ecclesiastical Annals' of Baronius, and the Annals of Scotland,' by Sir David Dalrymple (Lord Hailes), are well-known examples. In such works so completely is the succession of years considered to be the governing principle of the narrative, that this succession is sometimes preserved unbroken even when the events themselves would not have required that it should, the year being formally enumerated although there is nothing to be told under it. The year is at least always stated with equal formality whether there be many events or hardly any to be related as having happened in it. In this respect annals differ from a catalogue of events with their dates, as, for instance, the 'Parian Chronicle.' The object of the latter is to intimate in what year certain events happened; of the former, what events happened in each year. The history of the Peloponnesian war, by Thucydides, has the character of annals. The events are arranged distinctly under each year, which is further divided into summers and winters. All political reflections are, for the most part, placed in the mouths of the various leaders on each side.

ever form it may be written as when Gray speaks of

"The short and simple annals of the poor."

In the Romish church a mass said for any person every day during a whole year was anciently called an annal; and sometimes the same word was applied to a mass said on a particular day of every year. (Du Cange, Glossarium ad Scriptores Media et Infimæ Latinitatis.)

ANNA'TES, from annus, a year, a sum paid by the person presented to a church living, being the estimated value of the living for a whole year. It is the same thing that is otherwise called Primitiae, or First -Fruits. [FIRST FRUITS.]

ANNUITY. An annuity consists in the payment of a certain sum of money yearly, which is charged upon the person or personal estate of the individual from whom it is due; if it is charged upon his real estate, it is not an annuity, but a rent. [RENT.] A sum of money payable occasionally does not constitute an annuity; the time of payment must recur at certain stated periods, but it is not necessary that these periods should be at the interval of a year; an annuity may be made payable quarterly, or halfyearly (as is very generally the case), or at any other aliquot portion of a year; and it may even be made payable once in two, three, twenty, or any other number of years.

It was not unusual among the Romans to give by way of legacy certain annual payments, which were a charge upon the heres or co-heredes: a case is recorded in which a husband binds his heredes to pay his wife, during her life, ten aurei yearly. The wife survived the husband five years and four months, and a question was raised, whether the entire legacy for the sixth year was due, and Modestinus gave it as his opinion that it was due. There were also cases in which the heres was bound to allow another yearly the use of a certain piece of land; but this bears no resemblance to the annuity of the English law, which, as stated above, is essentially a periodical payment in money. (Digest, xxxiii. tit.

Domat's Civil Law, 2nd part, book iv. tit. 2, sec. 1.) In the middle ages annuities were frequently given to professional men as a species of retainer; and in more modern times they have been very much resorted to as a means of borrowing money. When the person who borrows undertakes, instead of interest, to pay an annuity, he is styled the grantor; the person who lends, being by the agreement entitled to receive the payments, is called the grantee of the annuity. This practice seems to have been introduced on the Continent with the revival of commerce, at a time when the advantages of borrowing were already felt, but the taking of interest was still strictly forbidden. In the fifteenth century contracts of this kind were decided by the popes to be lawful, and were recognised as such in France, even though every species of interest upon money borrowed was deemed usurious. (Domat's Civil Law, 1st part, book i. tit. 6.) The commercial states of Italy early availed themselves of this mode of raising money, and their example has since been followed in the national debts of other countries. [NATIONAL DEBT; FUNDS; STOCKS.]

An annuity may be created either for a term of years, for the life or lives of any persons named, or in perpetuity; and in the last case, though, as in all others, the annuity as to its security is personal only, yet it may be so granted as to descend in the same manner as real property; and hence such an annuity is reckoned among incorporeal hereditaments.

A perpetual annuity, granted in consideration of a sum of money advanced, differs from interest in this, that the grantee has no right to demand back his principal, but must be content to receive the annuity which he has purchased, as long as it shall please the other party to continue it:-but the annuity is in its nature redeemable at the option of the grantor, who is thus at liberty to discharge himself from any further payments by returning the money which he has borrowed. It may, however, be agreed between the parties (as it generally has been in the creation of our own national debt, which consists chiefly of

annuities of this sort) that the redemption shall not take place for a certain number of years. The number of years within which, according to the present law of France, a perpetual annuity (rente constitutuée en perpétuel) may be made irredeemable, is limited to ten. (Code Civil, art. 1911.)

An annuity for life or years is not redeemable in the same manner; but it may be agreed by the parties to the contract that it shall be redeemable on certain terms; or it may afterwards be redeemed by consent of both parties; and where the justice of the case requires it (where there has been fraud, for instance, or the bargain is unreasonable), a court of equity will decree a redemption. When such an annuity is granted in consideration of money advanced, the annual payments may be considered as composed of two portions, one being in the nature of interest, the other a return of a portion of the principal, so calculated, that when the annuity shall have determined, the whole of the principal will be repaid. Annuities for life or years, being the only security that can be given by persons who have themselves a limited interest in their property, are frequently made in consideration of a loan. Besides this advantage, annuities for life, inasmuch as they are attended with risk, are not within the reach of the usury laws, and are therefore often used in order to evade them; and the legislature has accordingly required that certain formalities should be observed in creating them. It is enacted (by stat. 53 Geo. III. c. 141) "That every instrument by which an annuity for life is granted shall be null and void, unless within thirty days after the execution thereof there shall be enrolled in the High Court of Chancery a memorial containing the date, the names of the parties and witnesses, and the conditions of the contract; and if the lender does not really and truly advance the whole of the consideration money, that is, if part of it is returned, or is paid in notes which are afterwards fraudulently cancelled, or is retained on pretence of answering future payments; or if, being expressed to be paid in money, it is in fact paid in goods, the person charged

with the annuity (that is, the borrower) may, if any action should be brought against him for the payment of it, by applying to the court, have the instrument cancelled." The same statute also enacts that every contract for the purchase of an annuity, made with a minor, shall be void, and shall remain so, even though the minor, on coming of age, should attempt to confirm it. The provisions of this act are intended to be confined to cases where the annuity is granted in consideration of a loan.

Annuities may be, and very frequently are, created by will, and such a bequest is considered in law as a general legacy; and, in case of a deficiency in the estate of the testator, it will abate proportionably with the other legacies. The payment of an annuity may be charged either upon some particular fund (in which case if the fund fails the annuity ceases) or upon the whole personal estate of the grantor; which is usually effected by a deed of covenant, a bond, or a warrant of attorney. If the person charged with the payment of an annuity becomes bankrupt, the annuity may be proved as a debt before the commissioners, and its value ascertained, according to the provisions of the bankrupt act (6 Geo. IV. c. 16, § 54). The value thus ascertained becomes a debt charged upon the estate of the bankrupt; and hereby both the bankrupt and his surety are discharged from all subsequent payments.

If the person on whose life an annuity is granted dies between two days of payment, the grantee has no claim whatever in respect of the time elapsed since the last day of payment: from this rule, however, are excepted such annuities as are granted for the maintenance of the grantee; and the parties may in all cases, if they choose it, by an express agreement, provide that the grantee shall have a rateable portion of the annuity for the time between the last payment and the death of the person on whose life it is granted. On government annuities a quarter's annuity is paid to the executors of an annuitant, if they come in and prove the death. (Comyns, Digest, tit. "Annuity;" Lumley, On Annuities.)

ANNUITY, a term derived from the

Latin, annus, a year; signifying, in its | most general sense, any fixed sum of money which is payable either yearly or in given portions at stated periods of the year. Thus, the lease of a house, which lets for 50l. a year, and which has 17 years to run, is to the owner an annuity of 50l. for 17 years. In an ordinary use of the term, it signifies a sum of money payable to an individual yearly, during life. In the former case, it is called, in technical language, an annuity certain; and in the latter, a life annuity.

It is evident that every beneficial interest, which is either to continue for ever, or to stop at the end of a given time, such as a freehold, a lease, a debt to be paid in yearly instalments, &c., is contained under the general head of an annuity certain, while every such interest which terminates with the lives of any one or more individuals, all that in law is called a life-estate, and all salaries, as well as what are most commonly known by the name of life annuities, fall under the latter term. Closely connected with this part of the subject are COPYHOLDS (which see), in which an estate is held during certain lives, but in which there is a power of renewing any life when it drops, that is, substituting another life in place of the former, on payment of a fine -REVERSIONS, or the interest which the next proprietor has in any estate, &c., after the death of the present-and lifeinsurance, in which the question is, what annuity must A. pay to B. during his life, in order that B may pay a given sum to A.'s executors at his death?

If money could not be improved at interest, the value of an annuity certain would simply be the yearly sum multiplied by the number of years it is to continue to be paid. Thus a lease for 3 years of a house which is worth 100l. a year, might either be bought by paying the rent yearly, or by paying 300l. at once. A life annuity, in such a case, will be worth an annuity certain, continued for the average number of years lived by individuals of the same age as the one to whom the annuity is granted. But if compound interest be supposed, which is always the case in real transactions of this kind, the landlord, in the case of the

annuity certain just alluded to, must only receive such a sum, as when put out to interest, with 1007. subtracted every year for rent, will just be exhausted at the end of 3 years. To exemplify this, let us suppose that money can be improved at 4 per cent. In Table I., in the column headed 4 p. c. (4 per cent.), we find 2:775 opposite to 3 in the first column, by which is meant that the present value of an annuity of one pound to last 3 years is 2.775l., or 27. The present value of an annuity of 100l. under the same circumstances is therefore 277·5l., or 277l. 10s. This is the value of a lease for three years corresponding to a yearly rent of 100l. The landlord who receives this, and puts it out at 4 per cent., will, at the end of one year, have 2881. 12s. From this he subtracts 100l. for the rent which has become due, and puts out the remainder, 188/. 12s., again at 4 per cent. At the end of a year this has increased to 1961. 2s. 10d., from which 1001. is again subtracted for rent. The remainder, 961. 2s. 10d., again put out at interest, becomes at the end of the year 99l. 19s. 9d., within three pence of the last year's rent. This little difference arises from the imperfection of the Table, which extends to three decimal places only.

TABLE I.-Present Value of an Annuity of One Pound.

such a mean must be taken between the annuities belonging to the nearest years above and below the given year, as the given year is between those two years. This will give the result with sufficient nearness. We must observe, that no tables which we have room to give are sufficient for more than a first guess, so to speak, at the value required, such as may enable any one who is master of common arithmetic, not to form a decisive opinion on the case before him, but to judge whether it is worth his while to make a more exact inquiry, either by taking professional advice or consulting larger tables. As an example of the case mentioned, suppose we ask for the value of an annuity of 17., continued for 12 years, interest being at 4 per cent. We find in Table I., column 4 per cent. For 10 years

Dec.

Dec. s. d.

Dec.

⚫01 0 24

⚫001

⚫02

0 5

⚫002

⚫03

074

⚫003

04

⚫04

0 94

*004

1

10

⚫05

whole will this error be.

The last line in Table I. gives the value of the annuity of 17. continued for ever: for example, at 5 per cent., the value of 11. for ever, or, as it is called, a perpetuity of 17., is 201. This is the sum which at 5 per cent. yields 17. a-year in interest only, without diminution of the principal. We see that an annuity for a long term of years differs very little in present value from the same continued for ever: for example, ll. continued for 70 years at 4 per cent. is worth 23.3951., while the perpetuity at the same rate is worth only 251. Hence the present value of an annuity which is not to begin to be paid till 70 years have elapsed, but is afterwards to be continued for ever, is 1.605 at 4 per cent.: which sum improved during the 70 years, would yield the 251. necessary to pay the annuity for all years succeeding.