6. Commissions may be considered as pro fits, for some purposes. A participation itt commissions has been held such a participa, tion in profits as to constitute the participants partners. 2 H. Blackst. 235 ; 4 Barnew. & Ald. 663. So, commissions received from the sales of a pirated map are profits which must be accounted for by the commission merchant on a bill by the proprietor of the icopyright. 2 Curt. C. C. 608. As between partners, all gains which equitably belong to the firm, but which are clandestinely re ceived by one partner, are accounted profits of the firm. Story, Partn. 174 ; 2 Curt. C. C. 608, 609.
7. A direction or power given in a will to raise money out of the rents and profits of an estate for the payment of debts and legacies, or to raise a portion within a definite period, within which it could not be raised out of the annual rents and profits, authorizes a sale. 2 Ch. Cas. 205 ; 1 Vern. Ch. 104; 2 id. 26, 310, 420, 424; 1 Ves. Sen. Ch. 491; 1 Atk. Ch. 550. And judges ill latter times, looking to the inconvenience of raising. a large sum of money in this manner, have in clined much to treat a trust to apply the rents and profits in raising a portion, even at an indefinite period, as authorizing a sale mortgage. 2 Jarman, Wills, 4th Am. ed. 382, 383 ; 1 Ves. Ch. 234; 1 Atk. Ch. 505; 1 Ves. Sen. Ch. 42. But, as a general rule, the question whether the money is to be raised oy a sale or mortgage or out of the annual rents aud profits will depend upon the nature of the purpose for which the money is to he raised, and the general tenor of the will. 2 Jarman, Wills, 4th Am. ed. 383, 384 ; 3 Brown, Pail Cas. 66 ; 3 Younge &J. Exch. 360 ; 1 Atk. Ch. 550; 1 Russ. & M. Ch. 590 ; 3 id. 97; 2 P. Will. Ch. 63. The circumstances that have chiefly influenced the decisions are—the appointment of a time within which the charq cannot be raised by annual profits ; the situation of the estate, where a sale or mortgage would be very prejudicial, as in the case of a reversion, especially if it would oc casion any danger that the charge would not be answered in its full extent ; the nature of the charge, as where it is for debts or portions, and, in the latter instance, the age or death of the child. 2 Ves. Ch. 480, n. 1 ; 1 Chanc. Cas. 170 ; 2 id. 205 ; 1 Vern. Ch. 256; 2 id. 26, 72, 420 ; 2 P. Will. Ch. 13, 650 ; 1 Fon blanque, Eq. 440, n. (o) ; 1 Atk. Ch. 506, 550; 2 id. 358. But in no case where there are subsequent restraining words has the word profit been extended. Prec. Ch. 586, note, and the cases cited there; 1 Atk. Ch. 506; 2 id. 105.
S. A devise of the rents and profits of land is equivalent to a devise of the land itself, and will carry the legal as well as aft beneficial interest therein. 1 Ves. Sen. Ch. 171; 2
Barnew. & Ald. 42 ; Plowd. 540 ; 9 Mass. 372 ; 1 Cush. Mass. 93; 1 Asbm. Penn. 131; 1 Spenc. N. J. 142 ; 17 Wend. N. Y. 393 ; 5 Me. 119 ; 35 id. 414; 1 Atk. Ch. 506 ; 2 id. 358; 1 Brown, Ch. 310. A direction by the testator that a certain person shall receive for his support the net profits of the land is a devise of the land itself, for such period of time as the profits were devised. 35 Me. 419.
An assignment of the profits of an estate amounts to an equitable lien, and would en title the assignee in equity to insist upon a mortgage. Thus, if a tenant for life of the real estate should, by covenant, agree to set apart and pay the whole or a portion of the annual profits of that estate to trustees for certain objects, it would create a lien in the nature of a trust on those profits against him and all persons claiming as volunteers or with notice under him. 2 Cox, Ch. 253 : a. c., 1 Ves. Ch. 477; 3 Brown, Ch. 531, 538.
9. Profits expected to arise from merchan dise employed in maritiine commerce are a proper subject of insurance in England and in the United States. 1 Arnould, Ins. 204; Marshall, Ins. b. 1, ch. 3, 8 ; 3 Kent, Comm. 271 ; 16 Pick. Mass. 399; 5 Mete. Mass. 391; 1 Sunni. C. C. 451. So in Italy, Targa, cap. xliii. no. 5; Portugal, Santerna, part iii. no. 40; and the Hanse Towns. 2 Magnus, 213 ; Benecke, Ass. chap. I, sect. 10, vol. 1, p. 170. But in France, Code de Comm. art. 347, Holland, Bynkershoeck, Quest. Priv.
Jur. lib. iv. c. 5, and in Spain, except to certain distant parts, Ordinanzas de Bilboa, ch. xxii. art. 7, 8, 11, it is illegal to insure expected profits. Such insurance is required by the course and interest of trade, and has been found to be greatly conducive to its prosperity. 3 Kent, Comm. 271; Law rence, J., 2 East. 544; 1 Arnould, Ins. 204, 205. Sometimes the profits are included in a valuation of the goods from which they are expected to arise; sometimes they are insured as profits. 1 Johns. N. Y. 433 ; 3 Pet. 222 ; 1 Sumn. C. C. 451; 6 Ell. & B. 312 ; 2 East, 544 ; 6 id. 316. They may be insured equally by valued and by open policies. 1 Aruould, Ins. 205 ; 3 Campb. 267. But it is more ju dicious to make the valuation. 1 Johns. N.Y. 433 ; 3 Kent, Comm. 273. The insured must have a real interest in the goods from which the profits are expected, 3 Kent, Comm. 271; but he need not have the absolute property in them. 16 Pick. Mass. 397, 400; 13 Mass. 61.