An institution which vitally affects the vast majority of wage-earners merits study and concern. In July, 1933, it is estimated, there were approximately 50,000,000 holders of Industrial policies;' the average amount held by each person in the group was $291,2 representing 5.9 per cent of their annual income.3 Despite the enormous extent of the Industrial insurance business, it has proceeded largely without detailed statutory regulation. Ordinary insurance, which involves fewer policies and policyholders and a class of policyholders better able to protect their interests, is much more stringently regulated.4 In England Industrial insurance has been the subject of special statutory regulation;5 similar legislation has been proposed for this country as a remedy for the defects in this branch of insurance.6 Before coming to any conclusions as to the desirability of legislative reform, it may be well to examine what has been done by state legislatures and Congress in the control of Industrial insurance. The underlying factors behind the comprehensive statutory regulation of insurance may be summed up as follows: (i) The important position which insurance holds in our economic system. (2) A recognition of the fact that the insurance contract is not one where both parties bargain on an equal footing, but rather one 0 A.B., 1933, Brown University. Now a member of the second year class in the Duke University School of Law. 'See TAYLOR, SOCIAL COST OF INDUSTRIAL INSURANCE (1933) 54. Spectator Year Book of Insurance