Definition
A French phrase used in insurance and commercial law meaning "for the account of whom it may concern." It appears most commonly in insurance policies and bills of lading where the identity of the party whose interest is being protected is either unknown at the time the contract is formed, or is intentionally left open to encompass whoever holds an insurable interest at the relevant moment. The phrase operates as a flexible designation, allowing a policy or instrument to attach to the proper party without requiring that party to be named in advance.
In practical terms, a policy issued "pour compte de qui il appartient" covers the interest of any person who has an insurable interest in the subject matter at the time of loss, provided that person was within the contemplation of the contracting parties when the policy was procured. It is the functional equivalent of the English phrase "for account of whom it may concern."
Common Language
This is pure legal and commercial French with no meaningful counterpart in ordinary English usage. The COMMON LANGUAGE section is omitted.
Common Confusion
The phrase is occasionally confused with a policy issued "on behalf of" a named third party. The distinction matters: a policy issued for a named party protects only that party's interest, while a "pour compte de qui il appartient" policy floats — it attaches to whoever holds the qualifying interest. Researchers should also take care not to conflate the phrase with a general assignment of policy proceeds, which is a separate and post-formation transaction.
Why It Matters in Research
The phrase surfaces almost exclusively in marine insurance materials and older commercial law sources. Researchers working in nineteenth and early twentieth century American and English insurance law will encounter it frequently, particularly in cases involving cargo shipped under open or floating policies. Several points deserve attention.
First, the French form appears in American legal sources well into the twentieth century, even in jurisdictions with no French legal tradition, because the phrase was adopted as a term of art from French maritime commercial practice and entered English and American insurance drafting directly.
Second, the spelling variant in the source material — "Pour Oompte De Qui Il App Art-Lent" — is a transcription or typographical corruption of "pour compte de qui il appartient." Researchers encountering this corrupted form in older indexes or digests should recognize it immediately as the same phrase. Searching for the corrupted form alone will miss the bulk of relevant materials.
Third, the operative legal question under policies using this language is typically whether the plaintiff had an insurable interest at the time of loss and whether that interest was within the contemplation of the party who procured the policy. Both elements generate significant case law in marine and cargo contexts.
Fourth, when a broker or shipper procures a policy using this language, questions of agency, ratification, and the right to sue on the policy arise. A party claiming under such a policy who did not personally procure it must generally show either prior authority or subsequent ratification.
Historical Dictionary Support
Black's Law Dictionary (2nd Ed., Supplemental) defines the phrase simply as "Fr. For account of whom it may concern." This is accurate as far as it goes but does not capture the insurance-specific operational significance of the phrase. Historical American and English legal dictionaries that address the phrase at all treat it identically — as a literal translation — without elaborating on its function in policy drafting or the legal consequences of its use. The absence of fuller treatment in the historical sources reflects the fact that the phrase was largely self-explanatory to nineteenth-century commercial lawyers steeped in French maritime terminology. For modern researchers, the brevity of historical dictionary treatment means that the real analytical content must be drawn from treatises on marine insurance and from case law rather than from the dictionaries themselves.
Jurisdictional Note
The phrase is not jurisdiction-specific in the domestic sense, but it is firmly rooted in maritime and admiralty contexts. Federal courts applying admiralty jurisdiction will be the primary venue for disputes involving this language. State court treatment is sparse and largely derivative of admiralty authorities.