Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act

Financial services legislation, passed by Congress in 1999, that removed Depression-era prohibitions against the combination of commercial banking and investment-banking activities. It allows insurance companies, banks, and securities firms to engage in each others’ activities and own one another.

Grant of probate

The legal process of proving a will, appointing an executor and settling an estate; but by custom, it has come to be understood as the legal process whereby a deceased person’s estate is administered and distributed. Where the deceased dies intestate the deceased’s legal personal representative is called an administrator.

Grantor

One who transfers real estate. A person who conveys real estate by deed, the seller.
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In real estate, a term used for the person selling.

Great Fire of London

London’s largest fire. It occurred in 1666 and started in Pudding Lane. It spurred the development of fire insurance. Previously fire damage compensation was funded by charitable donations and collections from guilds of craftsmen and churches. The Fire Office, formed in 1680, is generally regarded as the first fire insurance company although records indicate that fire insurance was transacted in 1667. For other historical aspects see fire marks and the Tooley Street fire.