LONDON—A 19th-century law could allow insurers to be reimbursed by police for some of their losses from last week's rioting and looting in England.

The Riot (Damages) Act of 1886 allows insurers, or those who do not have insurance coverage, to claim compensation from the police in the event of riots.

According to the act, “where a house, shop, or building in any police district has been injured or destroyed, or the property therein has been injured, stolen, or destroyed, by any persons riotously and tumultuously assembled together, such compensation as herein-after mentioned shall be paid out of the police rate of such district to any person who has sustained loss by such injury, stealing or destruction.”

The amount of compensation, according to the act, will be dependent on precautions taken by the claimant.

Last week, Prime Minister David Cameron announced Riot (Damages) Act police compensation schemes will operate as normal and extended the amount of time claims can be made under the scheme to the maximum of 42 days, the London-based Assn. of British Insurers said Thursday. Under the terms of the Riot (Damages) Act, claims must be filed within 14 days of an event.

The act means insurers likely will be able to subrogate claims, in the policyholder's name, to the police, said Stuart White, a partner at London-based law firm Reynolds Porter Chamberlain L.L.P.

Businesses that have suffered damage from riots but are not insured also can make a claim directly to the police under the terms of the act, he said.

Loss adjuster Crawford & Co. said in a statement that it is unlikely that police would declare the events “a riot.”

But the ABI said that “neither the Home Secretary nor the police need to designate the events as a "riot' for police compensation (provisions) to be activated.” If the event falls within the definition of a riot within the Public Order Act 1986, then uninsured claimants and insurers will be able to bring claims for compensation from the police, the ABI said.

That act defines a riot as when “12 or more persons who are present together use or threaten unlawful violence for a common purpose and the conduct of them (taken together) is such as would cause (a reasonable person) to fear for his personal safety, each of the persons using unlawful violence for the common purpose is guilty of riot.”

But the nature of recent events, which have left many property-crime scenes inaccessible or unsafe, means that it may be very difficult for claims to be filed within that time period, according to the ABI.

The act would only cover property losses and not business interruption claims.