If the policy be on goods, or vary in other respects, then the assignment must be made to conform to the facts.

It is always best to get the assent of the insurance company to the transfer before it is made. And always the assignment, when made, should be exhibited without loss of time, to them or to their agent authorized to give their assent, and this assent to the assignment be obtained and written upon the policy, or, if that cannot conveniently be, on the assignment, and in the books of the insurance company.

CHAPTER XXIV.

LIFE INSURANCE.

SECTION I.

THE PURPOSE AND METHOD OF LIFE INSURANCE.

If A insures B a certain sum payable at B's death to B's representatives, we have only the insurer and insured, as in other cases of insurance. But if A insures B a sum payable to B or his representatives on the death of C, although C is often said to be insured, this is not quite accurate; more properly, B is the insured party and C is the life-insured.

Life insurance is usually effected in this country in a way quite similar to that of fire insurance by our mutual companies. That is, an application must be first made by the insured; and to this application queries are annexed by the insurers, which inquire, with great minuteness and detail, into every thing which can affect the probability of life. These must be answered fully; and if the insurer be other than the life-insured, there are usually questions for each of them. There are also, in some cases, questions which should be answered by the physician of the life-insured, and others to be answered by his friends or relatives; or other means are provided to have the evidence of the physician and friends.

These questions are not precisely the same in the forms given out by any two companies; and we do not speak of them in detail here. The rules as to the obligation of answering them, and as to the sufficiency of the answers, must be the same in life insurance that we have already stated in the chapter on fire insurance; or, rather, must rest upon the same principles. And the same rules and principles of construction therein set forth would doubtless be applied

to the question whether a contract had been made, or at what time it went into effect.

It may be said generally, that it is prudent to add to the answers to these questions, "according to my best knowledge and belief." Then the insurers would be held, although the answer was erroneous, if it was made in good faith.

SECTION II.

THE PREMIUM.

If the insurance be for one year only, or less, the premium is usually paid in money, or by a note, at once. If for more than a year, it is usually payable annually. But it is common to provide or agree that the annual payment may be made quarterly, with interest from the day when the whole is due. Notes are usually given; but if not, the whole amount would be considered due. If A, whose premium of $100 is payable for 1856 on the first day of January, then pays $25, and is to pay the rest quarterly, but dies on the 1st of February, the $75 due, with interest from the 1st of January, would be deducted from the sum insured. If the policy provides that the risk shall "terminate in case the premium charged shall not be paid in advance on or before the day at noon on which the same shall become due and payable," and the day of payment falls on Sunday, the premium is not payable until Monday, although the assured dies on Sunday afternoon.

Provision is sometimes made that a part of the premium shall be paid in money, and a part in notes, which are not called in unless needed to pay losses. The greater the accommodation thus allowed, the more convenient it is obviously to the insured, but the less certain will he be of the ultimate payment of the policy, because, in the same degree, the fund for the payment consists only of such notes, and not of payments actually made and invested. There is a great diversity among the life insurance companies in this respect. But even the strictest, or those which require that all the premiums shall be paid in money, usually provide also that an amount may remain overdue, without prejudice, which does not exceed a certain proportion - say one-half or one-third of the money actually paid in on the policy. This is considered, under all ordinary circumstances, safe for the company, because every policy is worth as much as this to the company. Or, in other words, it would always be profitable for the company to obtain a discharge of its obligation on a policy, by repaying the insured so small a proportion of what has been received from him.

Taking a note would certainly be a waiver of immediate payment, if not itself a payment.

The premiums, after the first, must be paid on the days on which they fall due. If no hour be mentioned, then it is believed that the insured would have the whole day, even to midnight. It is possible, however, that he might be restricted to the usual hours of business, and perhaps even to those in which the office of the insurers open for business.

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Practically, the utmost care is requisite on the part of the assured to pay his premium as soon as it is due; and it is a wise precaution to pay it a little before. This is the only proper and safe course. But we believe it to be not unusual for the insurers to accept the premium if offered them a few days after, and continue the policy as if it were paid in season, provided no change in the risk has occurred in the mean time; but this should not be trusted to without an express agreement, if it can be avoided.

Sometimes the rules of the company, and in some States the statutes, provide that, if a policy be defeated by a non-payment of the premium, the insured does not lose all that he has paid; but a certain proportion of the value which the policy then had shall be paid to him.

The time of the death is sometimes very important. If the policy be for a definite period, it must be shown that the death occurs within it. If there were an insurance on a man's life for a year, and some short time before the expiration of the term he received a mortal wound, of which he died one day after the year, the insurer would not be liable. And the terms of the policy may possibly make it necessary to determine which of two persons lived longest; as if a sum were insured on the joint lives of two persons, to be paid to the representatives of the survivor.

SECTION III.

THE RESTRICTIONS AND EXCEPTIONS IN LIFE POLICIES.

Our policies usually contain certain restrictions or limitations as to place, the life-insured (he whose life is insured for his own or another's benefit) not being permitted to go beyond certain limits, or to certain places. But there is nothing to prevent a bargain permitting the life-insured to pass beyond these bounds, either in consideration of new and further payments, or of the common premium.

So certain trades or occupations, as of persons engaged in making gunpowder, or of engineers or firemen about steam-engines,

are considered extra-hazardous, and as therefore prohibited, or requiring an extra premium.

The exception, however, which has created most discussion is that which makes death by suicide an avoidance of the policy. The clause respecting duelling is plain enough; and no one can die in a duel without his own fault. But it is otherwise with regard to selfinflicted death. This may be voluntary and wrongful, or the result of insanity and disease, for which the suffering party should not be held responsible.

The general principles of the law of contracts, and of the law of insurance particularly, would lead to the conclusion that “death by his own hands," but without the concurrence of a responsible will or mind, would not discharge the insurers, without a positive provision to that effect. We should put such a death on the same footing with one resulting from a mere accident, brought about by the agency, but without the intent, of the life-insured. As if poison were sent or given to him by mistake for medicine, and he swallowed it under the same mistake.

Much question has been made when a man may be believed to be dead, simply because nothing is known about him, or has been known for a long period. But there is not and cannot be any other presumption of law on the subject than that, after a certain period of absence and silence, there is a presumption of death; and seven years has been mentioned in England and in this country as this period, and even sanctioned by legislation in New York. But all questions of this kind we regard as pure questions of fact. Whichever party rests his case upon the death or the life of a certain person, at a certain time, must satisfy the jury upon this point by such evidence as may be admissible and sufficient.

SECTION IV.

THE INTEREST OF THE INSURED.

Every one insured in any way must have an interest in the subject-matter of the insurance. A person may effect insurance on his own life in the name of a creditor, for a sum beyond the amount of the debt, the balance to inure to his family; and the policy will be valid for the whole amount insured. Any one may insure his own life; but if the insured and the life-insured are not the same, that is, if the insured be insured on some other life than his own, interest must be shown.

A father has an insurable interest in the life of his minor son. And the general rule is, that any substantial pecuniary interest is

sufficient, although not strictly legal nor definite. This has been held in the case of a sister dependent on a brother for support; and the rule would be held to apply not only to all relations, but where there was no relationship, if there were a positive and real dependence; that is, any one may insure a sum on the life of any other person on whom he or she really depends for support or for comfort. And, generally, it is said to be enough, if, according to the ordinary course of events, pecuniary loss or disadvantage will naturally and probably result from the death of the one whose life is insured.

So an existing debt gives the creditor an insurable interest in the life of a debtor. But if the debt be not founded on a legal consideration, it does not sustain the policy. And if the debt be paid before the death of the debtor, the insurers are discharged.

SECTION V.

THE ASSIGNMENT OF A LIFE POLICY.

Life policies are assignable at law, and are very frequently assigned in practice. And the assignee of a policy is entitled on the death of the party insured to recover the full sum insured, without reference to the amount of the consideration paid by him for the assignment. A large proportion of the policies which are effected are made for the purpose of assignment; that is, for the purpose of enabling the insured to give this additional security to his creditor. If there are rules of the company which relate to an assignment of it, or if the terms of the policy do so, they are binding on the parties. On the one hand, an assignment would operate as a discharge of the insurers, provided a rule or expressed provision gave this effect to the assignment; and, on the other, if the agreement were that the policy should continue in favor of the assignee, even after an act which discharged it as to the insured himself, as, for example, his suicide, the insurers would be bound by it.

It is an important question, what constitutes an assignment. The general answer must be, any act distinctly importing an assignment has that effect. And, therefore, a delivery and deposit of the policy for the purpose of assignment will operate as such, without a formal written assignment. So will any transaction which gives to a creditor of the insured a right to payment out of the insurance.

It seems, however, that delivery is necessary. And where an assignment was indorsed on the policy, and notice given to the