lives, or on any other event, wherein the person for whose benefit, or on whose account the policy is made, has no interest, or by way of gaming or wagering; and every insurance made, contrary to the true intent and meaning thereof, should be void to all intents and purposes." Sec. 2. "That in every policy on lives or other events, the name of the person interested, or on whose account it is made, should be inserted." Sec. 3. "That no greater sum should be recovered, or received from the insurer, than the amount of the interest of the insured." Sec. 4. contains a proviso "that this act shall not extend to marine insurance." The party benefit the insurance must have for whose is effected In order to render a policy valid, within the meaning of this act, the party for whose benefit it is effected must have a pecuniary interest in the life or event insured; therefore a policy effected by a father on the life of his son, he not having a pecuniary interest therein, has been held to be voida. But "if a father, wishing to give his son some property to dispose of, the life inmake an insurance on his son's life, in the son's name, not for the father's own profit, but for the benefit of the son, there is no law to prevent his doing so." b A creditor has an insurable interest in the life of his debtor, for the means whereby he is to be satisfied, may materially depend on it; and the death must, at all events, in some degree lessen his security c. But though a But though a creditor may insure the life of his debtor to the extent of his debt, yet such a contract is substantially a contract of indemnity against the loss of the debt; and therefore, if, after the death of the debtor, his executors pay the debt to such insuring creditor, the latter cannot afterwards recover upon the policy, although the debtor died insolvent, and the executors were furnished with the means of payment by a third party; it being immaterial from what fund the debt has been discharged so as the creditor has received satisfaction. So where the debt accrues by virtue of an illegal security, as a note for money won at play, such interest is not insurable e. a pecuniary interest in sured. A creditor the life of may insure his debtor. Declaration respecting age, health, &c. An untrue will avoid the policy. An executor, in trust, has a sufficient interest to entitle him to make insurance in his own name on the life of a person who granted an annuity to the testator 2. Whether a party may insure his own life as the agent, with the funds and for the benefit of another, seems to admit of some doubt b. In effecting an insurance, it is usual for the party to subscribe a written declaration, touching his age, health, &c., which is incorporated by reference in the policy, at the end of which a proviso is usually inserted, avoiding the policy, if the declaration contains any averment that is not true, or if the insured is afflicted with any disorder which has a tendency to shorten human life. It is not to be concluded that a disorder with which a person is afflicted before he effects an insurance on his life, is "a disorder tending to shorten life," from the mere circumstance that he afterwards dies of it, if it be not a disorder which generally has that tendency. Where a policy contained a warranty that the insured had not been afflicted with nor was subject to gout, vertigo, fits, &c.; it was held, that the fact of the insured having had an epileptic fit, in consequence of an accident, was not a falsification of the warranty. To vacate such a policy, it must be shown that the assured was naturally liable to fits, or by accident or otherwise had become so liable d. By a declaration and statement as to health, &c., signed by statement, the assured previous to effecting a policy on a life, it was though unintention agreed, that if any untrue averment was contained therein, or ally made, if the facts required to be set forth in the proposal (annexed) were not truly stated, the premiums should be forfeited, and the assurance be absolutely null and void; the statement as to the health of the life was untrue in point of fact, but not to the knowledge of the party making it; held, that the premiums were forfeited, and could not be recovered back; for the statement was not the less untrue because the party making it was not apprized of its untruth e. a Tidswell v. Ankerstein, Peake, 151. the gout, does not falsify a warranty of good health. Willis v. b Wainwright v. Bland, 1 Gale, Poole, Marsh. 649. 406. 1 Mees. & Wels. 32. Watson v. Mainwaring, 4 Taunt. 763. Being troubled with spasms, cramps, and violent fits of d Chattock v. Shawe, 1 M. & Rob. 498. • Duckett v. Williams, 2 C. & M. 348. 4 Tyr. 240. Where an insurance was effected on the life of A. for the be nefit of B., and the insurance office acted upon A.'s own representation as to the state of his health, and it turned out that he was not an insurable life; held, that B. could not maintain an action on the policy, although he was not privy to the representation a; for in an insurance upon the life of another, the life insured, if applied to for information, is, in giving such information, impliedly the agent of the party insuring, who is bound by his statements, and must suffer if they are false, although he is unacquainted with the life of the insured. As where the plaintiff in effecting an insurance on the life of B., with whom he was unacquainted, desired the agent of the insurance office to do all that was requisite; the agent knew B. well and made the usual enquiries; one of the terms of the contract was a reference to the usual medical attendant of the life insured; B. having given a false reference, it was held that he, plaintiff, could not recover b. The party bound by insuring is the statement of the life in sured. concealment will avoid the policy. If the insured, at the time of effecting the policy, conceals A material anything which the insurer ought to know, the policy is void, whether the insured considered it material or not; what amounts to a misrepresentation or material concealment is a question for the jury. A female upon whose life it was proposed to effect an insurance, was represented to the insurers, in December, 1822, by A., a medical man, as enjoying, ordinarily, a good state of health; the same representation was repeated by A. in March, and the insurance was effected in April, 1823; between December, 1822, and March, 1823, she had been ill with a pulmonary attack, and was attended by B., but no disclosure of these circumstances was made to the insurers; in April, 1824, she died of a pulmonary disease; held, that the jury ought to have been called on to consider whether the illness in 1823, and the attendance of B. ought to have been disclosed to the insurers; and that it was not sufficient to direct them, generally, to con Everett v. Desborough, 5 Bing. wright v. Bland, 1 Gale, 406. 1 503. 3 M. & P. 190. Mees. & Wels. 32. sider whether or not there had been any misrepresentation. So where the insured was represented as resident at Fisherton Anger; and the fact was, that she was then a prisoner in the county gaol there; held, that it was a question for the jury whether the imprisonment was a material fact, and ought to have been communicated b. A policy of insurance on the life of another person, who at the time of the insurance is in a good state of health, is not vitiated by the non-communication of such person of the fact of his having a few years before been afflicted with a disorder tending to shorten life, if the disorder was of such a character as to prevent the party from being conscious of what had happened to him while suffering under it. Where a party about to insure her life for a limited period, gave false answers to verbal enquiries respecting the amount of her insurances at other offices, and the jury found, that she thereby suppressed a material fact; the court held, that the policy was void d. On an insurance on a man's life for a year, if some short time before the expiration of the term he receives a mortal wound, of which he dies after the year, the insurer will not be liable e. Where an insurance is made upon a man's life who goes to sea, and the ship in which he sailed is never afterwards heard of, the question whether he did or did not die within the term insured, is a fact for the jury to ascertain from the circumstances which shall be produced in evidence before them. Though the policy contains no exception as to death by the hands of justice, yet if it be effected by a party on his own life, and he suffer death for felony, the policy is void as to those claiming under him, and in his right . The conditions annexed to a policy must be strictly performed h. If after the death of the life insured, the sum due on the policy be paid, and the insurer afterwards discovers that the policy was void on the ground of fraud, he may recover it back in an action for money paid a. SECTION XXVI. INSURANCE AGAINST FIRE. able. An insurance against fire is a contract by which the insurer, in consideration of a certain premium received by him, either in a gross sum, or by annual payments, undertakes to indemnify the insured against all loss or damage which he may sustain in his house or other buildings, goods, merchandize, &c., by fire, during a limited period of time. A policy of this kind is not Not assignin its nature assignable, nor can the interest in it be transferred from one person to another, without the consent of the office; therefore where a policy was transferred to the purchaser of a house thereby insured, and the house was afterwards burnt, it was held, that he could not recover on the policy. This species of policy falls within the 14 G. III. c. 48, consequently the insured must have an interest in the property insured. sentation A misrepresentation or concealment of material facts will Misrepre avoid a fire policy, in the same manner as other policies. or concealWhere A., abroad, having two warehouses, wrote to this ment. country to effect an insurance upon one of them only, without stating, as was the fact, that a house nearly adjoining it had been on fire on that evening, and that there was danger of the fire again breaking out; and sent his letter after the regular post time; the fire having again broken out on the day next but one following, and consumed A's warehouse; held, that this was a material concealment, although A.'s letter was written without any fraudulent intention . Where a mill was insured as being of one class, and turned out to have been of another, at the time it was insured; held, that the policy was void, for |