The law of life and fire insurances; with an appendix of comparative tables of life insurance - Softcover
Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1846 Excerpt: ...by misadventure only, as death occasioned by falling on a sword or knife, or the discharge of a gun in the hand of a party; or death inflicted by the hand of the party when under (o) 5 M. & G. 639. Ds the influence of sudden phrenzy or delusion; and yet such cases are admitted, and justly admitted, not to be within the meaning of the proviso. And on the other hand, under the same rigid construction, no death by the very act of the party himself, by drowning himself, or precipitating himself from a height, or suffocating himself, or in the innumerable instances that might be put, in which the hand of the party is not the immediate cause of death, could, in strict propriety, be held to fall within the words, notwithstanding the act was done intentionally by the assured; and yet in all these last-mentioned cases, no doubt can be entertained that they fall within the meaning of the proviso. Considerable latitude must consequently be given to the construction of these words, which are thus used in a metaphorical, not a literal sense, in order to arrive at, and give effect to the real intention of both the parties." Under these circumstances, he was of opinion that these words, being the language of the insurer, and being used in immediate conjunction with others which imported a death in consequence of a criminal act, must be deemed to mean a felonious killing of himself, i. e. self-murder. The three other Judges of the Court of Common Pleas, however, were of opinion that the policy included all wilful acts of self-destruction, whatever might be the moral responsibility of the assured at the time, and that the defendant was entitled to retain the verdict. Judgment was thereupon entered for the Company. Until that judgment has been reversed therefore, we...
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