The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1868-11-14 00:00:00

AN INTERESTING LIFE POLICY CASE.

In the Court of Chancery, the cause of •' While e. the
British Empire Mutual Me Assurance Company" has been
heard, and the question in this caw was of a most peculiar
nature, as will appear by the following outline of the
Cage :
Horatio White having borrowed of the defendant I
company £l,OOO on security of certain property, I
insured his life in the °thee to that amount, depositing
the policy sea collateral security, which was, in fact, '
the result of an arrangement with the company, a
practice not unusual. Mr. White paid £3OO and
shot himself in the side with a pistol, of which he died;
but between the time of such act and his death he '
made his will, whereby he gave his property to his
wife for life, with remainder to his children. The
widow took out administration with the will annexed,
and the verdict of the jury on the coroner's inquest
being "that Mr. White, being of unsound mind,
killed himself with a pistol," and there being the usual •
condition for avoiding the policy in case of the party
dying by his or her own hand, the question arose
whether the policy in this case was void. The form of
the policy was that should any person effect a policy
and die by hi, or her own 'hand, by the hands of
justice or duelling, the policy ahould become void in all
cases, except to the extent of any Gotta fide interest
therein, which at the time of such death should be
vested in any other person for his, her, or their own
benefit for a sufficient pecuniary or other considera-
tion.
It was argued on behalf of the plaintiffs, the widow
and children, who claimed a reconveyance on the
ground that the policy satisfied the mortgage, that
the case was within this exception, the company them-
selves heine "some other person haying a bond fide
beneficial interest," the company making a profit by
the policy, and that the dying "by his or her own
hand" was not a voluntary act, and not, in that sense,
suicide, for the jury had found that he was at the
moment of unsound mind. On the contrary, it was in-
sisted on behalf of the insurance office that this was the
ordinary case if suicide provided for by the conditions,
and the policy was void, the exception not refer-
ring to the office as mortgages, but to an actual
assignment.
The Vice-Chancellor, after stating the facts, said
that, it being admitted that if Mr. White, instead of
depositing the policy with the office, had retained it,
it would have been void; and, on the other hand, that
it was as much a mortgage as if it had been deposited
with any other person; the question was whether, the
office happening to be the assurers as well as mortga-
gees, that took the ease out of the exception. A case
in substance the same as this came before Lord Justice
(then Vice-Chancellor) Wood—namely, "The Solici-
tors' General Lily Insurance Society v. Lamb," and
he 1.-id that this condition was for the benefit of
the assured, not of the office. The Lords Justices on
appeal expressed themselves to the same effect. With
respect to these conditions, his honour eonsideredthat it
would be as well if they were omitted :mil the matter
left to the general law, which lie believed. laid it down
that a Me policy was void on the committal of suicide;
but independently of that, where a policy was assigned
for value it was not void. Suicide while under
temporary or permanent insanity was one of the
calamitous terminations which life was exposed to, and
the condition in such a case must have its full effect.
It was admitted by the office that if instead of borrow-
ing VOW of them, Mr. White had done so from a
third person, and deposited the policy with him, the
office must have been paid the }:700 due, and valid
reason was there that Mr. Wilke, or those claiming
through him, should be in a less favourable position
because the money was borrowed from and the policy
deposited with the office? There was no suggestion
that the other property was not ample secutity, and
the office had i.ot the additional advantage of the in-
surance with them. The parties had contracted in
such a way that the ..ffice were mortgagees, and Mr.
White mortgagor, and he hail the same rights against
them as any other mortgagor, and if the office had
desired to stand in any other position they should have
introduced something on the subject. The policy was
therefore valid, and the plaintiffs were entitled to what
they asked. As to the question of the meaning of the
expression " committing suicide," his Honour agreed
with the majority of judges, who had held that where
a person killed himself while insane, that avoided a
policy. There insist be a decree with costa.