The Sun.
London, England, 1845-08-20 00:00:00

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

NORTHERN ClRCUlT.—Liverpool, Aug. 18.
(Before Mr. Justice CRESSWELL and a Special Jury.)
IMPORTANT LIFE INSURANCE CASE.—SCHWABE, ADMINIS-

'MATRIX V. CLIFT.

This was an action of assumpsit, brought to recover a
sem of 999/., alleged to be due to the plaintiff as adminis-
tratrix of the late Mr. Louis Schwabe, of Manchester,
the particulars of whose death were detailed in the public
prints a few months since. Mr. Schwabe's life had been
insured in the Argus Office. At his death that office
refused to pay the insurance money, upon the ground
now pleaded—via., that the party insured had terminated
his own life by suicide.
The SOLICITOR-GENERAL first addressed the jury, and
commeeced by observing that, although he *appeared
there on the part of the defendants, it would be for him
to state the case in the first instance, as the burden of
prof lay on his side. The death of the person insured
was not denied, and it was admitted that a policy had
been granted ; but the company, by their plea, alleged that
the deceased had committed saicide ; therefore they con-
tended that they were not bound to pay the money, there
being in the policy this condition—that the contract was
to become void in case the person whose life was insured
should commit suicide, or die by duelling, or by tho
hand of justiee. Now, what had occurred i 3 this MS!)
would show that the policy was rendered void accord-
ing to the clause which contained that condition, the
fact being that the deceased had taken poison for the
purpose of putting an end to his and that he had
diet in consequence within a fermi hours after. He (the
Solicitor-General) was aware 'chat it was said that Mr.
Sc`twabu was not of sound enind at the time when he di I
the a't, and that was commonly said in tlita;e unfortu-
nate cases. veiut if it should be proved that he was not
of sound re;ettl, there would yet be an important ques-
tion of kw to he determined, for it would still remain
to he .:ecirled, further, whether the life-office ought, on
accatint of that circumstance, to lose the benefit of the
condition ; and if a doubt could now exist as to this
pint in the law of England, it was high time that such
a paint should be settled. He apprehended that the
juderneet which had been pronounced in a case tried
before Mr. Justice Erskine, in the year 1841, would
apply to the one now before them. In the case to which
he referred, that of Berradaile v. Hunter, a, clergyman, had
effected a policy of insurance of a like nature ; and in that
instrument it was conditioned, that if the party should
" die by his own hands," the policy should b 3 void. Mr.
Borradaile afterwards threw himself over Vauxhall
bridge. The policy was sued on. The defendant pleaded
that tee insured "died by his own hands." And then
at the trial, it was contended by the plaintiff, that if the de-
ceased were not in a state of mind to render him morally
responsible, the policy was not made void by the act of
self-destruction. The jury, in a special verdict, found
that Mr. B rradaile voluntarily threw himself over the
bridge, knowing that he should thereby destroy his life,
but that at the time.of committing the act he was net
capable of distinguishing right from wrong. The
Judges of the Common Pleas held that the case cam
within the meaning of the clause, and that the policy
was, therefore, void. Mr. Justice Erskine, Mr. Justice
Mauls, and Mr. Justice Coltman, denied that this was
" dying by his own hand," according to the meaning of
the policy. The Lord Chief Justice of that Court, for
whom every one must feel respect, thought that the per-
son so dying must be felo de se to avoid the policy, and
upon the foundation of that opinion, the plaintiff, it was
supposed, ooty sought to maintain the present action.
The decision in the Common Pleas was, no doubt, a
sound decision. But the jury could have nothing to do
with the expediency of the law ; and if the law were that
a jury, from feelings of compassion or sympathy for a, dis-
tressed family, might say that a party was not in a sound
state of mind, and could so fix an insurance-office, the
sooner a law of that kind was altered the, better. It
would at once be to encourage gross fraud upon the
office insuring, and the offence of self-destruction in the
person insured. But they could have nothing to do
with the question of expediency. They must look to
the words of the policy, and the. decision must be ac-
cording to the intention of th parties contracting, and
that intention again to be 'gathered according to a well-
known rule of law, front the ordinary sense of the words
employed in the contract. What, continued the Learned
Counsel, was the roeaning of a man committing " sui-
cide ?" If a man was in such a state of consciousness
that he 'anew death would be the consequence of his act,
that was enough. He (the Solicitor-General) did not
moan to say that it would be sufficient if the person
acted by mere accident, as if he were to shoot himself
unintentionally. But if they were to hear of a man
having voluntarily shot himself, or taking poison, how
would they describe it but by saying that he had com-
mitted " suicide ?" Here the deceased took sulphuric
acid, and died a few days afterwards in consequence. It
was then the plain meaning of the words, according to
plain natural interpretation, to call this a case of
" suicide ;" and there must have been something else in
the language of the policy to show that the words in ques-
tion. should be accepted in any different sense. Were it
not so, it must happen, by and by, that no similar clause
of exemption in a policy could be effective, for it might
he agreed that, as no man destroying his life can be in
his right mind, no such case of destruction can be one of
suicide. The Learned Gentleman then proceeded to
state the facts attending the death of the deceased, which
wore afterwards spoken to in detail by the witnesses

The witnesses were Mr. John Chapel, who had been
in the employ of the deceased from 1839 ; Thos. White,
a cab-driver ; another man, who had gone to Mr.
Schwabe ; and Mr. Ransom, surgeon, of Manchester, the
initheal attendant of Mr. Schwabe. From their evidence
it aepeared that the deceased, whose residence was at
Pl:mpto 1-grove, Manchester, was a native of Germany,
and a silk manufacturer, carrying on his business,
which was in a large way, at some distance from his
dwelling-house. He was a man who paid much atten-
tion to his business, and bad greatly excited his mind,
Nvhieh was of an imaginative turn, in the investing of
new patterns. There had been five policies effected on
Lis lite, but so long ago as 1836. In 1843 he was ob-
served to be very much excited, and this being observed
by his medical attendant, that gentleman remonstrated
with him on his too close application to business, and
urged his going to the sea coast for relaxation. He
wens, aad was partially benefited. But at one period
of 1843 it was deemed necessary to place him under
same personal restraint, and a man was placed in his
house to take care of him. Ile was very kind and at-
tentive towards his family, and on one occasion, during
the illness of his daughter, had himself watched over her
night and day, exhibiting, as stated by Mr. Ransom,
extraordinary coolness, apparently from the effort which
he made for the sake of his child. On Tuesday, the 7th
of January last, being at his place of business in
.Nlanchester, he spoke with Mr. Chapel about removing
some acids, which were employed in the manufacture
there carried on. The next day the witness observed him
looking at some of the acids in a manner which attracted
his att,mition. On the Friday following, the 18th, Mr.
Schwabe came to Mr. Chapel, and asked for some sulphuric
said, of which nbout half a wine glass full was given him.
This was put in a phial, which the deceased put in his
packet. At this time Mr. Chapel remarked something
pacuLar in hi, look. He seemed wild. But the witness
nid net apprehend his intention, as he was in the habit
or making experiments, though he was not considered to
Lia ititimaiely acquainted with the use of those prepare-
t;ons. It would sewn that he must have taken the phial
into a roam at she works shortly after having received
the contents, and there swallowed the acid, the empty
butte being discovered, with the cork, some stains on
the floors acid a portion of the acid apparently vomited
up aft belng drunk off.
'll,', cabman proved that he was beckoned to by de-
cis--std le- Oxford-street, Manchester, took deceased up,
o,)se,-ved that he held a handkerchief to his mouth.
Oa arriving at his residence, whither he desired to be
conveyed, he said something to Mrs. Schwabe, in which
he was understood to say that he had taken poison ; and
on :Jr. Ransom being called in, though the deceased
wrs linable to articulate, be gave that gentleman to
landerszand that he bad taken sulphuric acid. Mr.
Ransom enumerated other acids, appealing to him as a
man honour to say if he had swallowed any of the
;twirls mentioned. He shook his head several times, but
t,eally,' when asked if it was sulphuric acid, he nodded
his head, as if to say yes. He lingered until the next
morning, and then died.

Mr. KNOWLES (for the plaintiff) submitted that there
appeared, in, the tint place, to be same doubt upon the
evidence offered as to whether the poisoning were really
by accident or by design. But it was beyond all doubt,
no the defendant's own showing, that the deceased was
of unsound mind when the acid was swallowed. The
Learned Counsel said he quite agreed with the Solicitor-
General that this was not a case in which they, the jury,
should.he governed by their sympathy ; but it was re-
markable that his Learned Friend had relied upon a
case, that of Berradade v. Hunter, which would be
found quite against him. In that case the words relied
on were " dying by his own hand;" but where the words,
as in the present case, were "committing suicide," the
latter phrase must be taken to import a felonious act.
Here the deceased was bcth morally and legally irre-
sponsible ; and if he had killed another person, he
would, under the circumstances, have been held irre-
sponsible from the existing state of his mind. In the
ease voted Mr. Justice Erskine had expressly
s,Y,iten of those policies in which occurred the phrase
shall commit suicide "—the, phrase now occurring in
the present case, and had considered that phrase,
properly understood, and judicially construed, to
impart a crimiu.d act ; and jurors had, accordingly,
so found. Not that the deceased did not precipitate his
otre destruction, but that, being in the state of mind
clearly proved alreJtly, he was incapable of committing
at act of crime. The jury must excuse him (Mr.
Knowles) if he spoke technically, but he must contend
further that the term " commit" did of itself alone imply
the deing of something criminally. It had been proved
that s , long ago as 1842 the mind of deceased was in a
vi-ry disturbed state, and that his father had died under
CI r 2,1,0 it alli_tt'S calculated to occasion additional excite-
me:it to him, and if there were enough to convince the
ju'y that he had taken poison, in order to cause his own
still rio one could for a moment doubt that he was
;h a state of mind at the time as would have pre-
',cited him beinz zimenabie to the law if he had corn-
in' tted the act against the life of another. After the evi-
l! -one ?hay (the jury) had heard it would be needless to
,_•:11 more witn,?sses to prove the fact that Mr. Schv; abe
insane ; and as to what had been said respecting the
liabilities of insurance-offices, if the gentlemen insuring
feud that their meaning, in their words, had been
only let them, for the future, make
wrongly understood,
an alteration in the form of their policies.
His LORDS/TIP, after recapitulating the facts, as stated
in the evidence, told the jury that it was here alleged,
on the part of the defendant, that the policy
v.,[ls veil, because the deceased had "committed suicide."

wake ihat out they must find—first, that Mr.
ti.Aiwabe died by his ow•n voluntary act; and, secondly,
at the time he did the act, he could tell right from
wrong, so as to be a responsible moral agent, and to be
capable of appreciating the quality of his action. His
Lordship observed that he stated this distinctly, antici-