The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1878-02-22
An Important Measure.

Senator Stump, of Hartford, has introduced
into the Senate bill in regard to life insur-
ance companies, which has been favorably
reported by the committee to which it was
referred. The Annapolis correspondent of
Tile Sun gives the following synopsis of the
bill:
1t provides that any life insurance COM
pany doing business in this State shall within
two years after the date Of any policies ofin-
surance granted upon life ascertain the truth
or falsity OF the representations of the assured
upon making application for insurance, and
should the insurance company receive from
the assured or assigns two annual or four
semi-annual payments of premiums, it shall
be considered as having waived any defence
it might have had on account of any misrep-
reservations made by the assured in the APP
plication for insurance.
If the assured should do any act forbidden
and calculated to vitiate the policy, and the
company or its agents, knowing the same,
shall for two years continue to receive the
premiums, the company shall be considered
as having waived its right to annul and va
cate the policy, and such acts shall be no de-
fence i'll any action upon the policy. The
companies are given the right to sue in the
courts OF the county or city where the assured
resides, and to file a petition within two years
after insurance to show cause why the policy
on his life should not be vacated for misrep-
reservations contained in the application
made at the time or for subsequent events,
setting forth particularly the facts relied upon
The issue sl.all be tried before court or Jury,
rs either party may elect. The court shall
render Judgment in accordance with the YER
dIct, with power to order II return of the
pnid-up premiums or not, as it may deem
proper, in case said policy is vacated, and
shall have discretion as to costs. Failure of
the defendantto file an answer to the petition
after n copy has been served upon him on or
before the first day of the next term, he shall
he in default, and the court may proceed to
hear and determine the same ex parte Pend
ing said caase the assured shall pay the pre-
miums as they become due into court, or de.
post the same as the court NAV direct to
the credit of the cause.
In the original draft of the bill it was desig-
mated that the act shall affect policies now in
force in the same manner as if the application
for the same had been made on the day of its
passage, but on consultation the special com.
mittee struck out the clause. 1t is therefore
question if the act, should it pass, would
cover polices already held.
AS the law now stands life insurance COM
panes can receive premiums from parties
insured for twenty years or more, and at their
death deprive their families of the benefits of
such payments, on the ground of some act
by the assured forbidden by the policy, which
defect may have existed at the time the in
surance was effected and known to the COM
pany's agents at the time, 1t would seem to
he only fair and right that if a life insurance
company receives money from the assured,
knowing that he has vitiated his policy and
is not entitled to IFS benefits, such company
should not be allowed to plead that the risk
Was an improper one or that it had been Vita
ted during the time they collected premiums.
Mr.. Stump's bill can not in any way affect
reliable companies and honest agents, and if
it has the effect Of making companies more
careful as to the kind of risks they assume
and carry, it will enure 10 the benefit of the
life insurance business, by inspiring more
confidence in the certainty of payment of
policies in case of death.
Life insurance agents, for the sake OF in
creasing business and swelling their commits
sions, sometimes make statements which are
entirely at variance with the policies issued
by the companies they represent, and thus