The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — 1843-05-16 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

MANCHESTER.—No alteration has taken place in our market since our last. A large amount of business is still doing in all widths of printing cloth ; and shirtings, suited for the India Market, are rather worse to buy. Domestic cloth is fiat, and some houses have been forced to reduce their prices. The yarn market is not very brisk, and lower prices than for many months have been taken. The country trade is very flat, for few drapers or wholesale houses have visited us this week. The price of cloth is as follows :-27-inch GG's, 4s. 73/4d. to 4s. 10ad. ; 72's, 4s. 10/d. to ss. 3d. ; 9-8 Ws. ss. Gd. to ss. 9d. ; 72's, ss. lOW. to 6s. 4 ict—ManchesterAdvertiser, of Saturday.  seriatim. Mr. Justice Maule, Mr. Justice Erskine, and Mr. Justice Coltman, said, that the question presented to the court for their determination was, whether Mr. Borradaile "died by " within the meaning of the proviso in the policy, wnicu stipulated that if the assured should die on the seas, or go without license beyond the limits of Europe, or enter into the naval or military service, or should die by the hands of justice, " by his own hands," or by duelling, or should at the time of entering into the policy be affected by a disease which would tend to shorten life, the policy should It was admitted that if the party assured threw _if into the water, the case fell within the meaning of .e literal terms of the proviso. It ought to be concluded, therefore, that the parties to the policy meant what they said, unless there was something in the context which showed an intention of restricting the ordinary signification of the language which had been employed. The directors of the association must have known, as practical men, that in the event of a contested claim upon them, they would have but a small chance with a jury, and that the circumstance of a distressed family being engaged in a struggle with a wealthy body would not be very likely to lead to a calm consideration of the circumstances under. which the claim was preferred. The object, therefore, with which the words " die by his own bands" were introduced into the proviso was clear. It had been urged on the behalf of the plaintiff, that at any rate there must have been an intention by the party assured to die by his own hand, and that an insane person had no controlable intention. But there was no ground for saying that Mr. Borradaile was affected by an uncontrolable impulse to destroy himself; and on the contrary, the jury had found that he threw himself into the river knowing that he should destroy himself, and intending so to do. Their lordships said they could not but distrust the soundness of their judgment when it was opposed to that of the lord chief justice, but the parties bad a right to the expression of their opinion, and their opinion was, that the defendants were entitled to retain the verdict which had been entered for them. Lord Chief Justice Tindal said, that it appeared to him, upon the best consideration which he could give to this case, that the plaintiff was entitled to the judgment of the court. The question was, whether the circumstances under which Mr. Borradaile took away his own life brought the case within the terms of the proviso in the policy? and it appeared to him, upon the proper construction of that proviso, that the death of the assured was covered by the policy. It was to be observed that the terms of the policy was not language introduced by the assured, hut by the insurers, and in reason and good sense, therefore, as well as on all principles of legal construction, the words of the policy were to be taken most strongly against the party using them. When an ambiguous expression was employed, the party who adopted it must not complain if it was interpreted to his disadvantage. Now, the words, " die by his own hand," were words much wanting in certainty and precision. Upon a strict construction of them, every death occasioned by the hand of the party would fall within the meaning of the policy, whether the death was occasioned intentionally, or by misadventure, as by falling on a sword or a knife, or by the bursting of a gun in the party's hands, or in an access of sudden frenzy. It was justly admitted, that death occasioned by these means would not come within the meaning of the condition in the policy ; although death would have been produced by the party's own hand. On the other hand, a party might drown himself, or fall from a height, or suffocate himself ; and yet in these last-mentioned cases no doubt could be entertained that the mode of death would bring the circumstances within the condition of the proviso. Considerable latitude must be given to words used, as. these were, in a metaphorical sense; and it appeared to him, looking at the context, and the position in which the words were found, that the words " dying by his own hands " could not but mean dyingfelo de se. Three cases of death were manifestly intended to fall within the meaning of that proviso ; " dying by the hands of justice, by his own hands, or by duelling." The word " dying " was prefixed to the first member of the sentence only, and governed these three cases of death. The first and last kind of death mentioned in the sentence were felonious in their nature ; and, applying the rule "noscitur a sociis," it would follow that "dying by his own hands" must be taken to mean a felonious killing by the party of himself, that was, self-murder. It appeared to him, therefore, that there ought to be judgment for the plaintiff ; but while he expressed that opinion, he did so with a proper degree of doubt and distrust, in consequence of the difference of opinion entertained by his learned brothers. It was, at all events, satisfactory to him to know that if he had arrived at a wrong conclusion, it would not do any injury to the parties. The rale was consequently discharged.