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Be LINE INSURANCE,—-THE,.DUELLING (CLAUSE LN) POLICIESJsc00 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. ae ada 
“Sir :—Out of the long list of new Assurance,Companies which have 
lately established themselves in London, and which are vieing with each 
other in different. stratagems to gain preference.in -publie attention, I 
feel surprised that no office should yet have advertised the| erasure of a 
certain clause—or, series of clauses—from its policies, which hag gone jon 
for many years, forming part of every Life Assurance contract, although 
it produces no advantage to the assurers, and weakens the generak 
desirableness of Life Insurance very materially. 4 .cinEE 
The public will be aware that the more ordinary modes in which Life 
Assurance is effected are two ; at least, it is only, to two modes of making 
that engagement that I need call their (or your) attention. » The firstis, 
where a party insures his own life, for the purpose of securing\a sum 
disposable (possibly for the benefit of his family) at his death;,and this 
is a mode of Assurance much used by professional men, whose incomes 
are dependent upon their continual exertions, and would cease with their 
lives. And the second is, where a party assures a sum payable’ to him- 
self or his assignees, not upon his own death, but upon. the, death, of 
some third person, in whose life he has a specific interest: as» where a 
man marries a widow, for instance, and insures a sum of money:upon’ 
her life against her jointure ; or where he insures a claim which may be 
lost by the death of a debtor; or the value of a lease,,or am annuity, or 
any other absolute property which he holds, determinable with the life 
of some given individual. ile wow 
Now, the first of these two objects of Assurance—(which I take to be 
the most generally valuable)—that of a provision to be,»made by: aiuman 
earning a large annual income for the iuture benefitof his family—this 
object can only be eifected by such a party's amsuringy his own life. 
Because, to avoid the giving to any individual a direct advantage in the 
death of another, the law requires that A, insuring the life of B; must 
have a ‘“ legal interest "—a specific, claimable property;—which » ceases 
upon B’s death. A wife, therefore, although her maintenance depended 
entirely upon the exertions of her husband, could not by any means 
insure his life; nor a sister, similarly situated, that of her brother >. be~ 
cause, though there is an actual loss here occasioned by the death, there 
is not the loss of any matter of legal claim. And to this rule I: make no 
objection, because the remedy for the difficulty—such as it is—lies open. 
A man assures his own lifefor the benefit of the very same party, by whom 
(personally) it could not legally be assured ; and it might be a dange- 
rous principle to allow one individual to create to himself—say b 
insurance upon the life of an infant—an advantage of £5,000 out of the 
death of another. But then, under such circumstances, where a»real 
interest of the most pressing nature may exist—without any legal right 
to warrant the party interested from personally assuring—it' becomes 
material—if Life Assurance is to have any value at, all—that that) course 
of Assurance which zs open should be as clear as possible from hin- 
drance or uncertainty. + gobom 
Now a part of the bargain made by Life Assurance offices with their 
customers, is, that in three possible cases of death—v/z.| death by 
Suicide—by Duelling—or by the hands of Justice—any Assurance made 
ee 
Nik Sos 
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