Horace Gray

“ The statements in the application are only representations upon which the promise of the insurer is based, and conditions limiting the obligation which he assumes. If they are false, there is a misrepresentation, or a breach of condition, which prevents the obligation of the insurer from ever attaching, or brings it to an end; but there is no breach of any contract or promise on the part of the assured, for he has made none. In short, the statements in this application limit the liability of the insurer, but they create no liability on the part of the assured. ”

“ To hold otherwise would be to maintain that the contract of insurance requires good faith of the assured only, and not of the insurers, and to permit insurers, knowing all the facts, to continue to receive new benefits from the contract while they decline to bear its burdens. ”

“ Answers to questions propounded by the insurers in an application for insurance, unless they are clearly shown by the form of the contract to have been intended by both parties to be warranties, to be strictly and literally complied with, are to be construed as representations, as to which substantial truth in everything material to the risk is all that is required of the applicant. ”

“ Where an answer of the applicant to a direct question of the insurers purports to be a complete answer to the question, any substantial misstatement or omission in the answer avoids a policy issued on the faith of the application. ”

“ Div. 363, on which the insurers relied at the argument, did not arise on a question including several interrogatories as to whether another application had been made, and with what result, and the amount of existing insurance, and in what company. But the application or proposal contained two separate questions,-the first whether a proposal had been made at any other office, and, if so, where; the second whether it was accepted at the ordinary premium, or at an increased premium, or declined ”

“ People's Ins. Co., 6 Gray, 185; Lorillard Ins. Co. v. McCulloch, 21 Ohio St. 176; American Ins. Co. v. Mahone, 56 Miss. 180; Carson v. Jersey City Ins. Co., 43 N. J. Law, 300; S.C.. 44 N. J. Law, 210; Lebanon Ins. Co. ”