Joseph P. Bradley

“ If no preliminary contract would be valid unless it specified minutely the terms to be contained in the policy to be issued, no such contract could ever be made or would ever be of any use. The very reason for sustaining such contracts is, that the parties may have the benefit of them during that incipient period when the papers are being perfected and transmitted. It is sufficient if one party proposes to be insured, and the other party agrees to insure, and the subject, the period, the amount, and the rate of insurance is ascertained or understood, and the premium paid if demanded. ”

“ And we are not aware that in any case, either by usage or the by-law of any company, or by any judicial decision, it has ever been held essential to the validity of these initial contracts that they should be attested by the officers and seal of the company. ”

“ It was one of the company's own printed blanks, and the probability is, that the reason this item was not inserted was the almost universal practice of taking ordinary insurance against fire for a year. Nothing else seems to have been in the minds of the parties. The former insurance on the property had been for that period. The bill states that Eames applied to Beach for a contract of insurance and policy on the mill for a year; and this is not denied in the ans er: the application to the other companies, the Phoenix and the Hartford, seem to have been for a year. Mr. ”