Melville Fuller

“ And where a person has taken out policies of insurance upon his life for the benefit or his estate, it has been frequently held that, as against creditors, his assignment, when insolvent, of such policies, to or for the benefit of wife and children, or either, constitutes a fraudulent transfer of assets within the statute; and this, even though the debtor may have had no deliberate intention of depriving his creditors of a fund to which they were entitled, because his act has in point of fact withdrawn such a fund from them, and dealt with it by way of bounty. ”

“ The obvious distinction between the transfer of a policy taken out by a person upon his insurable interest in his own life, and payable to himself or his legal representatives, and the obtaining of a policy by a person upon the insurable interest of his wife and children, and payable to them, has been repeatedly recognized by the courts. ”

“ So the creditor has an insurable interest in the debtor's life, and can protect himself accordingly, if he so chooses. Marine and fire insurance is considered as strictly an indemnity; but while this is not so as to life insurance, which is simply a contract, so far as the company is concerned, to pay a certain sum of money upon the occurrence of an event which is sure at some time to happen, in consideration of the payment of the premiums as stipulated, nevertheless the contract is also a contract of indemnity. ”

“ It is true that creditors can obtain relief in respect to a fraudulent conveyance where the grantor cannot, but that relief only restores the subjection of the debtor's property to the payment of his indebtedness as it existed prior to the conveyance.
A person has an insurable interest in his own life for the benefit of his estate. The contract affords no compensation to him, but to his representatives. ”

“ In the view of the law, credit is extended in reliance upon the evidence of the ability of the debtor to pay, and in confidence that his possessions will not be diminished to the prejedice of those who trust him. ”

“ If the creditor insures the life of his debtor, he is thereby indemnified against the loss of his debt by the death of the debtor before payment, yet if the creditor keeps up the premiums, and his debt is paid before the debtor's death, he may still recover upon the contract, which was valid when made, and which the insurance company is bound to pay according to its terms ”

“ When it exists by force of an original issue in the name or for the benefit of the beneficiary, the title is good, nothwithstanding the claims of creditors. * * * There is no anomaly in this, nor any conflict with the letter or spirit of the statute of Elizabeth, because in such cases the policy would be at no time the property of the assured, and hence no question of fraud in its transfer could arise as to his creditors. ”

“ These premiums were paid by Hume to the insurance companies, and to recover from them would require proof that the latter participated in the alleged fraudulent intent, which is not claimed. Cases might be imagined of the payment of large premiums, out of all reasonable proportion to the known or reputed financial condition of the person paying, and under circumstances of grave suspicion, which might justify the inference of fraud on creditors in the withdrawal of such an amount from the debtor's resources ”

“ The rights and benefits given by the laws of Connecticut in this regard are as much part of these contracts as if incorporated therein, not only because they are to be taken as if entered into there, but because there was the place of performance, and the stipulation of the parties was made with reference to the laws of that place. ”

“ Insurance Co., 27 Minn. 193, 6 N.W. Rep. 771; Insurance Co. v. Brant, 47 Mo. 419; Gould v. Emerson, 99 Mass. 154; Insurance Co. v. Weitz, Id. 157.
This must ordinarily be so where the contract is directly with the beneficiary; in respect to policies running to the person insured, but payable to another having a direct pecuniary interest in the life insured; and where the proceeds are made to inure by positive statutory provisions. Mrs. ”