Nathan Clifford

“ Lessees holding under an ordinary parol lease do not acquire such an interest in real estate so leased as to avoid a policy issued to the lessor, even though the insured failed to represent the matter to the company in a case where no inquiries were made of the applicant, at the time the policy was issued, as to the true character of the title or occupancy of the insured premises, and where no pretence is shown that the insured has been guilty of any fraud or misrepresentation. ”

“ Policies of fire insurance are contracts whereby the insurers undertake for a stipulated sum to indemnify the insured against loss or damage by fire, in respect to the property covered by the policy, during the prescribed period of time, to an amount not exceeding the sum specified in the written contract. ”

“ Such an assumption is contrary to the facts exhibited in the record, and can no more be supported than that the lessees of stores, tenement-houses, or other buildings in our large cities own the same by mere possession or occupancy of the particular store, tenement, or building included in the lease they hold from the owner. ”

“ Chattels real, says the same commentator, are such as concern or savor of the realty, including terms for years, and are called real chattels, as being interests arising out of or being annexed to real estate, of which they have one quality, to wit, immobility, but want the quality of indeterminate duration, the want of which constitutes them chattels. ”

“ That be noticed are as follows: 1. That jury to return a verdict in favor of the plaintiffs for the amount of the policy and interest. 2. That the court should have directed the jury to return a verdict the other way, as the law of the case was with the defendant. 3. That the court erred in not submitting the questions of fact to the jury whether the plaintiffs were so far the sole, entire, and unconditional owners of the property insured as to be entitled to recover in view of the evidence. ”

“ Leases for years, says Taylor, are considered chattel interests arising out of a contract between the parties, and pass only a transient interest in the land, which is not a freehold, and might originally be made at common law by parol for any certain period. ”

“ Such a lease is a mere chattel interest, being reckoned as part of the personal estate of the lessee, and in case of the death of the lessee goes to his executors, and not to the heirs-at-law, as appears by all the authorities. ”