Nathan Clifford

“ Indemnity is the great object of the insured, but the underwriter pursues the business as a means of profit.
On the first of March, 1869, the defendant subscribed a time policy of insurance in the sum of three thousand dollars, for a premium of twelve per cent. net, upon the schooner B. B. Folsom, her tackle, apparel, and other furniture, valued at thirty-five thousand dollars; in which policy it is recited that the insurance is to the plaintiff on account of whom it may concern, and in case of loss, to be paid in funds current in the city of New York ”

“ There is nothing in text-writers, which, rightly interpreted, denies what we say. [6]
The court did not err, as the exception implies, in refusing to receive Folsom's application for insurance. The policy, which confessedly was the company's act, followed it exactly. It did not state any more than the application, who the master of the vessel was, or to what port she was sailing. The application had no tendency to show that Folsom did not communicate all material facts which he knew, and answer truly all questions put to him which the company thought material. ”

“ Underwriters in a policy of marine insurance undertake, in consideration of a certain premium, to indemnify the party insured against loss arising from certain perils of the sea, or sea risks to which the ship, merchandise, or freight of the insured may be exposed during a particular voyage of for a specified period of time. Long experience shows that such a system is essential to commerce, as it tends to promote the spirit of maritime adventure by diminishing the risk of ruinous loss to which those who engage in it would otherwise be exposed. ”

“ The right of having an appellate tribunal pass upon matters of law in all contests between parties, is regarded in some sort as a sacred right by our people. It is given in the broadest terms by the great Judiciary Act of 1789. ”

“ The counsel then went into a learned argument to show that Folsom had knowledge of facts material to the risk and had concealed them; that the burden of proof rested on him to show the communication of them to the company, and that no presumption existed in his favor that he had done so, or that he was ignorant of a material fact which it was shown might have been known to him; that concealment might be proved as a defence under the plea of the general issue. ”

“ Losses of the kind cannot be prevented by any degree of human forecast or skill, but the system of insurance, as practiced among merchants, enables those engaged in such pursuits to provide themselves with indemnity against the consequences of such disasters. ”

“ Over the despatch was written in large letters 'ORLANDO.'
It was admitted by the plaintiff that in Lloyd's Register there was no schooner named Orlando, but that there was a bark named Orlanda, a whaler, and that a bark of the name of Orlando had been owned, within two or three years, by a person who was then a partner of the plaintiff; and that at the time when he applied for the insurance he did not call the company's attention to the publication which had appeared in the papers, and that he made the application himself. ”

“ Also 'privileged to cancel the policy at the expiration of six months, pro rata premium to be returned for time not used, no loss being claimed.' Prior to the date of the policy, to wit, on the sixth of January in the same year, the schooner set sail and departed from the port of Boston, bound on a voyage to the port of Montevideo, laden with an assorted cargo, and during the voyage she met with tempestuous weather, and on the thirtieth of the same month, by the force of the wind and waves was wrecked, foundered, and sunk, and was wholly lost to the plaintiff. ”