Pierce Butler

“ To attribute this adequacy of proof to a 'presumption' does not authorize or empower the judge to say that this 'adequate proof' (identical with legal 'presumption') has 'disappeared.' If the evidence offered by plaintiff provides adequate proof of accidental death upon which a jury's verdict can be sustained, mere contradictory evidence cannot overcome the original 'adequate proof' unless the authority having the constitutional power to weigh the evidence and decide the facts believes the contradictory evidence has overcome the original proof. ”

“ In an orderly and consistent system of jurisprudence, it is important that the same law should fix and control the right of recovery on substantially identical contracts made in the same jurisdiction and under the same circumstances. Neither the company nor the policy holder should obtain an advantage by the application of a different law governing the contract merely because the case can be removed to a federal court. ”

“ The effect of the decision here is to give the trial judge the right to decide when sufficient evidence has been introduced to take from the jury the right to find accidental death from proof of death by violent and external means. This inevitably follows if the presumption, or right of the jury to infer death by accident, 'disappears' whenever the judge believes sufficient evidence of suicide has been introduced. ”