by John Marshall Harlan

“ The business of life insurance is of such a peculiar character, affects so many people, and is so intimately connected with the common good, that the state creating the insurance corporations and giving them authority to engage in that business may, without transcending the limits of legislative power, regulate their affairs, so far, at least, as to prevent them from committing wrong or injustice in the exercise of their corporate functions. ”

“ We are informed by the decisions of the supreme court of Missouri that life insurance companies doing business in that state often secured contracts under which they could defeat all recovery upon a policy, and retain all premiums paid by the insured, if it appeared in proof that the application for insurance contained an inaccurate or untrue statement, however innocently made, as to matters having no real or substantial connection whatever with the death of the insured, and which were in no sense material to the risk. ”

“ But it is equally the doctrine of this court that the power, whether called police, governmental, or legislative, exists in each state, by appropriate legislation, not forbidden by its own Constitution or by the Constitution of the United States, to determine for its people all questions or matters relating to its purely domestic or internal affairs, and, 'to regulate the relative rights and duties of all persons and corporations within its jurisdiction, and, therefore, to provide for the public convenience and the public good.' Lake Shore & M. S. R. Co. ”