Knapp v. Homeopathic Mut Life Ins Co

• Decision Date: 05 April 1886
• Citation: Knapp v. Homeopathic Mut Life Ins Co, 6 S.Ct. 807, 117 U.S. 411, 29 L.Ed. 960 (1886)
• Parties: KNAPP v. HOMEOPATHIC MUT. LIFE INS. CO. Filed
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

6 S.Ct. 807

117 U.S. 411

29 L.Ed. 960

KNAPPv.HOMEOPATHIC MUT. LIFE INS. CO.

Filed April 5, 1886.

[Statement of Case from pages 411-413 intentionally omitted]Saml.W. Clifford, Jr., for plaintiff in error.

Stillman B. Allen, for defendant in error.

Mr. Justice GRAY, after stating the case as above reported, delivered the opinion of the court:

The canceling of the policy, in consequence of the husband's fraudulent representation that the wife was dead, had no effect upon her rights.It is not relied on by the defendant, and there is nothing in the case to show that it in any way influenced the conduct of the plaintiff by preventing her from paying the premiums or making the election required by the policy.The contract of insurance, made and to be performed in New York, between a corporation and a citizen of that state, is to be governed by the law of New York.By that law, in respect to the payment of or the neglect to pay premiums, a married woman stands like any other person insured, (Baker v. Union Ins. Co., 43 N. Y. 283;) and there is no statute which affects this case.The decision, therefore, depends upon the true construction of the non-forfeiture clause in the policy.

The single purpose of this clause is that, after two annual premiums shall have been paid, a failure to pay any subsequent premium shall not have the effect of avoiding the whole insurance, but the assured shall have the right to an insurance for such a sum and such a time as the premiums already paid would equitably cover.The policy does not declare that it shall continue of itself without any act of the assured.On the contrary, it stipulates that 'the party insured shall be entitled to have it continued in force for a period to be determined' by ascertaining, according to certain rules, the net value of the policy at the time of failure to pay a premium, and making the amount of that value, considered as a single premium, the basis for determining the time...