LIFE ASSURANCES. 
Letitia Jones v. Hole , damages £199 
Holmes v. Hole Fpl al 197 
Barnett v. Hole . 25 496 
Howard v. Hole . . 5s 96 
Scougall v. Hole . 163 
Beanv,. Hole... , 400 
Mr. Platt applied for immediate execution in all the causes. 
Mr. Baron Gurney.—You are entitled to it. 
It has been our object, in making the foregoing selection of cases, to 
lay before our readers those most worthy of attention. Our difficulty 
has arisen not through lack of materials, but from the necessity of select- 
ing from an immense mass of reports (all in themselves important) 
& those cases most deserving of notice, either from the extraordinary facts 
Bu fo ve attending them, or as carrying out some novel principle—forming, as 
2, ap we conceive, a useful reference, and at the same time giving some 
not frau insight into the law now recognised as affecting assurances on lives. 
din 183% It will be seen, on referring to our selection, that in effecting assurances 
S Were put on lives (we speak at present of parties insuring the lives of others) two 
15 Be important points must on no account be allowed to escape attention— 
rm that is to say, the interest of the party effecting the assurance in the life 
ing thei assured, and the statements made to the Office by such party or his 
sind mw agents. 
The ov- The interest must be bond fide and pecuniary ; no other will suffice : 
lr mere relationship is not enough, though it is no bar to an assurance, 
ott provided the other requisites are complied with. Thus, a man may 
ha insure the life of his wife having an income for life only, or being entitled 
: . to a reversion contingent on the death of another party ; for it is obvious 
oe that the husband in either case must sustain a pecuniary loss from the 
death of his wife. This liability to pecuniary loss is, indeed, the test 
of interest: a man may assure the life of his debtor, as, generally speak- 
ing, the debt would be, in some degree at least, put in jeopardy on the 
decease of the debtor. The observation holds good in general ; but in 
cases where ample security is also given, it is not easy to understand 
how the creditor can sustain pecuniary loss: however, as the Courts of 
law recognise the principle, it is useless to carry the speculation further. 
The interest must be continuing down to the time when the amount 
is to be paid by the office: Mr. Pitt’s case shows this to be so; but it 
is nevertheless the practice of many offices to pay without making inquiry 
as to the continuance of the interest, being satisfied if originally an 
interest were shown. 
The interest must be also legal. A debt partly made up of money 
oo won by gaming will not constitute an available interest, though a security 
given by a minor will, if the minor do not impeach it; the distinction 
is this: that in the first case the security is void from the beginning as 
against all the world; but in the second it is voidable by the minor 
alone ; and therefore, if he do not think fit to interfere, no other person 
can raise the objection, 
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