Subrogation. An insurer is entitled to subrogation (q. v.) in cases where such right would attach under the general principles applying to that subject; as, when payment is made for loss or damage to goods in tran sit, there is a subrogation to the rights of the owner against the carrier; Houston Di rect Nay. Co. v. Ins. Co. (Tex.) 31 S. W. 560; Over v. R. Co., 63 Fed. 34 ; Stoughton v. Gas Co., 165 Pa. 428, 30 Atl. 1001; Southard v. R. Co., 60 Minn. 382, 62 N. W. 442, 619. And, on payment by the insurer of a loss which he was not legally bound to pay, he has a right of action against one through whose negli gence the property was destroyed ; Ry. Co. v. Fire Ass'n, 60 Ark. 325, 30 S. W. 350, 28 L. R. A. 83; he becomes entitled pro tanto, and should join the owner as plaintiff in an action for negligent burning ; Wunderlich v. R,y. Co., 93 Wis. 132, 06 N. W. 1144. So, an insurer of title who paid off liens prior to a mortgage, as to which the mortgagee was in demnified by bond of the mortgagor, was sub rogated to the right of action of the latter on the bond; St. Paul Title Ins. & Trust Co. v. Johnson, 64 Minn. 492, 67 N. W. 543.
Since a policy of fire Insurance Is a con tract of indemnity, the insurer is entitled to recover from the insured not merely the value of any benefit received by him by way of compensation from other sources in ex cess of his actual loss, but also the full value of any rights or remedies of the insured against third parties which have been re nounced by him, and to which, but for that renunciation, the insurer would have a right to be subrogated; [1896] 2 Q. B. 377.
Expected profits may be insured, as crops, against hail and frost or other risks, even before they are sown, but the profits must be insured as such; 3 N. & M. 819; Putnam v. Ins. Co., 5 Mete. (Mass.) 391; Loomis v. Shaw, 2 Johns. Cas. (N. Y.) 36 ; Niblo v. Ins. Co., 1 Sandf. (N. Y.) 551; or the future profits of one to whom the insured has ad vanced money to pursue an enterprise; Mor rell v. Ins. Co., 10 Cush. (Mass.) 282, 57 Am. Dec..92; Miller v. Ins. Co., 2 E. D. Sm. (N. Y.) 268; or a portion of the cargo of a ship expected to arrive, even if the insured has no property in such cargo, but has only pur chased, for a specified sum, the right to take such goods for a further specified sum; French v. Ins. Co., 16 Pick. (Mass.) 397; but even if the insured has an ownership in the property, if he becomes insolvent before the arrival of the cargo and the goods are intercepted by the vendor, by right of stop page in transitu, there can be no recovery on the policy ; 10 B. & C. 99.
As to reinsurance, see that title.
The several forms of insurance contracts are classified mainly with reference to the character of the perils insured against. See infra.
Life Insurance. The insurance of the life of a person is a contract by which the insurer, in consideration of a certain pre mium, either in a gross sum or periodical payments, undertakes to pay the person for whose benefit the insurance is made, a stip ulated sum, or annuity equivalent, upon the death of the person whose life is insured, whenever this shall happen, if the insurance be for the whole ,life, or in case this shall happen within a certain period, if the insur ance be for a limited time.
An agreement by the insurer to pay to the insured or his nominee a specified sum of money, either on the death of a designated life, or at the end of a certain period, pro vided the death does not occur before, in consideration of the present payment of a fixed amount, or of an annuity till the death occurs or the period of insurance is ended. Biddle, Ins. § 2. Bunyon's definition varies little, as does that of Park, but the latter elaborates the consideration which is de scribed as "a certain sum proportioned to the age, health, profession, and other cir cumstances of the person whose life is the object of insurance." Park, Ins. ch. xxii. In a leading case it was said by Parke, B., to be "a mere contract to pay a certain sum of money on the death of a person, in consideration of the due payment of a cer tain annuity for his life, the amount of the annuity being calculated, in the first in stance, according to the probable duration of the life; and when once fixed, it is con stant and invariable ;" 15 C. B. 365.
A mutual contract by which the insurer, on the one hand, comes under an obligation to pay a certain sum of 'money upon the death of insured, who, on the other hand, becomes bound to pay certain sums, either annually or otherwise, in the name of pre miums, and these obligations are counter parts of one another. 3 Can. S. C., 4th ser. 1078.
The person whose life is insured is fre quently termed the "life." The sum to be paid in case of loss depends entirely upon the stipulation in the policy, and not at all upon the amount of the pecun iary interest in the life ; Bevin v. Ins. Co., 23 Conn. 244.
There must be an isisitrable interest (q.
A large proportion of life insurance is effected through the medium of bene ficial associations (q. v.) ; they are generally formed' under state incorporation laws and are subject to their own rules and regula tions so far as they are consistent with the general or statutory law of the state. The benefits and advantages conferred by these associations are held to be insurance, and subject to regulation by the insurance laws of the state; State v. Nichols, 78 Ia. 747, 41 N. W. 4 ; Goodman v. Lodge No. 7, 67 Md. 117, 9 AU. 13, 13 Atl. 627. While the rules and regulations enter into and become a part of the contract of insurance, the usage of the association will not bind courts in construing the contract, if the latter be alma' arid 'unam biguous; and words having a fixed meaning, either general or technical, will be interpret ed according to that meaning as in other cases; Wiggin v. Knights of Pythias, 31 Fed. 122.