Legal Opinion

Johnson v. Phœnix Insurance

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

Decided March 15, 1873PublishedCited by 25 opinions

Contract on a policy of insurance on a house against £re. Trial before Morton, J. The policy required the assured to “produce a certificate, under the hand and seal of a magistrate, notary public or commissioner of deeds (nearest to the place of the fire not concerned in the loss as a creditor or otherwise, nor related to the assured) stating that he has examined the circumstances attending the loss, knows the character and circumstances of the assured, and verily believes…

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Contract on a policy of insurance on a house against £re. Trial before Morton, J. The policy required the assured to “produce a certificate, under the hand and seal of a magistrate, notary public or commissioner of deeds (nearest to the place of the fire not concerned in the loss as a creditor or otherwise, nor related to the assured) stating that he has examined the circumstances attending the loss, knows the character and circumstances of the assured, and verily believes that the assured has without fraud sustained loss on the property insured, to the amount which such magistrate, notary…

1Opinion of the CourtGbay, J.

The position of the defendant in this case is sustained by a uniform current of authorities, beginning with a series of decisions made upon full argument in England soon after policies of fire insurance first came into common use.

The earliest case in the reports was decided in 1785. The condition of the policy there sued on required the assured to “ procure a certificate, under the hands of the minister and churchwardens, together with some other reputable inhabitants of the parish not concerned in such loss,” to substantially the same facts as are specified in the conditions now before us,…

2Cases cited6 opinions

  1. The Columbia Insurance Company of Alexandria, in Error v. Joseph W. Lawrence, Who Survived Thomas PoindexterSupreme Court of the United States · 1836
  2. Columbian Insurance Co. of Alexandria v. LawrenceSupreme Court of the United States · 1829
  3. Ætna Fire Insurance v. TylerCourt for the Trial of Impeachments and Correction of Errors · 1836
  4. Inman v. Western Fire InsuranceNew York Supreme Court · 1834
  5. Turley v. North American Fire InsuranceNew York Supreme Court · 1841

1 more not listed; retrieve them via the Exa API.

3Cited by25 opinions

  1. McCullough v. Phœnix InsuranceSupreme Court of Missouri · 1893
  2. Hebert v. DeweyMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1906
  3. Boruszweski v. Middlesex Mutual Assurance Co.Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1904
  4. Cudahy Packing Co. v. Munson S. S. LineCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit · 1927
  5. Edgerly v. Farmers' InsuranceSupreme Court of Iowa · 1876

20 more not listed; retrieve them via the Exa API.

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