Atherton v. Phœnix Insurance
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Contract upon a policy of insurance made December 18, 1865, to Amos H. Howard “ on account of whom it concerns,” and by him assigned with consent of the insurers to the plaintiff May 15, 1866, upon the ship Northland, for a voyage from England to the East Indies, containing this clause: “ It is agreed that this insurance shall be void in case this policy, or the interest insured thereby, shall be sold, assigned, transferred or pledged without the previous consent in writing…
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Contract upon a policy of insurance made December 18, 1865, to Amos H. Howard “ on account of whom it concerns,” and by him assigned with consent of the insurers to the plaintiff May 15, 1866, upon the ship Northland, for a voyage from England to the East Indies, containing this clause: “ It is agreed that this insurance shall be void in case this policy, or the interest insured thereby, shall be sold, assigned, transferred or pledged without the previous consent in writing of the insurers.” Trial before Wells, J., who, with the consent of the parties, withdrew the case from the jury and…
1Opinion of the CourtAmes, J.
At the date of this policy, the legal title to the vessel stood in the name of John W. Ford, of the city of London in England, to whom it had been conveyed by the American owners on December 17, 1868. The case finds that he was not, in the ordinary sense of the word, a purchaser of the vessel, and that he did not hold adversely to the former American owners, *33but that she was conveyed to him that she might have a British register, and sail under the British flag, in order to avoid the risk of capture by Confederate cruisers. She was accordingly registered in London in his name, and, so far as…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Goodrich v. WestonMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1869
3Cited by3 opinions
- Smith v. Union InsuranceMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1876
- Baldwin v. Hartford Fire Ins.Supreme Court of New Hampshire · 1880
- Sparks v. SparksSupreme Court of Georgia · 1942