Knop v. National Fire Insurance

This is an action to recover for loss by fire upon a policy of insurance which covered $300 on a *324one-story dwelling house, and $300 on household furniture and other contents. The principal defense was that the plaintiff had made a false statement under oath of the amount of the loss, and that he himself set the fire with intent to defraud the defendant.

1. The circuit court instructed the jury as follows:

“Now I come to a very important question. It is called in law ‘fraud.’ Fraud is a trick, a deceit, a device, whereby one misleads another to do something to his prejudice. In law, however, it…