43 Vt. 256 | Vt. | 1870
The opinion of the court was delivered by
The object of the orator’s bill of complaint is, to recover certain sums of money for loss and damage of property insured by the defendant company. On the 12th of August, 1863, one Charles Jewett effected an insurance in the defendant company upon buildings located upon his farm in Hydepark. It was and is the custom of said company to demand and receive, at the
It is insisted by the defendant’s counsel that the sale and conveyance of the property rendered the policy absolutely void ; that the company not only did not ratify, but had the arbitrary right to refuse to ratify the policy to the orator. It has been observed that the act of incorporation and by-laws of the company are a part of the contract. Section four of the charter declares that when any building shall be alienated by sale or otherwise, the policy shall thereupon be void: “ Provided, however, that the grantee or alienee having the policy assigned, may have the same ratified and confirmed to him, her or them, for his, her or their use and benefit, upon application to the directors and with their consent, within thirty days next after such alienation, on giving-proper security to the satisfaction of said directors, for such pro
It is claimed by the defendant that the assignee can have no interest in the insurance unless the insurers approve the assignment, and by such assent make a new contract with the assignee. This position incorrectly assumes that such a policy is a personal contract merely with the original party, and that it is rendered void by the conveyance until confirmed by a new contract with the assignee, notwithstanding the assignment of the policy to him. The defendant’s interpretation of the contract is, that the purchaser of insured property may have the insurance assigned to him; that he shall have a cértain time within which to comply with the conditions on which the company, by the terms of the original contract, agreed to confirm the assignment, but in the mean time such assigned policy is void, and if the property is de