after stating the case, delivered the opinion of the court.
We have recently,' in the case of Insurance Company v. Norton (supra, р. 234), shown that forfeitures are not favored in the law; and that courts are always prompt to seize hold of any circumstances that indicаte an election to waive a forfeiture, or an agreement to do so on which the party has relied and acted. Any agreemеnt, declaration, or course. of action, on the part of ■ an insurance company, which leads a party insured’ honestly to beliеve that by conforming thereto a forfeiture of his policy will not be incurred, followed' by due conformity on his part, will and ought to estop the company from insisting upon the forfeiture, though it might be claimed under the express letter of the contract.. The company is thereby estoрped from enforcing the forfeiture. The representations, declarations, or acts of an agent, contrary to the terms of the рolicy, of course will not be sufficient, unless sanctioned by the company itself. *578 Insurance Company v. Mowry, supra, p. 544. But where the latter has, by its course'of actiоn, ratified such declarations, representations, or acts, the cáse.is very different.-
■ In the present' case, it appeared 'that the company had discontinued its agency at the place of residence of the insured soon after the policy was issued; and had givеn him notice by mail, from time to time, as the premium instalments became due,- where and to whom to pay them, — sometimes at Savannah, several hundred, miles, and sometimes at Vicksburg, a hundred and fifty miles, from his residence. Such notice, it' would seem, had never been omitted prior to tbe maturity of the last instalment. The effect of the judge’s charge was, that if this was the fact, and if no such 'notice had been given on that occasion, and ' thе failure to pay the premium was solely due "to the want of such notice, it being ready, and being tendered as soon as notice was given, no forfeiture was incurred. We think the charge was correct, under the circumstances of this case. The insured had good reason to expect and to rely on receiving notice to whom and where he should pay that instalment. It had always been given before; the office of the company was a thousand • miles away; and they had always-directed him to pay to an agent, but to different agents at different times.
Although, as we held in the case of
Insurance Company
v.
Davis
(
Let us look at the matter as it stands. The business of life insurance is in the hands of' a few large companies, who are generally located in our large commercial cities. Take a company located, like the plaintiff in error, in New York, for exаmple. It solicits business in every State of the Union,
*579
•where it is represented by its agents, who issue policies, and receive premiums. Could such a сompany get one risk w here it now gets ten, if' it was expected or understood that it was not to have local agents accessible tо the parties' insured, to whom premiums could be paid, instead of having to pay them at the home office in New York? The universal practiсe is otherwise. Local agents are employed. The business could not be conducted on its present basis without them. Now, suppose thе local agent is removed, or ceases to act, without the knowledge of. the policy-holders, and their premiums become due, and they go to the local office to pay them, and find no agent to/.receive them; are these policies to be forfeited? Wоuld the plaintiffs in error, or any other company of good standing, have the courage to say so? We think not. And why not? Simply because the pоlicy-holders would have the right to rely on the general understanding produced by the. previous course of business pursued by the company itgelffithаt payment could be made to a local agent, and that the company would have such an agent at hand, or reasonably accessible. We do not say that this course of business would alter the written contract, or would amount to a new contract relieving the parties from their obligation to pay the premium to the company, if they can find no agent to pay to. That obligation remains. But we are dealing with the question of forfeiture for not paying at the very day; and, in reference to that question, it is a good argument in the mouths of the insured to sаy, “Your course .of business led us to believe that we might pay our premiums at home, and estops you from exacting the penalty of forfeiturе without giving us reasonable notice to pay elsewhere.” The course of business would not- prevent the company, if it saw fit, from discontinuing all its agencies, and requiring the payment of premiums at its counter in New York. But, without giving reasonable notice of such a change, it couid not insist upоn a forfeiture of the policies for. want of prompt payment caused by their failure to give such notice. In the case of
Insurance Company
v. Davis, cited above, the agent’s powers were discontinued by the occurrence of the war, of which all persons had notice; and the lаw of non-intercourse-between belligerents prevented any payment at all; and the
*580
policy became- forfeited and ended withоut any fault attributable to either of the parties. That case, therefore, was entirely, different from the present; and it was in..consequence of such forfeiture in the absence of fault that we .held, in the case of
New York Life Insurance Co.
v.
Statham et al.
(
In the present case, it seems to us that the charge of the judge was in substantial conformity to the principles we have laid down. The insured, residing in the State of Mississippi, had always dealt with agents of the company, located either in his. own State or within some acсessible distance. He had originally taken his policy from, and had paid his first premium to, such an agent; and the company had always, until the last рremium became due, given him notice what agent to pay to. This was necessary, because there was no permanent agent in his vicinity. Thе judge rightly held, that, under these circumstances, he had reasonable cause to rely on having such notice. The company itself did not exрect him to pay at the home office: -it had sent a receipt to an agent located within thirty miles of his residence; but he had no knowledge of this fact, — at least, such was the finding of the jury from the evidence.
We think there was no error in the charge, .and the judgment of the Circuit Court must be
Affirmed.