Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 2.djvu/899

 892 FEDERAL REPORTER. �WaTERS V. CONNBCTICUT MuTUAL LiFE ItîS. Co. {Circuit Court, D. Neie Jersey. , 1880,) �LiPE Insuhancb — PoLicT — " DiB BT His owN Hand." — A. mail does not " die by his own hand," within the meaning of a danse iii a life Insur- ance policy, although he puts an end to bis life, if impelled to the act by an insane impulse which he bas not the power to resist, orcommits the act without a knowledge, at the time, of its moral character, and its consequences and eflects. �Insanity. — "In law a man is insane when he is not capable of under- standing (1) that a design is unlawful, or that an act is morally wrong; or, (2,) understanding this, when he is unable to control his conduct in the light of such knowledge." �Thos. N. McCarter, for plaintiff. �Courtlandt Parker, for defendant. �Assu7npsit. �Nixon, D. J., (charging jury.) There are no eontroverted questions of law in the case. It turns upon questions of fact, and it is the duty of the jury to determine these. But a few suggestions will not be eut of place. The action is upon a contract, and we must so construe it as to give effect to the intention of the parties. The contract was between the plaintiff and the defendant corporation. The $2,500 payable upon the death of the husband was to be paid to the wife — not an unusual, and in many cases a proper, method of mak- ing provision for a family by a husband, where the family depends upon his earnings for support. On the fifteenth of October, 1862, the plaintiff obtained a policy for the sum of $2,500 in the defendant company, payable to her on the death of her husband, or in the event of her death before his decease then payable to her children. No question is made but that the annual premiums were duly paid to the company from the date of the insurance to the death of the assured. It is sufficient for the purposes of this case to say that the company inserted in the policy, and the plaintiff agreed to the proviso, that nothing should be due and payable by the company if the assured, Matthew Watera, should "die by his own hand." This expression is not to be taken literally. ����