Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 6.djvu/160

 148 PEDBBAL REPORTER. �there can be no doubt. Thompson v. Whitman, 18 Wall. 457; Knowles v. Gas-light e Coke Co. 19 Wall. 58. �It is claimed by defendant that it is not liable because it had cancelled the policy of Insurance. The policy contains, among other provisions, the following : "It is also a condi- tion of this insurance that it may be terminated at any time at the request of the assured, in which case the Company shall retain only the customary short rates for the time the policy bas been in force. The insurance may also be termi- nated at any time at the option of the company by giving notice to that effeot, and refanding a ratable proportion of the premium for the unexpired term of the policy." It is within the province of the parties to a contract of insurance to stipulate in the policy that the assured may at any time terminale the contract and surrender the policy, and be enti- tled to a ratable portion of the unearned premiums ; and that the insurer may at any time at its option terminate the con- tract and cancel the policy by giving notice to the assured to that effeet, and paying to him a ratable portion of the pre- mium for the unexpired term. This policy of insurance con- tains such a stipulation. The right, however, to terminate a contract of insurance which has been fairly entered into, and bas taken effeet, by this method, is a right -which can only be exercised by either party by a strict compliance with the terms of the policy relating to cancellation. Where such a contract has been entered into and has taken effeet, and either partj' claims that the contract has been terminated and put an end to by virtue of such provisions, it devolves upon such party to establish by the evidence that the con- tract has thus been terminated; and so in this case, the defendant claiming that the contract has been terminated, it must satisfy your minds by the evidence that it had given the plaintiff notice of the cancellation of the policy, and that it had returned or tendered to him a ratable portion of the premium for the unexpired term of the policy. The notice must not be that the policy would be cancelled in the future, but that it is cancelled, and the payment of the premium ��� �