PREFACE THE object of this book is to present the important facts and problems connected with those forms of insurance which grant protection against loss of property. No attempt has been made to discuss the highly technical aspects of the business, because these are presented in numerous manuals, handbooks, and official reports especially prepared for the purpose, reference to many of which is made in the bibliography. Instead, the author's purpose has been to bring together, in compact form, the important theoretical and legal principles and the leading practices upon which the business is based. The book is prepared chiefly as a text-book for students of insurance in colleges and universities who either intend to enter that profession or who wish to understand its nature as a business and its usefulness to the property owner. It is hoped, however, that it will prove equally valuable to the many who are now engaged in the insurance business as agents or brokers. I desire to acknowledge my obligations to the American Academy of Political and Social Science for its permission to use my two articles on "Marine Insurance in the United States" and "Policy Contracts in Marine Insurance," pubàlished in its Annals for September, 1905; to the publishers of the Business World for permission to reproduce parts of the article on "How Fire Insurance Rates are Made," and of two articles on "Fire Prevention," published in 1907; and to The Fire Insurance Society of Philadelphia for the privilege of reprinting parts of an address given before the Society, in 1906, on "State Supervision and Regulation of Fire Insurance Companies." The material of the foregoing articles, however, has been reclassified, and numerous additions have been made. My thanks are also due to the many officials and representatives of insurance companies who have shown me the utmost courtesy in offering suggestions and in furnishing me with "forms" and other information. Finally, I have to acknowledge, with much gratitude, the intelligent help of Mr. Bruce D. Mudgett, Instructor in Insurance and Commerce at the University of Pennsylvania. I am also under great obligation to Mr. Robert Riegel, who has so cheerfully assisted in the laborious task of reading the proof, verifying the citations and data, and preparing the index. But I need hardly add that these gentlemen are in no way responsible for any mistakes which this book may contain. UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA, S. S. HUEBNER. Definition of Fire Insurance, 3.-The Three Methods of Eliminating Risk, 3.-The Benefits of Insurance Indirect in Character, 4.—The Value of Insurance in Changing Uncertainty of Loss into Certainty, 4.-The Value of Scientific Inspection and Rating of Risks, 6.-Fire In- surance Increasing the Efficiency of Men by Enabling Them to Adventure More Freely, 8.-Fire Insurance as THE POLICY CONTRACT IN FIRE INSURANCE The Fire Insurance Policy a Personal Contract, 14.-The Policy a Contract for Indemnity, 15.-The Policy Indem- nifying Only Against the Actual Destruction of Material Values, 16.-The Company's Liability Limited Only to Loss or Damage Directly Traceable to Fire, 16.-The Rules Underlying the Interpretation of the Contract, 17. PAGES Definition of Insurable Interest, 26.-The Time and Con- tinuity of Insurable Interest, 27.-Examples of Insurable Interest Summarized, 29.-Cases Where No Insurable Mortgagor and Mortgagee Possessing Separate Insurable Interests, 37.-Where the Mortgagee Insures His Own Interest, 37.-The Joining of the Two Interests in the Same Policy, 38.-Assigning the Policy to the Mortgagee by the Mortgagor, 39.-Making the Mortgagor's Policy Payable to the Mortgagee as His Interest May Ap- pear, 39.-Insuring the Mortgagee's Interest Under the "Mortgage Clause," 39.-Copy of the "Mortgage PARTIES TO THE CONTRACT-THE COMPANY AND ITS OR- Types of Companies Classified, 47.-State Statutes Gov- erning the Incorporation, Organization, and Operation, of Fire Insurance Companies, 47.-The Organization of Stock Companies, 53.-The Agency Organization, 54.— The Daily Report, 55.-The Loss Department, 57.-The Organization of Local Mutuals, 58.-Their Advantages and Disadvantages, 59.-State Laws Relating to Local Mutuals, 60.-State Mutuals, 60.-Their Organization, 60.-Reasons for Their General Failure, 60.-Factory Mutuals, 62.-Their Work Along Lines of Fire Preven- tion, 62.-The Reasons for Their Success, 62.-The Or- |