ant. To these answers must be appended the certificate of his
usual medical attendant as to his present and general state of health,
with a like certificate from an intimate personal friend. The party is
then subjected to an examination by the medical examiner of the company,
and, if the application is in all respects satisfactory, a policy is
issued.

On the death of the party assured, and due proof being made thereof, the
company must pay the full sum insured. The time fixed for this payment
varies with different companies. Some agree to pay at thirty, some at
sixty, and some at ninety days after the proofs of death have been
received and duly approved.

The peculiarity of life assurance companies is, that they are required
to pay the entire sum assured on the happening of a single event, making
the loss a total one; but in fire and marine policies there is a
distinction made between total and partial loss.

A clause is usually inserted declaring the policy void in case the
assured should fall in a duel, die by the hands of justice, or by his
own hand, or while engaged in the violation of any public law. An
interesting case in point is reported in the English books. On the 25th
of November, 1824, Henry Fauntleroy, a celebrated banker in London, was
executed for forgery. The Amicable Society of London, the first company
established in England, had written a policy on his life, upon which all
the premiums had been paid. The rules of the company declared that in
such cases the policy was vitiated, but the clause was not inserted in
the instrument. The company resisted payment, but a decision was given
sustaining the validity of the contract, which was, however, reversed,
on an appeal being made to the House of Lords.

This clause, declaring a policy void in case the assured commits
suicide, has given rise to much litigation. Some companies use the word
"suicide," while others insert the words "shall die by his own hand";
but the courts of law in various adjudications have considered the
expressions as amounting to the same thing. The word "suicide" is not to
be found in any English author anterior to the reign of Charles II.
Lexicographers trace it to the Latin word _suicidum_, though that word
does not appear in the older Latin dictionaries. It is really derived
from two Latin words, _se_ and _caedere_,--to slay one's self. The great
commentator on English law, Sir William Blackstone, defines suicide to
be "the act