pay for property stolen during the progress
of a fire, or during the removal of property necessitated by fire.

An exception of liability from lightning, unless followed by fire,
excludes recovery unless there is loss from burning, but it is quite
common to insure against loss from lightning as well as fire.

Unless there is a stipulation in the policy the insurer is not
relieved from liability by mere negligence or carelessness of the
insured or his servants though directly contributing to the loss; on
the other hand, the insured who does not take reasonable care to avoid
loss from his negligence or that of his servants may defeat recovery
under his policy. This rule is not easy of application, cases of
clearly proved negligence are numerous, also cases free from
negligence, a third class of a doubtful nature. The field of the law
is open in every direction to these.

For a total loss the insurer is liable for the entire value of the
property to the limit covered by the insurance. Thus the loss of a
building is total though some of the walls remain standing, but not
when the remnant can be restored. In some states the statutes provide
that in case of total loss the insurer shall be liable for the full
amount of insurance, and shall not be allowed to show that the
property was of less value than the amount insured.

When the loss is partial the insurer is liable only for the amount of
the loss, not exceeding the insurance. The policy may limit the amount
of recovery to the cost of restoring or replacing the property, and in
such cases this is often done instead of paying the loss in money. If
each of several classes or items is separately valued, thereby
separating the liability for them, the recovery for any one class or
item is limited to the damage to the same.

Lastly, in fixing the loss the distinction between open and valued
policies must be explained. A fire policy is generally written in such
a way that the liability of the insurer depends on the amount of the
loss to be determined after the loss has occurred. When this is done,
the valuation of the property in the application for a policy or in
the policy, does not fix the liability of the insurer, even though the
loss be total. This is called an open policy. On the other hand the
loss may be fixed by a stipulation in the policy, and which binds the
insurer to pay the whole sum insured in case of total loss. This is
called a valued policy. A policy is reg