Loss

In insurance. The destruction of or damage to the insured subject by the perils insured against, according to the express provisions and construction of the contract. These accidents, or misfortunes, or per-' ils, as they are usually denominated, are all distinctly enumerated in the policy. And no loss, however great or unforeseen, can be a loss within the policy unless it be the direct and immediate consequence of one or more of these perils.

Marsh. Ins. 1, e. 12.

Loss under a life policy is simply the death of the subject by a cause the risk of which is not expressly excepted in the policy, and where the loss is not fraudulent, as where one assured, who assures the life of another for his own benefit, procures the death. Loss in insurance against fire must, under the usual form of policy, be by the partial or total destruction or damage of the thing insured by fire. In maritime insurance, in which loss by fire is one of the risks usually included, the loss insured against may be absolutely or constructively total, or a partial or general average loss, or a particular average. A partial loss is any loss or damage short of, or not amounting to, a total loss; for if it be not the latter, it must be the former. See 4 Mass. 374; 6 Mass. 102, 122, 317; 12 Mass. 170, 288; 8 Johns. (N. Y.) 237; 10 A total loss is such destruction of, or damage to, the thing insured that it is of little or no value to the owner. Partial losses are sometimes denominated average losses, because they are often in the nature of those losses which are the subject of average contributions; and they are distinguished Into general and particular averages. See "Average." Total losses, in maritime insurance, are absolutely such when the entire thing perishes or becomes of no value. Constructively, a loss may become total where the value remaining is of such a small amount that the whole may be surrendered. See "Abandonment." Consult Phil. Ins.; Arnold, Ind.; Pars. Mar. Law.

See Total Loss.