Risks And Perils

In Insurance. Those causes against loss from which the insurer is to be protected in virtue of the contract for insurance. The risk or peril in a life policy is death under a fire policy, damage by fire; and under a marine policy, by perils of the seas, usually including fire; and under a policy upon subjects at risk in lake, river, or canal navigation, by perils of the same. See Insurable Interest; Insurance; Policy; Warranty. Under a marine insurance the risks are from a certain place to a certain other, or from one date to another. The perils usually insured against as “perils of the seas” are — fire, lightning, winds, waves, rocks, shoals, and collisions, and also the perils of hostile capture, piracy, theft, arrest, barratry, and jettisons. 1 Phill. Ins. § 1099. But a distinction is made between the extraordinary action of perils of the seas, for which underwriters are liable, and wear and tear and deterioration by decay, for which they are not liable; 1 Phill. Ins. § 1105. See Perils of tiie Sea. Perils of lakes, rivers, etc., are analogous to those of the seas; 1 Phill. Ins. § 1099, n. Underwriters are not liable for loss occasioned by the gross misconduct of the assured or imputable to him; Biddle, Ins. 981; but if a vessel is seaworthy, with suitable officers and crew, underwriters are liable for loss though occasioned through the mistakes or want of assiduity and vigilance of the officers or men; 1 Phill. Ins, § 1049; Beach, Ins. 922. Underwriters are not answerable for loss directly attributable to the qualifications of the insured subject, independently of the specified risks; 1 Phillips, Ins. c. xiii. sect. v.; or for loss distinctly occasioned by the fraudulent or* gross negligence of the assured. Insurance against illegal risks — such as trading with an enemy, the slave-trade, piratical cruisers, and Illegal kinds of business— is void; 1 Phill. Ins. §§ 210, 091. Policies usually contain express exceptions of some risks besides those impliedly excepted. These may be — in maritime insurance, contraband and illicit, interloping trade, violation of blockade, mobs and civil commotions; in fire policies, loss on jewelry, paintings, sculpture, by hazardous trades, etc.; in life policies, loss by suicide, risk in certain climates or localities, and in certain hazardous employments without express permission; 1 Phill. Ins. §§ 55, 63, 64. See Loss; Total Loss; Average; Perils of the Sea.