240   RIGHTS OF BENEFICIARY, INSURED AND ASSIGNEE (b) WHERE THE BENEFICIARY IS THE MOVING PARTY.

(1) Stranger to Insured as Beneficiary.

ST. 14 GEO. III, c. 48 (1774).

An act for regulating insurance upon lives, and for prohibiting all such insurances, except in cases where the persons insuring shall have an interest in the life or death of the persons insured.

Whereas it bath been found by experience, that the making insurances on lives, or other events, wherein the assured shall have no interest, bath introduced a mischievous kind of gaming: For remedy whereof, be it enacted by the King's most excellent majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the lords, spiritual and temporal, and commons, in this present parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, That from and after the passing of this act, no insurance shall be made by any person or persons, bodies politick or corporate, on the life or lives of any person or persons, or on any other event or events whatsoever, wherein the person or persons for whose use, benefit, or on whose account such policy or policies shall be made, shall have no interest, or by way of gaming or wagering; and that every assurance made, contrary to the true intent and meaning hereof, shall be null and void, to all intents and purposes whatsoever.

2. And be it further enacted, That it shall not be lawful to make any policy or policies on the life or lives of any person or persons, or other event or events, without inserting in such policy or policies the person or persons, name or names interested therein, or for whose use, benefit or on whose account, such policy is so made or underwrote.

3. And be it further enacted, That in all cases where the insured hath interest in such life or lives, event or events, no greater sum shall be recovered or received from the insurer or insurers than the amount or value of the interest of the insured in such life or lives or other event or events.

4. Provided always, That nothing herein contained shall extend, or be construed to extend, to insurances bona fide made by any per-son or persons, on ships, goods or merchandizes, but every such insurance shall be valid and effectual in the law, as if this act had not been made.3

3 "* * To a wagering contract, as thus defined, the chief objection is that it leads to an unearned gain—'unearned' in the sense that wagering is not socially productive. It is difficult to define the objection, and it has seldom undergone judicial analysis. The harmful social consequences are numerous. Vaguely, a sense of antagonism is aroused in a community of workers against persons who obtain a means of livelihood without participating in the machinery of social or economic production and distribution—in short, against 'social slackers.' More specifically, unearned gains lead to idleness, and the wagerer becomes a