244   RIGHTS OF BENEFICIARY, INSURED AND ASSIGNEE

upon the authority of the recitals in this act. It was in this indirect way that the doctrine in question, as to marine policies, first crept into the law. It was important to show this, because the effect of what I consider as the inadvertence of the court in Depaba v. Ludlow was not confined to policies upon ships. It must have been, I think in consequence of the doctrine initiated by that case, that it came to be understood in England that, in insurances upon lives, it was not necessary at common law that the party to be benefited by the policy should have an interest in the life insured. There may not have been any direct decision to that effect; yet, that such was the prevalent impression, is to be inferred from the enactment of the statute of 14 George III (ch. 48), prohibiting insurances upon lives where the person insuring had no interest in the life. Angell, in speaking of this statute, says: "At common law it seemed to have been thought unnecessary that, at the time of effecting the policy, the assured should have had any interest which might be prejudiced by the happening of the event insured against." (Ang. on Life and Fire Ins., § 297.) In New Jersey they have no such statute; and the question now to be decided, there-fore, is, whether the impression which seems to have prevailed in England prior to the statute of 14 George III was well founded.

That impression does not appear to be supported by any adjudged case. Life insurance seems not to have been practised to a great extent in England until a comparatively modern date, and the probability is, that as soon as such insurance became frequent, the evils of gambling in them was so apparent that Parliament inter-posed, upon the assumption that the same rule would be applied to them as to insurance upon ships. I cannot regard that act as affording any very strong evidence, that, at common law, wagering policies upon lives were valid. It seems to me, that, were the naked question presented, whether such a policy comes within the admitted exception to the validity of wagers in general, that is, whether it is repugnant to a sound public policy, no court, not hampered by some unfortunate or mistaken precedent, would hesitate for a moment in holding the affirmative. In Massachusetts, in Vermont, in Pennsylvania, and I believe other States, it has been so held in regard to wager policies in general. But policies without interest, upon lives, are more pernicious and dangerous than any other class of wager policies; because temptations to tamper with Iife are more mischievous than incitements to mere pecuniary frauds.

Chancellor Kent was evidently embarrassed by the position of this question in England. He commences his remarks on the subject by saying that "the party insuring must have an interest in the life insured," and then immediately refers to the English statute, of 14 George III, chapter 48, but says not a word upon the question whether at common law an interest was necessary. He, however,