720   INSURABLE INTEREST

is its destruction by fire, the transaction is a direct incentive to fraud and arson. A lawful contract of insurance against fire is, therefore, a contract of indemnity—an engagement to make good to the assured a pecuniary loss sustained by him on account of injury to the property in question. Therefore it is said that the assured must have an interest in the property injured, for other-wise he can suffer no loss thereby. * * *

Accordingly it has been held that a person having a specific lien upon property as a security for a debt, such as a mechanic or mortgagee, has an insurable interest therein; and that, although he may also have the personal obligation of his debtor for the payment of the same. Carter v. Humboldt Fire Ins. Co., supra. And in Herkimer v. Rice, 27 N. Y. 163, it was held that the creditors of an in-solvent estate had an insurable interest therein, upon the ground that the same was pledged by the law to the payment of the debts of the deceased. See, also, comments on Chief Justice 1)ENro's opinion in this case by FoLGER, J., in Rohrbach v. Germania Fire Ins. Co., supra. [62 A. Y. 52] 57. But no case has been found in which it was held that a judgment creditor, by reason simply of his lien on the judgment debtor's property, has an insurable interest there-in. In Grevemeyer v. S. Mut. Fire Ins. Co., [62 Pa. 340], it was distinctly held that he had not. The decision is placed on the ground that "a judgment is a general and not a specified lien. If there be personal property of the debtor it is to be satisfied out of that. If there be not, then it is a lien on all his real estate without discrimination, and hence the plaintiff is not interested in the property as property, but only in the lien." It does not appear from the report of the case whether the debtor had other property out of which the judgment might have been satisfied or not.

In considering this question it ought not to be overlooked that insurance against loss, to the party insured, by fire, is a transaction intended and calculated to preserve and promote the financial security and stability of the community, and therefore ought to be regarded with favor, and upheld by the courts. On the other hand, a wagering policy by which the assured is to receive the insurance upon the destruction of the property, although he lost nothing there• by, the courts will not enforce. But, in my judgment, whoever is in danger of loss by fire ought to be allowed to insure against it. Whenever it appears that the assured has a pecuniary interest in the preservation of the subject-matter of the insurance against injury by fire, he has such an interest therein, or holds such rela• tion thereto, as gives him a right to protect himself by insurance.

A judgment creditor, in Oregon, -upon the docketing of his judgment, has a lien upon all the real property of the judgment debtor within the county as a security for his debt. Or. Code, Civil Proc.

266. But such lien cannot be enforced if sufficient personal property can be found to satisfy the judgment. Id. § 273.