FORMS OF LAW

Legislation

Case Law

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Law versus Equity

Administrative Decisions

RELATIONSHIP OF THE JUDICIARY TO LEGISLATIVE LAW

CLASSIFICATION OF COURTS

Federal Courts

State Courts

JURISDICTION OF COURTS

CONFLICT OF LAWS

The following chapters are designed for the student of the principles of law that govern the creation and marketing of life and health insurance contracts. They are not intended to turn the student into an insurance lawyer. The goal is to enable the student to become sufficiently expert in the topics covered so that he or she may legitimately lay claim to the title of insurance professional.

It is not sufficient that a student or practitioner of life insurance understand only the economic and mathematical bases of the subject; he or she must also have a firm grasp of the basic legal relationships that have largely shaped its formal structure and influenced its content. The law of life insurance is derived predominantly from the general law of contracts; yet, contract law as applied to insurance contracts has been profoundly modified by the needs of the insurance business. On the one hand, insurance companies have sought to condition and limit the risks they assume; on the other hand, the insuring public has required and obtained protection against insurance companies� excessively legalistic interpretations of policy provisions. The resulting law is a compromise between these conflicting demands. The core of our study will be contract law, but one who knows only contract law will not fully grasp the law of insurance contracts.

This chapter is not concerned with legal abstractions and esoteric concepts. It deals with concrete legal principles and situations that field and home office representatives are certain to meet in the ordinary course of business. Most of the principles are encountered on a recurring�if not daily�basis. Recognition of situations and actions that have legal significance will enable life insurance company representatives to provide better service to the insuring public and more protection to their company against involuntary assumption of risk and unfavorable litigation.

Through a brief summary of the forms of law, the American judicial system, the general principles of contract interpretation, and the unique legal characteristics of a life insurance contract, this chapter will enhance the student�s comprehension of the basic legal principles underlying life insurance.