2556. A change of interest, by will or succession, on the death of the insured, does not avoid an insurance; and his interest in the insurance passes to the person taking his interest in the thing insured.

2557. A transfer of interest by one of several partners, joint owners, or owners in common, who are jointly insured, to the others, does not avoid an insurance, even though it has been agreed that the insurance shall cease upon an alienation of the thing insured.

2558. Every stipulation in a policy of insurance for the payment of loss whether the person insured has or has not any interest in the property insured, or that the policy shall be received as proof of such interest and every policy executed by way of gaming or wagering, is void. 1873-255.

2561. A neglect to communicate that which a party knows, and ought to communicate, is called a concealment.

2562. A concealment, whether intentional or unintentional, entitles the injured party to rescind a contract of insurance.

2563. Each party to a contract of insurance must communicate to the other, in good faith, all facts within his knowledge which are or which he believes to be material to the contract, and which the other has not the means of ascertaining, and as to which he makes no warranty.

2564. Neither party to a contract of insurance is bound to communicate information of the matters following, except in answer to the inquiries of the other:

1. Those which the other knows;

2. Those which, in the exercise of ordinary care, the other ought to know, and of which the former has no reason to suppose him ignorant;

3. Those of which the other waives communication;

4. Those which prove or tend to prove the existence of a risk excluded by a warranty, and which are not otherwise material; and,

5. Those which relate to a risk excepted from the policy, and which are not otherwise material.

2565. Materiality is to be determined not by the event, but solely by the probable and reasonable influence of the facts upon the party to whom the communication is due, in forming his estimate of the disadvantages of the proposed contract, or in making his inquiries.

2566. Each party to a contract of insurance is bound to know all the general causes which are open to his inquiry, equally with that of the other, and which may affect either the political or material perils contemplated; and all general usages of trade.

2567. The right to information of material facts may be waived, either by the terms of insurance or by neglect to make inquiries as to such facts, where they are distinctly implied in other facts of which information is communicated.

2568. Information of the nature or amount of the interest of one insured need not be communicated unless in answer to an inquiry, except as prescribed by section two thousand five hundred and eighty

seven.

2569. An intentional and fraudulent omission, on the part of one insured, to communicate information of matters proving or tending to prove the falsity of a warranty, entitles the insurer to rescind.

2570. Neither party to a contract of insurance is bound to communicate, even upon inquiry, information of his own judgment upon the matters in question.

2571. A representation may be oral or written.

2572. A representation may be made at the same time with issuing the policy, or before it.

2573. The language of a representation is to be interpreted by the same rules as the language of contracts in general.

2574. A representation as to the future is to be deemed a promise, unless it appears that it was merely a statement of belief or expectation.

2575. A representation cannot be allowed to qualify an express provision in a contract of insurance; but it may qualify an implied warranty.

2576. A representation may be altered or withdrawn before the insurance is effected, but not afterwards.

2577. The completion of the contract of insurance is the time to which a representation must be presumed to refer.

2578. When a person insured has no personal knowledge of a fact, he may nevertheless repeat information which he has upon the subject, and which he believes to be true, with the explanation that he does so on the information of others, or he may submit the information, in its whole extent, to the insurer; and in neither case is he responsible for its truth, unless it proceeds from an agent of the insured, whose duty it is to give the intelligence.

2579.

A representation is to be deemed false when the facts fail to correspond with its assertions or stipulations.

2580. If a representation is false in a material point, whether affirmative or promissory, the injured party is entitled to rescind the contract from the time when the representation becomes false.

2581. The materiality of a representation is determined by the same rule as the materiality of a concealment.

2582. The provisions of this article apply as well to a modification of a contract of insurance as to its original formation.

2583. Whenever a right to rescind a contract of insurance is given to the insurer by any provision of this chapter, such right may be exercised at any time previous to the commencement of an action on the contract. 1873-255.

2586. The written instrument, in which a contract of insurance is set forth, is called a policy of insurance.

2587. A policy of insurance must specify:

1. The parties between whom the contract is made;

2. The rate of premium;

3. The property or life insured;

4. The interest of the insured in property insured, if he is not the absolute owner thereof;

5. The risks insured against; and,

6. The period during which the insurance is to continue.

2588. When the name of the person intended to be insured is specified in a policy, it can be applied only to his own proper interest.

2589. When an insurance is made by an agent or trustee, the fact that his principal or beneficiary is the person really insured may be indicated by describing him as agent or trustee, or by other general words in the policy.

2590. To render an insurance, effected by one partner or partowner, applicable to the interest of his co-partners, or of other part-owners, it is necessary that the terms of the policy should be such as are applicable to the joint or common interest.

2591. When the description of the insured in a policy is so general that it may comprehend any person or any class of persons, he only can claim the benefit of the policy who can show that it was intended to include him.

2592. A policy may be so framed that it will inure to the benefit of whomsoever, during the continuance of the risk, may become the owner of the interest insured.

2593. The mere transfer of a thing insured does not transfer the policy, but suspends it until the same person becomes the owner of both the policy and the thing insured.

2594. A policy is either open or valued.

2595. An open policy is one in which the value of the thing insured is not agreed upon, but is left to be ascertained in case of loss.

2596. A valued policy is one which expresses on its face an agreement that the thing insured shall be valued at a specified sum.

2597. A running policy is one which contemplates successive insurances, and which provides that the object of the policy may be from time to time defined, especially as to the subjects of insurance, by additional statements or indorsements.

2598. An acknowledgment in a policy of the receipt of premium is conclusive evidence of its payment, so far as to make the policy binding, notwithstanding any stipulation therein that it shall not be binding until the premium is actually paid.

2599. An agreement made before a loss, not to transfer the claim of a person insured against the insurer, after the loss has happened, is void.

2603. A warranty is either express or implied.

2604. No particular form of words is necessary to create a warranty.

2605. Every express warranty, made at or before the execution of a policy, must be contained in the policy itself, or in another instrument signed by the insured and referred to in the policy, as making a part of it. 1873-255.

2606. A warranty may relate to the past, the present, the future, or to any or all of these.

2607. A statement in a policy, of a matter relating to the person or thing insured, or to the risk, as a fact, is an express warranty thereof.

2608. A statement in a policy, which imports that it is intended to do or not to do a thing which materially affects the risk, is a warranty that such act or omission shall take place.

2609. When, before the time arrives for the performance of a warranty relating to the future, a loss insured against happens, or performance becomes unlawful at the place of the contract, or impossible, the omission to fulfill the warranty does not avoid the policy. 1873-255.

2610. The violation of a material warranty, or other material provision of a policy, on the part of either party thereto, entitles the other to rescind.

2611. A policy may declare that a violation of specified provisions thereof shall avoid it, otherwise the breach of an immaterial provision does not avoid the policy.

2612. A breach of warranty. without fraud, merely exonerates an insurer from the time that it occurs, or where it is broken in its inception prevents the policy from attaching to the risk.

2616. An insurer is entitled to payment of the premium as soon as the thing insured is exposed to the peril insured against.

2617. A person insured is entitled to a return of premium, as follows:

One. To the whole premium, if no part of his interest in the thing insured be exposed to any of the perils insured against.

Two. Where the insurance is made for a definite period of time, and the insured surrenders his policy, to such proportion of the premium as corresponds with the unexpired time, after deducting from the whole premium any claim for loss or damage under the policy which has previously accrued. 1873-256.

2618. If a peril insured against has existed, and the insurer has been liable for any period, however short, the insured is not entitled to return of premiums, so far as that particular risk is concerned. 1873-256.

2619. A person insured is entitled to a return of the premium when the contract is voidable, on account of the fraud or misrepresentation of the insurer, or on account of facts, of the existence of which the insured was ignorant without his fault; or when, by any default of the insured other than actual fraud, the insurer never incurred any liability under the policy.

2620. In case of an over-insurance by several insurers, the insured is enttiled to a ratable return of the premium, proportioned to the