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32 S. Cal. L. Rev. 227 (1958-1959)
Some Contract Provisions of the California Insurance Code

handle is hein.journals/scal32 and id is 237 raw text is: Southern California Law Review VOL. 32 SPRING, 1959 No. 3 SOME CONTRACT PROVISIONS OF THE CALIFORNIA INSURANCE CODE Edwin W. Patterson* The contract provisions form a relatively minor part of the Insurance Code of California. It is divided into four groupings, one of which is called General Provisions; the other three are called Divisions. By far the greater part of these three divisions is devoted to the regulation of insurers and others engaged in the insurance business and to the admin- istrative officials who are to supervise the insurance business. In Division 1, entitled General Rules Governing Insurance, Part 1, The Contract, consists of nine chapters that establish rules by which to determine the validity and meaning of insurance contracts generally and of their essen- tial terms. The present comments are directed at those chapters, and more particularly at the sections that will be discussed in detail below. The critical remarks about these sections are not intended to reflect upon the great bulk of the Insurance Code which is, for the most part, admirably drafted and kept down to date. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for the contract provisions mentioned above. Many of them, it is believed, are or have become at least partly obsolete. In part their present defects are due to changes in the practices of insurers since these provisions were originally drafted. Some examples will be mentioned below. In part they are obsolete be- cause of changes in case law and legislation. For instance, the right of a third person to recover on a contract made for his benefit was at least uncertain when these provisions were drafted. Again, some of these pro- visions were, it is believed, ineptly drafted or plainly erroneous at the very beginning. Furthermore, there are some sections that are scarcely recon- cilable with others in the same chapter. Even when they are not confusing or wrong, many of them are at least useless deadwood in the Insurance Code. *Legion Lex Visiting Professor of Law, University of Southern California, 1958-59; Car- dozo Professor Emeritus of Jurisprudence, Columbia University.

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