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Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Edition (1856)

RISK. A danger, a peril to which a thing is exposed. The subject will be
divided by considering, 1. Risks with regard to insurances. 2. Risks in the
contracts of sale, barter, &c.
2.-Sec. 1. In the contract of insurance, the insurer takes upon him
the risks to which the subject of the insurance is exposed, and agrees to
indemnify the insured when a loss occurs. This is equally the case in marine
and terrestrial insurance. But as the rules which govern these several
contracts are not the same, the subject of marine risks will be considered,
and, afterwards, of terrestrial risks.
3.-1st. Marine risks are perils which are incident to a sea voyage; 1
Marsh. Ins. 215; or those fortuitous events which may happen in the course
of the voyage. Poth. Contr. d'assur. n. 49; Pardes. Dr. Com. n. 770. It will
be proper to consider, 1. Their nature. 2. Their duration.
4.-1. The nature of the risks usually insured against. These risks
may be occasioned by storms, shipwreck, jetsam, prize, pillage, fire, war,
reprisals, detention by foreign governments, contribution to losses
experienced for the common benefit, or for expenses which would not have
taken place if it had not been for such events. But the insurer may by
special contract limit his responsibility for these risks. He may insure
against all risks, or only against enumerated risks; for the benefit of
particular persons, or for whom it may concern. 2 Wash. C. C. R. 346; 1
John. Cas. 337; 2 John. Cas. 480 1 Pet. 151 2 Mass.,365; 8 Mass. 308. The
law itself has made some exceptions founded on public policy, which require
that in certain cases men shall not be permitted to protect themselves
against some particular perils by insurance; among these are, first, that no
man can insure any loss or damage proceeding directly from his own fault. 1
John. Cas. 337; Poth. h.t. n. 65; Pard. h.t. n. 771; Marsh. Ins. 215.
Secondly, nor can be insure risks or perils of the sea, upon a trade
forbidden by the laws. Thirdly, the risks excluded by the usual memorandum
(q.v.) contained in the policy. Marsh. Ins. 221.
5. As the insurance is upon maritime risks, the accidents must have
happened on the sea, unless the agreement include other risks. The loss by
accidents which might happen on land in the course of the voyage, even when
the unloading may have been authorized by the policy, or is required by
local regulations, as where they are necessary for sanitary measures, is not
borne by the insurer. Pard. Dr. Com. n. 770.
6.-2. As to the duration of the risk. The commencement and end of the
risk depend upon the words of the policy. The insurer may take and modify
what risks he pleases. The policy may be on a voyage out, or a voyage in, or
it may be for part of the route, or for a limited time, or from port to
port. See 3 Kent, Com. 254; Pard. Dr. Com. n. 775; Marsh. 246; 1 Binn. 592.
The duration of the risk on goods is considered in Marsh. Ins. 247 a; on
ships, p. 280; on freight, p. 278, and 12 Wheat. 383.
7.-2d. In insurances against fire, the risks and losses insured
against, are all losses or damages by fire; but, as in cases of marine
insurances, this may be limited as to the things insured, or as to the cause
or occasion of the accident, and many policies exclude fires caused by a mob
or the enemies of the commonwealth. The duration of the policy is limited by
its own provisions.
8.-3d. In insurances on lives, the risks are the death of the party
from whatever cause, but in general the following risks are excepted,
namely: 1. Death abroad or in a district excluded by the terms of the
policy. 2. Entering into the naval or military service without the consent
of the insurer. 3. Death by suicide. 4. Death by duelling. 5. Death by the
hands of justice. See Insurance on lives. The duration of the risks is
limited by the terms of the policy.
9.-Sec. 2. As a general rule, whenever the sale has been completed;
the risk of loss of the things sold is upon the buyer; but until it is
complete, and while something remains to be done by either party, in
relation to it, the risk is on the seller; as, if the goods are to be
weighed or measured. See Sale.
10. In sales, the risks to which property is exposed and the loss which
may occur, before the contract is fully complete, must be borne by him in
whom the title resides: when the bargain, therefore, is made and rendered
binding by giving earnest, or by part payment, or part delivery, or by a
compliance with the requisitions of the statute of frauds, the property, and
with it the risk, attaches to the purchaser. 2 Kent, Com. 392.
11. In Louisiana, as soon as the contract of sale is completed, the
thing sold is at the risk of the buyer, but with the following
modifications: Until the thing sold is delivered to the buyer, the seller is
obliged to guard it as a faithful administrator, and if through his want of
care, the thing is destroyed, or its value diminished, the seller is
responsible for the loss. He is released from this degree of care, when the
buyer delays obtaining the possession: but he is still liable for any injury
which the thing sold may sustain through gross neglect on his part. If it
is the seller who delays to deliver the thing, and it be destroyed, even by
a fortuitous event, it is be who sustains the loss, unless it appears that
the fortuitous event would equally have occasioned the destruction of the
thing in the buyer's possession, after delivery. Art. 2442-2445. For the
rules of the civil law on this subject, see Inst. 2, 1, 41; Poth. Contr. de
Vente, 4eme partie, n. 308, et seq.