The Tokyo District Court on Thursday rejected a request by an impoverished 51-year-old liver cancer patient to let him resell his life insurance policy to raise money for living.
"Allowing trade of a life insurance policyholder's status is tantamount to subjecting human life to trade," presiding Judge Motoki Udagawa said in his ruling, which marked the first time a court has made a judgment on the legality of reselling life insurance policies to dealers.
In the United States, for example, the insurance resale business has flourished, particularly the trading of policies for AIDS patients.
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