No interest, no insurance: under Ins. Code §280, if the insured has no insurable interest, the contract is void. Section 281 is broad: every interest in property, any relation to it, or liability in respect of it is an insurable interest if a contemplated peril might directly damnify the insured. Ownership is not required. Example: a tenant whose lease makes her responsible for fire damage has an insurable interest in the building.

Section 282 says an insurable interest may be: - an existing interest, - an inchoate interest founded on an existing interest, or - an expectancy coupled with an existing interest in that out of which the expectancy arises. Example: an orchard owner may insure this season's expected crop, because the expectancy arises from the orchard she owns.

Section 283: a mere contingent or expectant interest, not founded on an actual right to the thing or on a valid contract for it, is not insurable. Example: a company that only hopes to win a bid to run a garage has no contract and no right in it, so it cannot insure the building.

How much interest? Under §284, the measure is the extent to which the insured might be damnified by loss of the property, except property held by a carrier or depositary. Under §285, a carrier or depositary has an insurable interest in a thing it holds as such, to the extent of its value.