U.S. Supreme Court U.S. v. ATKINSON, 297 U.S. 157 (1936)

[Page 297 U.S. 157, 160]

In exceptional circumstances, especially in criminal cases, appellate courts, in the public interest, may, of their own motion, notice errors to which no exception has been taken, if the errors are obvious, or if they otherwise seriously affect the fairness, integrity, or public reputation of judicial proceedings. See New York Central R. Co. v. Johnson, 279 U.S. 310, 318, 49 S.Ct. 300; Brasfield v. United States, 272 U.S. 448, 450, 47 S.Ct. 135. But no such case is presented here. The judgment must be affirmed for the reason that the error assigned was not made the subject of appropriate exception or request to charge upon the trial.

Affirmed. Footnotes

Footnote 1 ' 512. Not later than July 2, 1926, all term insurance held by persons who were in the military service after April 6, 1917, shall be converted, without medical examination, into such form or forms of insurance as may be prescribed by regulations and as the insured may request. Regulations shall provide for the right to convert into ordinary life, twenty-payment life, endowment maturing at age sixty-two, and into other usual forms of insurance. ... Provisions for maturity at certain ages, for continuous installments during the life of the insured or beneficiaries, or both, for cash, loan, paidup and extended values, dividends from gains and savings, and such other provisions for the protection and advantage of and for alternative benefits to the insured and the beneficiaries as may be found to be reasonable and practicable, may be provided for in the contract of insurance, or from time to time by regulations.'