from
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
USURPED POWER, insurance. By an article of the printed proposals which are
considered as making a part of the contract of insurance it is provided,
that "No loss of damage by fire, happening by any invasion, foreign enemy,
or any military or usurped power whatsoever will be made good by this
company." Lord Chief J. Wilmot, Mr. Justice Clive, and Mr. Justice Bathurst,
against the opinion of Mr. Justice Gould, determined that the true import of
the words usurped power in the proviso, was an invasion, from abroad, or an
internal rebellion, where armies are drawn up against each other, when the
laws are silent, and when the firing of towns becomes unavoidable; but that
those words could not mean the power of a common mob. 2 Marsh. Ins. 390.