§508-1  Risk of loss.  Any contract made
in this State after April 25, 1941 for the purchase and sale of realty shall be
interpreted as including an agreement that the parties shall have the following
rights and duties, unless the contract expressly provides otherwise:



(1)  If, when neither the legal title nor the
possession of the subject matter of the contract has been transferred, all or a
material part thereof is destroyed without fault of the purchaser or is taken
by eminent domain, the vendor cannot enforce the contract, and the purchaser is
entitled to recover any portion of the price that the purchaser has paid;



(2)  If, when either the legal title or the possession
of the subject matter of the contract has been transferred, all or any part
thereof is destroyed without fault of the vendor or is taken by eminent domain,
the purchaser is not thereby relieved from a duty to pay the price, nor is the
purchaser entitled to recover any portion thereof that the purchaser has paid.
[L 1941, c 109, §1; RL 1945, §9281; RL 1955, §203-1; HRS §508-1; gen ch 1985]