227 Argument for Respondents. 286; United States v. West Virginia, 295 U. S. 463; New Jersey v. Sargent, 269 U. S. 328; Ashwander v. Tennessee Valley Authority, supra. It is generally recognized that declaratory judgments are not applicable to every difference, or to every controversy, that may arise between prospective litigants. In all jurisdictions it has been declared that the court has a discretion in determining whether under the law it should declare a judgment at all in any particular case. Newsum v. Interstate Realty Co., 152 Tenn. 302; 3 Freeman on Judgments, 5th ed., par. 1356; Ziegler v. Pickett, 46 Wyo. 283. The purpose of the proceeding is not to settle any present "rights or other legal relations,” but to settle one particular fact that may later be called into question in a possible suit. The dispute is not even as to a completed fact capable of exact and final ascertainment, but as to a fact probably changing and resting somewhat in opinion. If the insured should now establish the questioned fact, he would not be entitled to a present judgment against the Insurance Company; it would not determine finally his right to a judgment in a future action; the adjudication would not be susceptible of violation and could not call for enforcement; it would not finally adjudicate the standing of the parties. The declaratory procedure is inappropriate to a judicial investigation of disputed facts, or to an inquiry where, as here, if the decision should go in one way it might involve further litigation, or to an inquiry, as here, that would not necessarily lead to a final determination of the right of one litigant to recover against the other. The discretion of the court to refuse to declare a judgment in such cases is generally recognized. Lewis v. Green, L. R. (1905). 2 Ch. Div. 340; Ziegler v. Pickett, 46 Wyo. 283; Newsum v. Interstate Realty Co., 152 Tenn. 302; 3 Freeman, Judgments, 5th ed., par. 1356; Opinion of the Court. 300 U.S. Ladner v. Siegel, 294 Pa. 368; Washington Detroit Theater Co. v. Moore, 249 Mich. 673; 41 Yale L. J., June, 1932, p. 1195; 45 Harv. L. Rev., p. 1089. MR. CHIEF JUSTICE HUGHES delivered the opinion of the Court. The question presented is whether the District Court had jurisdiction of this suit under the Federal Declaratory Judgment Act. Act of June 14, 1934, 48 Stat. 955; Jud. Code, $ 274D; 28 U.S. C. 400. The question arises upon the plaintiff's complaint which was dismissed by the District Court upon the ground that it did not set forth a "controversy” in the constitutional sense and hence did not come within the legitimate scope of the statute. 11 F. Supp. 1016. The decree of dismissal was affirmed by the Circuit Court of Appeals. 84 F. (2d) 695. We granted certiorari. November 16, 1936. 1 * The Act provides: “(1) In cases of actual controversy the courts of the United States shall have power upon petition, declaration, complaint, or other appropriate pleadings to declare rights and other legal relations of any interested party petitioning for such declaration, whether or not further relief is or could be prayed, and such declaration shall have the force and effect of a final judgment or decree and be reviewable as such. “(2) Further relief based on a declaratory judgment or decree may be granted whenever necessary or proper. The application shall be by petition to a court having jurisdiction to grant the relief. If the application be deemed sufficient, the court shall, on reasonable notice, require any adverse party, whose rights have been adjudicated by the declaration, to show cause why further relief should not be granted forthwith. “(3) When a declaration of right or the granting of further relief based thereon shall involve the determination of issues of fact triable by a jury, such issues may be submitted to a jury in the form of interrogatories, with proper instructions by the court, whether a general verdict be required or not." From the complaint it appears that plaintiff is an insurance company which had issued to the defendant, Edwin P. Haworth, five policies of insurance upon his life, the defendant Cora M. Haworth being named as beneficiary. The complaint set forth the terms of the policies. They contained various provisions which for the present purpose it is unnecessary fully to particularize. It is sufficient to observe that they all provided for certain benefits in the event that the insured became totally and permanently disabled. In one policy, for $10,000, issued in 1911, the company agreed, upon receiving the requisite proof of such disability and without further payment of premiums, to pay the sum insured, and dividend additions, in twenty annual instalments, or a life annuity as specified, in full settlement. In four other policies issued in 1921, 1928 and 1929, respectively, for amounts aggregating $30,000, plaintiff agreed upon proof of such disability to waive further payment of premiums, promising in one of the policies to pay a specified amount monthly and in the other three to continue the life insurance in force. By these four policies the benefits to be payable at death, and the cash and loan values to be available, were to be the same whether, the premiums were paid or were waived by reason of the described disability. The complaint alleges that in 1930 and 1931 the insured ceased to pay premiums on the four policies last mentioned and claimed the disability benefits as stipulated. He continued to pay premiums on the first mentioned policy until 1934 and then claimed disability benefits. These claims, which were repeatedly renewed, were presented in the form of affidavits accompanied by certificates of physicians. A typical written claim on the four policies is annexed to the complaint. It states that while these policies were in force, the insured became Opinion of the Court. 300 U.S. totally and permanently disabled by disease and was "prevented from performing any work or conducting any business for compensation or profit”; that on October 7, 1930, he had made and delivered to the company a sworn statement" for the purpose of asserting and claiming his right to have these policies continued under the permanent and total disability provision contained in each of them”; that more than six months before that date he had become totally and permanently disabled and had furnished evidence of his disability within the stated time; that the annual premiums payable in the year 1930 or in subsequent years were waived by reason of the disability and that he was entitled to have the policies continued in force without the payment of premiums so long as the disability should continue. With respect to the policy first mentioned, it appears that the insured claimed that prior to June 1, 1934, when he ceased to pay premiums, he had become totally and permanently disabled; that he was without obligation to pay further premiums and was entitled to the stipulated disability benefits including the continued life of the policy. Plaintiff alleges that consistently and at all times it has refused to recognize these claims of the insured and has insisted that all the policies had lapsed according to their terms by reason of the non-payment of premiums, the insured not being totally and permanently disabled at any of the times to which his claims referred. Plaintiff further states that taking loans into consideration four of the policies have no value and the remaining policy (the one first mentioned) has a value of only $45 as extended insurance. If, however, the insured has been totally and permanently disabled as he claims, the five policies are in full force, the plaintiff is now obliged to pay the accrued instalments of cash disability benefits for which two of the policies provide, and the insured has the right to claim at any time cash surrender values accumulating by reason of the provisions for waiver of premiums, or at his death, Cora M. Haworth, as beneficiary, will be entitled to receive the face of the policies less the loans thereon. Plaintiff thus contends that there is an actual controversy with defendants as to the existence of the total and permanent disability of the insured and as to the continuance of the obligations asserted despite the nonpayment of premiums. Defendants have not instituted any action wherein the plaintiff would have an opportunity to prove the absence of the alleged disability and plaintiff points to the danger that it may lose the benefit of evidence through disappearance, illness or death of witnesses; and meanwhile, in the absence of a judicial decision with respect to the alleged disability, the plaintiff in relation to these policies will be compelled to maintain reserves in excess of $20,000. The complaint asks for a decree that the four policies be declared to be null and void by reason of lapse for nonpayment of premiums and that the obligation upon the remaining policy be held to consist solely in the duty to pay the sum of $45 upon the death of the insured, and for such further relief as the exigencies of the case may require. First. The Constitution limits the exercise of the judicial power to “cases” and “controversies.” “The term 'controversies,' if distinguishable at all from 'cases,' is so in that it is less comprehensive than the latter, and includes only suits of a civil nature.” Per Mr. Justice Field in In re Pacific Railway Comm'n, 32 Fed. 241, 255, citing Chisholm v. Georgia, 2 Dall. 419, 431, 432. See Muskrat v. United States, 219 U. S. 346, 356, 357; Old Colony Trust Co. v. Commissioner, 279 U. S. 716, 723, 724. The Declaratory Judgment Act of 1934, in its limitation to "cases of actual controversy,” manifestly |