PART I. And report published. Proceedings upon report. Comptrol ler, when to tificates. do; and for that purpose the comptroller or the person or per sons so appointed by him, shall have power to examine, under oath, the officers and agents of any company relative to the business of said company; and whenever the comptroller shall deem it for the interest of the public so to do, he shall publish the result of such investigation in one or more papers in this state. $6. Whenever it shall appear to the comptroller, from examination made under his direction, that the assets are not sufficient to insure the outstanding risks of any company incorporated in this state, he shall communicate the fact to the attorney general, whose duty it shall then become to apply to the supreme court for an order requiring them to show cause why the business of such company should not be closed, and the court shall thereon proceed to hear the allegations and proofs of the respective parties; and in case it shall appear to the satisfaction of said court that the assets and funds of the said company are not sufficient as aforesaid, the said court shall decree a dissolution of said company and a distribution of its effects, including the securities deposited in the hands of the comptroller. The supreme court shall have power to refer the application of the attorney general to a referee to inquire and report upon the facts stated therein. $ 7. Whenever it shall appear to the comptroller from the revoke cer- report of the person or persons appointed by him, that the affairs of any foreign company, as aforesaid, are in an unsound condition, he shall revoke all such certificates in behalf of such company, and shall cause a notification thereof to be published in the state paper for four weeks, and the agent of such company is, after such notice, required to discontinue the issuing of any new policy. Manner of closing business. Penalties. S8. When any company transacting the business of life insurance within the state of New York, shall desire to relinquish its business, the comptroller shall, on application of such company or association, under the oath of the president or principal officer, and secretary, give notice of such intention in the state paper at least twice a week, for six months; and after such publication he shall deliver up to such company or association, the securities held by him belonging to them, on being satisfied by the exhibition of the books and papers of such company or association and the examination aforesaid, and upon the oath of the president or principal officer, and secretary of the same, that all debts and liabilities of every kind are paid and extinguished, that are due or may become due upon any contract or agreement, made with any citizen of this state. S9. Every violation of this act shall subject the party violating to a penalty of five hundred dollars for each violation, which shall be sued for and recovered in the name of the people, by the district attorney of the county in which the company or the agent or agents so violating shall be situated. and one-half of the said penalty, when recovered, shall be paid into the treasury of said county, and the other half to the informer of such violation; and in case of the non-payment of such penalty, the party so offending shall be liable to imprisonment for a period not exceeding six months, in the discretion of any court having cognizance thereof. 20 B., 68. CHAP. XX. 10. So much of the act passed April tenth, one thousand Repeal. eight hundred and forty-nine, in relation to the incorporation of insurance companies, as is inconsistent with the provisions of this act, is hereby repealed. Ante, p. 202. CHAP. 188. AN ACT in relation to mutual fire insurance companies. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows: $1. No member of any mutual fire insurance company, organized under the laws of this state, shall be allowed to vote by proxy for a director, or directors, of any such company. [See Ante, vol. 3, p. 682, for Laws of 1852, ch. 71, for the duties of Receivers, and particularly of Mutual Insurance Companies.] CHAP. 123. AN ACT to amend an act entitled "An act to provide for the incorporation of Insurance companies," passed April tenth, one thousand eight hundred and forty-nine. PASSED April 1, 1852. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows : U.S. $1. It shall and may be lawful, for any marine insurance Agencies company to be organized pursuant to the provisions of the beyond the said act hereby amended, to establish and maintain one or more agencies beyond the United States, for the transaction of its lawful business, upon such terms and conditions as the said company may prescribe. $2. In case any such agency or agencies shall be estab- In Asia or lished in Asia or Europe, the statement required by the Europe. thirteenth section of the said act hereby amended, may be deferred for the space of five months from and after the first day of January in each year, and when made, it shall refer to the first day of January then next preceding. PART I. Company may be created. to make insurance on life only, CHAP. 463. AN ACT to provide for the incorporation of life and health insurance companies, and in relation to agencies of such companies. PASSED June 24, 1853. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows: § 1. Any number of persons, not less than thirteen in number, may associate and form an incorporation or company for the purposes specified in either of the following departments: First department. To make insurance upon the lives of individuals and every insurance appertaining thereto or connected therewith, and to grant, purchase or dispose of annuities. Second department. To make insurance upon the health of individ uals, and against personal injury, disablement or death, resulting from travelling, or general accidents by land or water, and guaranteeing the fidelity of persons holding places of public or private trust, and upon the lives of horses, cattle and other live stock, and also against loss, damage or liability arising from any unknown or contingent event whatever which may be the subject of legal insurance except the perils and risks included within the departments of fire, marine and life insurance. Every company organized under this act shall have authority to reinsure risk herein authorized to be undertaken. any As amended by Laws of 1865, ch. 328. Post, vol. 6, p. 468. Companies § 2. No company, partnership,or association, organized or incorpor ated by or under the laws of this or any other state of the United States or any foreign government, transacting the business of life insurance in this state, shall be permitted or allowed to take any other kind of annuities. risks except those connected with or appertaining to making insurance on life, and the granting, purchasing and disposing of annuities; nor shall the business of life insurance in this state be in any wise conducted or transacted by any company, partnership or association, which Exception. in this, or any other state or country, makes insurance on marine or fire risks, excepting by such foreign companies and associations as shall have already made the deposit in the insurance department required for the transaction of life insurance business in this state. Corporators may file Thus amended by Laws of 1862, ch. 300. § 3. The persons referred to in the first section of this act shall declaration. be designated as corporators, and they shall file in the office of tho comptroller, a declaration signed by each of the corporators, setting forth their intentions to form a company for the purposes named in this act, which declaration shall comprise a copy of the charter they propose to adopt, and the said charter shall set forth the name of the company; the place where it is to be located; the kind of business to be undertaken by referring to and repeating the department of the first section of this act to which they refer; the mode and manner in which the corporate powers of the company are to be exercised; the manner of electing the trustees or directors and officers, a majority of whom shall be citizens of this state, and the time of such election; the manner of filling vacancies; the amount of capital to be employed; and such other particulars as may be necessary to explain and make manifest the objects and purposes of the company, and the manner in which it is to be conducted. CHAP. XX. general to certify to declaration. $4. Whenever the corporators shall file such declaration Attorneywith the comptroller, it shall become his duty to submit the same to the attorney general for examination; and, if found by him to be in accordance with the provisions of this act, and not inconsistent with the constitution and laws of the United States and of this state, he shall certify to the same and deliver it back to the comptroller, who shall cause the said declaration, with the certificate of the attorney general, to be recorded in a book to be kept for that purpose, and, upon application of the corporators to the comptroller, it shall become his duty to furnish a certified copy of such declaration and certificate to the said corporators.. intention to books for $5. Whenever the corporators shall have received from the To publish comptroller the certified copy provided for in the last section, form comand desire to proceed to organize such company, they shall pany. publish their intentions in the paper in which the state notices are directed to be inserted; and when such intentions have been published in said paper for six weeks, they may open And open books to receive subscriptions to the capital stock, and keep subscrip such books open until the amount required by this act is subscribed, and may then proceed to distribute the stock among the subscribers, if more than the necessary amount is subscribed, and proceed to collect in the said capital and complete the organization of the company. tion. stock of $6. No company shall be organized under this act, for the Capital purposes mentioned in the first department, with a less capi- companies tal than one hundred thousand dollars, and no company shall be organized, for the purposes mentioned in the second department, with a less capital than twenty-five thousand dollars. The whole capital of such company shall, before proceeding to business, be paid in and invested in stocks or in treasury notes of the United States or of the state of New York, or in bonds and mortgages on improved unincumbered real estate within the State of New York, worth seventy-five per cent more than the amount loaned thereon, exclusive of farm buildings thereon, or in such stocks or securities as now are or may hereafter be receivable by the banking department. And it shall be lawful for any company organized under this act, to change and re-invest its capital, or any part thereof, at any time they may desire, in the stocks or bonds and mortgages or securities aforesaid. No company organized for the purposes mentioned in the first department, shall commence business until they have deposited with the superintendent of the insurance department of this state the sum of one hundred thousand dollars in United States or New York State stocks in all cases to be or to be made to be equal Deposits to be made with super intendent. PART I. Comptroller to furnish to stock producing six per cent per annum, and not to be received at a rate above their par value or above their current market value, or in bonds and mortgages of the description and character above indicated; and no company organized for the purposes named in the second department shall commence business until they have deposited with the Superintendent of the Insurance Department of this State the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars, invested as herein before provided for the investment of the capital of such company. The Superintendent of the Insurance Department shall hold such securities as security for policy holders in said companies, but so long as any company so depos iting shall continue solvent, may permit such company to collect the interest or dividends on its securities so deposited, and from time to time to withdraw any of such securities on depositing with the said Superintendent such other securities of like value as those withdrawn, and of the same character and to be received as those above mentioned. Thus amended by Laws of 1862, ch. 300. See Laws of 1865, ch. 328. Post, vol. 6, p. 468. § 7. Whenever the corporators shall have fully organized such comcertificate pany, and the said company have deposited with the comptroller the of deposit. requisite amount of capital, it shall become his duty to furnish the corporation with a certificate of such deposit, which, with a certified copy of the papers previously required under this act, shall, when filed in the county clerk's office of the county where such company is to be located, be the authority to commence business and issue policies, and the same may be used in evidence for and against the corporation Funds may be invested in bonds and mortgages. To hold in all suits. § 8. It shall be lawful for any life insurance company organized under this act or under any other law of this state in relation to life or health insurance companies, to invest its funds or accumulations in bonds and mortgages on unincumbered real estate within the State of New York, worth fifty per cent more than the sum so loaned thereon, exclusive of buildings, unless such buildings be insured in a good and solvent insurance company or companies and the policy or policies of insurance be assigned as collateral security for the monies loaned, or in stocks or treasury notes of the United States, stocks of this state, or stocks of any incorporated city of this state, and to lend the same or any part thereof on the security of such bonds and mortgages, and upon the pledge of such stocks, or treasury notes; provided that the current market value of such stocks or treasury notes shall be at least ten per cent more than the sum so loaned thereon, and in all cases when by the laws of any of the states of the United States, such company or companies are required to invest in the stocks or bonds of said states or any of them, such company may make application to the Superintendent of the Insurance Department of the State of New York for leave to invest in the stocks or bonds of such state or states, and may, upon obtaining such leave in writing, invest in the bonds or stocks of such state or states such an amount and in such manner as the said Superintendent shall authorize and empower the said company or companies to do. As amended by Laws of 1866, ch. 525. Post, vol. 6, p. 770. § 9. No company organized under this act shall be permitted to real estate. purchase, hold or convey real estate, except for the purposes and in the manner herein set forth, to wit: 1. Such as shall be requisite for its immediate accommodation in the transaction of its business; or, |