LAWS RELATING TO THE INSURANCE DEPARTMENT. Chap. 366. AN ACT TO ESTABLISH AN INSURANCE DEPARTMENT, passed April 15, 1859 (three-fifths being present); with amendments and additions to January 1st, 1866. SECTION 1. Separate Insurance Department established. 2. Title of Chief Officer; how appointed; term of office; 3. Powers and duties of the Superintendent; annual reports; 4. Official seal and certificates; certificates, when to be re- 5. Books and papers to be transferred from office of Secre- 6. Rooms in the State Hall to be assigned to the Superin- 7. Fees; expenses of Department; assessment in certain cases. 9. Repealing section. 10. When act to take effect. [The original numbering of the sections of this act is retained within brackets.] The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows: Insurance ment estab SECTION 1. There is hereby established a separate Separate and distinct department, which shall be charged with Depart the execution of the laws heretofore passed, or that lished. may be hereafter passed, in relation to, insurance. [Laws of 1859, chap. 366, § 1.] Name of officer. Superintendent, how appointed. their com pensation. Deputy duties. Official $2. The chief officer of said department shall be denominated the Superintendent of the Insurance Department. He shall be appointed by the Governor, by and with the advice of the Senate, and shall hold his office for the term of three years. He His salary. shall receive the same annual salary as the Superintendent of the Bank Department, to be paid quarClerks and terly. He shall employ, from time to time, the necessary clerks to discharge such duty as he shall assign them, whose compensation shall be paid to them monthly, on his certificate, and upon the warrant of the Comptroller. He shall appoint one of tendent. the said clerks to be his Deputy, who shall possess and Powers the powers, and perform the duties attached by law to the office of principal, during a vacancy in such office, and during the absence or inability of his principal. Within fifteen days from the time of tendent and notice of their appointment, respectively, the Superintendent and his Deputy shall take and subscribe the oath of office prescribed by the Constitution, and file the same in the office of the Secretary of State, and the said officers shall be in all respects subject to the provisions of the sixth title of chapter five of the first part of the Revised Statutes, so far as the same may be applicable; and the said Superintendent of the Insurance Department shall give to the people of the State of New York a bond in the penalty of ten thousand dollars, with two sureties, to be approved of by the Comptroller, conditioned for the faithful discharge of the duties of his office; and the said Superintendent shall not, either directly or indirectly, be interested in any insurance company. [Laws of 1859, chap. 366, § 2, as amended by Laws of 1861, chap. 326, § 1.] oath of Superin Deputy. Official bond of Superintendent. Powers of S3. The Superintendent of the Insurance Depart dent of In surance De partment. ports. ment shall possess all the powers, perform all the Superintenduties, and be subjected to all the obligations and penalties now conferred by law upon the Comptroller of this State, or to which the Comptroller is subject in relation to insurance companies and the formation thereof, under the laws relating thereto, so that every power and duty thereby conferred on the Comptroller shall, from and after the appointment of such Superintendent, be transferred to and conferred upon the said Superintendent. In addition to the requirements Annual reof the Laws of eighteen hundred and fifty-three, relating to the annual reports relative to Insurance, the Superintendent shall be required to report the names and compensation of the clerks employed by him, and the whole amount of expenses of the department during the year; such report shall be made by or before the first day of March, and fifteen hun- Number of dred copies for the use of the Superintendent, and reported the usual number of copies for the use of the Legislature, shall be printed by the printer employed to print legislative documents. [Laws of 1859, chap. 366, § 3.] copies of be printed. S 4. The said Superintendent, with the approval of Official sent the Governor, shall devise a seal, with suitable inscriptions, for his office, a description of which, with a certificate of approval by the Governor, shall be filed in the office of the Secretary of the State, with an impression thereof, which seal shall thereupon be and become the seal of office of the Superintendent of the Insurance Department, and the same may be renewed whenever necessary. Every certificate, Certificates, assignment or conveyance executed by the said Superintendent, in pursuance of any authority conferred on him by law, and sealed with his said seal of office, shall be received as evidence, and may be &c., to be received as a evidence and recorded. Books, papers, &c., Comp Secretary of transferred recorded, in the proper recording offices, in the same manner and with the like effect as a deed regularly acknowledged or proved before an officer authorized by law to take the proof or acknowledgment of deeds; and all copies of papers in the office of the said Superintendent, certified by him and authenticated by the said seal, shall in all cases be evidence equally and in like manner as the original. An impression of said seal directly on paper shall be as valid as if made on a wafer or wax. [Laws of 1859, chap. 366, § 4.]' S 5. All books, papers and documents, securities, in office of stocks, bonds and mortgages, and all other papers whatever in the Comptroller's office, and in the office State to red of the Secretary of State, relating to the business of tendent of insurance, shall, on demand, be delivered and transDepartment ferred to the Superintendent of the Insurance Department, and be and remain in his charge and custody. [Laws of 1859, chap. 366, § 5.] to Superin Insurance Rooms assigned to Superintendent. Insurance companies tain fees to Insurance Depart $ 6. There shall be assigned to the said Superintendent, by the Trustees of the State Hall, suitable rooms therein for conducting the business of said department, and the said Superintendent shall, from time to time, furnish the necessary furniture, stationery, fuel, lights, and other proper conveniences for the transaction of the said business, the expenses of which shall be paid on the certificate of the Superintendent and the warrant of the Comptroller. [Laws of 1859, chap. 366, § 6.] $7. There shall be paid by every company, assoto pay cer- ciation, person or persons, or agent, to whom this act shall apply, the following fees towards paying the expenses of executing this act: For filing the declaration now required by law, or the certified copy of a charter also now required, the sum of ment. ments to be made upon Insurance by Superin thirty dollars; for filing the annual statement now required, twenty dollars; for each certificate of authority and certified copy thereof, five dollars; for every copy of paper filed in his office, the sum of ten cents per folio, and for affixing the seal of said office to such copy and certifying the same, one dollar. In case the expenses of said department Assessshall exceed the amount of fees collected under this act, and paid into the State Treasury (exclusive of the tax upon marine premiums), the excess of such expenses shall be annually assessed by the Superintendent, pro rata upon all the stock insurance companies of this State; and the said Superintendent is hereby empowered to collect such assessments and pay the same into the State Treasury. [Laws of 1859, chap. 366, § 7, as modified by Laws of 1862, chap. 367, § 5, and by Laws of 1865, chap. 328, § 3.] tendent. Deposit of and pay securities ment of taxes, &c., cases. S8. Whenever the existing or future laws of any other State, of the United States, shall require of insurance companies incorporated by or organized fees, e under the laws of this State, and having agencies in states such other State, or of the agents thereof, any deposit of securities in such State for the protection of policy holders, or otherwise, or any payment for taxes, fines, penalties, certificates of authority, license fees, or otherwise, greater than the amount required for such purposes from similar companies of other States by the then existing laws of this State, then, and in every such case, all companies of such States establishing or having heretofore established an agency or agencies in this State, shall be and are hereby required to make the same deposit for a like purpose in the Insurance Department of this State, and to pay to the Superintendent of said department for taxes, fines, penalties, certificates of author |