tion of individuals, not incorporated by the laws of this state, to effect insurances against losses or injury by fire in the city and county of New York, although such individuals or association may be incorporated for that purpose by any other state or country, the sum of two dollars upon the hundred dollars, and at that rate upon the amount of all premiums which during the year or part of a year ending on the next preceding first day of September, shall have been received by such agent or person, or received by any other person for him, or shall have been agreed to be paid for any insurance effected or agreed to be paid for any insurance effected or agreed to be effected or promised by him, as such agent or otherwise, against loss or injury by fire in the city and county of New York. 3 E. D. S., 440; 20 B., 68. CHAP. XX. by certain effected. S2, No person shall, in the city and county of New York, Insurance as agent or otherwise, for any individual, individuals, or asso- agents ciation, effect or agree to effect any insurance, upon which who be the duty above mentioned is required to be paid, or as agent or otherwise procure such insurance to be effected, until he shall have executed and delivered to the said treasurer a bond to the fire department of the city of New York, in the penal sum of one thousand dollars, with such sureties as the said treasurer shall approve, with a condition that he will annually render to the said treasurer on the first day of February in each year, a just and true account, verified by his oath that the same is just and true, of all premiums which during the year ending on the first day of September preceding such report shall have been received by him or by any other person for him, or agreed to be paid for any insurance against loss or injury by fire in the city and county of New York, which shall have been effected or promised by him or agreed to be effected or promised by him to be effected, from any individual or individuals or association not incorporated by the laws of this state as aforesaid; and that he will annually on the first day of February in each year pay to the said treasurer two dollars upon every hundred, and at that rate, upon the amount of such premiums. execut S3. Every person who shall effect, agree to effect, promise Penalty for or procure any insurance specified in the preceding sections ing bond. of this act without having executed and delivered the bond required by the preceding section, shall for each offence forfeit one thousand dollars for the use of the said fire department; such penalty of one thousand dollars shall be collected in the name of the fire department of the city of New York. 4 E. D. S., 453. $ 4. Every person who at any time hereafter, as agent or otherwise, for any individual or individuals, or association, may in the city and county of New York, effect or agree to effect any insurance specified in the preceding sections of this act, shall on the first day of February, in each year, or Agents to their places are in N. Y. state where of business PART I within ten days thereafter, and as often in each year as he shall alter or change his place of doing business in the said city, report in writing under his proper signature to the comptroller of this state, and also to the treasurer of the fire department in the city of New York, the street and number thereof in the said city, of his place of doing business as such agent or otherwise, designating in such report the individual or individuals, and association or associations for which he may be such agent or otherwise. And in case of default in any of these particulars, such person shall forfeit for every offence, the sum of one thousand dollars, to be recovered and collected in the name of the people of this state, for the use of the fire department of the city of New York. Sections 1, city and See Laws of 1857, ch. 548. S 5. Sections one, two and three of this act, shall apply to ply to every every city or incorporated village in this state where a treasurer of a fire department exists, and where no officer is known by the laws of such city or village, the treasurer of such city or incorporated village, shall exercise all the powers and perform all the duties for the purposes of this act of the treasurer of the fire department of the city of New York, as far as relates to the city or village of which he is treasurer, and he shall under the direction of the common council of the city, or the trustees of the village, pay over all moneys received or recovered under the first, second and third sections of this act, to the fire department of such city or incorporated village, provided, however, that the penalty of the bond required by the second section of this act, shall not exceed the sum of five hundred dollars, when taken by the person authorized to receive it by this section, and that the penalty imposed by the third section of this act, shall not exceed the sum of two hundred dollars in any city or village of this state, excepting the city of New York. Repeal. $6. All the provisions of sections three, four, five, six, seven, of the title twenty-one, chapter twenty of the first part of the Revised Statutes, as amended by the act of the 21st February, 1837, so far as they relate to fire insurance, are hereby repealed. Formation CHAP. 308. AN ACT to provide for the incorporation of insurance companies. PASSED April 10, 1849. 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 of compa- number, may associate and form an incorporated company for either of the following purposes, to wit: nies. CHAP. XX. surance. 1. To make insurance upon vessels, freights, goods, wares, To make merchandise, specie, bullion, jewels, profits, commissions, marine inbank notes, bills of exchange, and other evidences of debt, bottomry, and respondentia interests, and to make all and every insurance appertaining to or connected with marine risks and risks of transportation and navigation. fire insur 2. To make insurance on dwellings, houses, stores, and all To make kinds of buildings, and upon household furniture, merchan- ance. dise and other property, against loss or damage by fire and the risks of inland navigation and transportation. health or 3. To make insurance upon the health or lives of individu- Upon als, and every insurance appertaining thereto or connected lives. with health or life risks, and to grant, purchase or dispose of annuities.. 24 N. Y., 307; 19 N. Y., 33; 16 N. Y., 280, 315, 491; 12 N. Y., 258; reinsure. S2. Any company organized under this act shall have Power to power to make re-insurance of any risks taken by them respectively, and may make insurance upon any or all of the risks mentioned in the first or second subdivisions of the first section. But no company making insurance on the health or Life insur lives of individuals shall be permitted to take any other kind separate. of risks, nor shall the business of live insurance and of health insurance be in any wise connected or united in any company making insurance on marine or fire risks. 24 B., 199. ance to be tors to file S3. Such persons shall file in the office of the secretary of Corpora state a declaration, signed by all the corporators, expressing declaration. their intention to form a company for the purpose of transacting the business of insurance as expressed in the several subdivisions of the first section of this act, which declaration shall also comprise a copy of the charter proposed to be adopted by them, and shall publish a notice of such their intention, once in each week for at least six weeks in a public newspaper in the county in which such insurance company is proposed to be located. 21 N. Y., 55. subscrip S4. It may and shall be lawful for the individuals associa- Book of ted for the purpose of organizing any company under this tion to act, after having published the notice and filed their declara- stock to be tion and charter as required by the preceding section, to open books for subscription to the capital stock of the company so intended to be organized, and to keep the same open until the full amount specified in the charter is subscribed; or, in case the business of such company is proposed to be conducted on the plan of mutual insurance then to open books to receive propositions, and enter into agreements in the manner and to the extent hereinafter specified. relative to 55. No joint stock company organized for the purposes Provision mentioned in this act, shall be organized in the city and capital PART I. stock or premium notes. Capital for life or health insurance. companies ed by other states. county of New York, nor in the county of Kings, with a smaller capital than one hundred and fifty thousand dollars; nor in any other county in this state with a smaller capital than fifty thousand dollars: nor shall any company formed for the purpose of doing the business of marine, or fire, or inland navigation insurance, on the plan of mutual insurance, commence business, if located in the city of New York or in the county of Kings, until agreements have been entered into for insurance with at least one hundred applicants; the premiums on which, if it be marine, shall amount to three hundred thousand dollars, or if it be fire or inland navigation, shall amount to two hundred thousand dollars, and notes have been received in advance for the premiums on such risks payable at the end of, or within twelve months from the date thereof, which notes shall be considered a part of the capital stock, and shall be deemed valid, and shall be negotiable and collectible for the purpose of paying any losses which may accrue or otherwise, nor shall any mutual insurance company in any other county in the state commence business until agreements have been entered into for insurance, the premiums on which shall amount to one hundred thousand dollars, and the notes received therefor, payable as aforesaid, and which notes shall be liable for and used as aforesaid, nor shall any company which may be organized under this act, expose itself to any loss on any fire or inland navigation risk, or hazard to an amount exceeding ten per cent of its capital. $6. No company formed for doing the business of life or health insurance on the plan of mutual insurance shall commence business until a cash capital of one hundred thousand dollars shall have been paid in and actually invested either in the stocks of the incorporated cities of this state, the stocks of this state or of the United States, or in bonds and mortgages on cultivated farms, worth double the amount for which the same is mortgaged; the value of the land to be appraised by three disinterested commissioners, appointed by the first judge of the county where such company is to be located. Farm buildings to form no part of the valuation. 28 B., 576. See Laws of 1853, ch. 463, § 22. Provision 7. It shall not be lawful for any company organized under respecting this act to transact business unless possessed of capital or incorporat securities as herein before mentioned; nor shall it be lawful for any agent or agents of insurance companies incorporated by other states, directly or indirectly to take risks, or transact any business of insurance in this state, without procuring a certificate of authority from the comptroller of this state, and such agent or agents, having procured a statement under the oath of the president or secretary of the company for which he or they may act, which statement shall show the amount of the capital of such company, the manner in which the same is invested, and shall also state the fact whether its capital is impaired, and if so, how much; such statement CHAP. XX. foreign go shall be filed in the office of the county clerk of the county where such agent resides, and shall be published in at least one newspaper, if a newspaper be therein published, at least six successive weeks after the filing of such statement as aforesaid; the first statement shall be filed in the month of January next, and such statement shall be procured annually, and filed and published in each and every succeeding month of January thereafter, as long as such agency continues, and no company incorporated by other states shall transact business in this state, unless possessed of the amount of actual capital required of companies formed under the provisions of this act, and no agency of any life insurance company formed under the laws of other states, shall transact its business in this state, unless it shall first prove to the satisfaction of the comptroller, of which fact he shall give a certificate to be filed in the office of the clerk of the county where such agency is established, that it possesses such an amount of actual capital as is required of companies transacting the business of life insurance under the laws of this state. Nor Respecting companies shall it be lawful for any agent or agents, hereafter to be formed by appointed, of any company incorporated by any foreign gov-vernments. ernment, other than the states of this Union, for the purpose of insurance, to transact the business of insurance in this state, without procuring a certificate of authority from the comptroller; such agent or agents having previously furnished evidence to the satisfaction of the comptroller of the state, that such company has invested in the stocks of this state, or the United States, an amount equal to the amount of capital or security required by this act, and such stocks are held in trust by citizens of this state for the benefit and security of such as may effect insurance with him or them. And the agent or agents furnishing satisfactory evidence as aforesaid, shall be entitled to a certificate thereof from the comptroller aforesaid. The statements and evidences of invest- Statements ments required by this section, shall be renewed from year to ally renewyear, in the month of January in each year, and the comptroller, on being satisfied that the capital securities and investments remain secure as at first, shall furnish a renewal of certificates as aforesaid; and the agent or agents obtaining such certificates shall file the same together with a copy of the statements on which it was obtained or renewed, in the office of the clerk of the county in which such agency shall be established, and shall cause the same to be published in at least one newspaper published in such county. Any violation of the provisions of this section 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 agent or company so violating shall be situated, and the said penalty when recovered shall be paid into the treasury of said county, provided that all companies incorporated by any to be annu ed. |