64 Neb. 55 | Neb. | 1902
On or about the 21st day of February, 1895, William H. Chappie, husband of the plaintiff in error, became a member of the defendant association, and of Alpha Camp No. 1, thereof, situated at Omaha, in this state. At the time he received a certificate of membership, providing, in effect, that, if he should die whthe in good standing as a member, his wife, the plaintiff, should be entitled to participate in the mortuary fund of the association, to the amount of $2,000. This certificate expressly bound the member to whom it was issued, by all the by-laws, rules and regulations of the defendant, and at the time of its issuance the former complied with all the requirements of the society, requisite to mate him a member of the same in good standing, and he became such member. Among the objects and powers of the association specified in its by-laws is the creating of “a fund from which, upon reasonable and satisfactory proofs of the death of a member, who has complied with the lawful requirements of the order, there shall be paid a sum not exceeding $3,000, to” his beneficiary..
It will be seen from the foregoing that it is not intended that assessments shall be levied for the payment of past or current death losses, but are anticipatory in their nature, and designed to maintain a fund out of which losses shall be paid as they shall be incurred. This fact is mentioned here because we think that it disposes of one of the objections of the plaintiff in error, which is that the assessments, or part of them, in the payment of which Chap-pie is alleged to be delinquent, were not for the payment of losses occasioned by the deaths of members occurring during his membership. One of the by-laws provides that “the liability of a member to contribute to the payment of death losses shall commence with the date at which his certificate was issued by the sovereign clerk.” The first assessment for which it is claimed that Chappie was liable and delinquent was made on or about April 20, which was tAVO months after he became a member. So far as this feature of the matter is concerned, his liability therefor was consequently within the very letter of his contract. In this particular respect, the case is substantially identical with that of Fulton v. Stevens, 74 N. W. Rep. [Wis.], 803, and the same rule applies with equal force to the succeeding assessments involved in this litigation.
It is further objected that the first assessment was in-' valid because of not having been made at the time or in the manner required by the above-mentioned by-law. The two officers who were empowered to make it do not appear
The same principles apply to the notification by the clerk of the sovereign camp to the clerk of the local camp of the fact of such assessments. He is required to make such notification “immediately” by mail. The notices in the case at bar were not sent until the first of the month following that in which they were made. This was pursuant to a custom adopted for the convenience of the person sending them, and does not appear to have been the cause of any loss or inconvenience to anybody else. So slight a variance from a prescribed rule by a mere clerical officer ought not to be held to defeat a previously valid assessment. Concerning the collection of assessments after notice thereof has been received by the clerk of the local camp, there are the following provisions in the by-laws of the association, to which we have given our own numbers: 1. “Every member shall be notified by the clerk whenever an assessment is ordered to be levied, before the 10th day of every calendar month, unless the official notice is ordered, by the sovereign executive council, to be published in an official organ.” 2. “Clerks shall notify members of
By the Court: For the reasons stated in the foregoing opinion, it is ordered that the judgment be
Affirmed.