43 Kan. 731 | Kan. | 1890
The opinion of the court was delivered by
Two cases between the same parties are submitted together upon a single statement of facts; and according to the stipulation of the parties, only two legal propositions are presented for decision. The first one of these is whether the courts can inquire into and control the superintendent of insurance in the exercise of his official duties in granting, refusing or revoking a certificate of authority to a mutual fire insurance company organized under chapter 132 of the Laws of 1885. Prior to the legislative session of 1889, the finding and judgment of the superintendent in respect to the solvency of an insurance company and its compliance with the requirements of law could not be controlled, and when he had exercised his discretion and judgment it could not be reviewed, nor the motives which actuated him inquired into, by the courts. (Insurance Co. v. Wilder, 40 Kas. 561.) The decision in the cited case, construing the statute with reference to the power and discretion of the superintendent, was given in January, 1889 ; and the legislature, which convened in the same month, materially modified the statute prescribing the power
“If the superintendent of insurance shall find, upon such examination, that the solvency of the company has been impaired, or that the laws of the state have been violated, he shall immediately suspend the certificate of authority until the laws of the state have been fully complied with, or the solvency of the company restored; or, if in his judgment the public safety require it, he may revoke'the certificate of authority, and cause the company to be enjoined from further insuring of property.”
This section was amended by chapter 159 of the Laws of 1889, in which, after providing for reports and examinations substantially as in the original section, the provision above quoted is changed so as to read as follows:
“If the solvency of such company has been impaired, or the laws of the state have been violated by the company, the superintendent of insurance shall immediately suspend the certificate of authority until the laws of the state have been fully complied with or the solvency of the company has been restored; and he also may in such a case revoke the certificate of authority, and cause the company, upon proper proceedings instituted against it, to be enjoined from further insuring of property.”
It follows that the judgment of the district court must be affirmed.