62 P. 524 | Or. | 1900
after making the foregoing statement, delivered the opinion.
The constitution of the Grand Lodge of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, so far as deemed applicable herein, provides, in general terms, that the beneficiary fund shall remain in the treasuries of the subordinate lodges until called for, and be composed of assessments made from timé to time upon the members, one of which is paid by each member as a part of his admission fee. Whenever such fund in the grand lodge treasury becomes less than $2,000, the grand recorder is required, upon the first day of the month, to call upon the subordinate lodges to forward the beneficiary fund
An examination of the evidence shows that the monthly dues of Pig Iron Lodge are 50 cents, and that the grand recorder, in 1894, made the following assessments in favor of the beneficiary fund, to wit: January 1, No. 1, $1; February 1, Nos. 2 and 3, $2; March 1, No. 4, $1; April 1, No. 5, $1; May 1, Nos. 6 and 7, $2; June 1, No. 8, $1; that Montour during that year paid the following sums to the financier of his lodge, to wit: February 15, assessments Nos. 1, 2, and 3, $3, dues, $1; April 7, No. 4, $1, dues, 50 cents; May 10, Nos. 5 and 6, $2, dues, $1; being delinquent, July 1, $2 on
J. C. Haines, the financier of Pig Iron Lodge, No. 135, sent to the grand recorder, on July 27, 1894, the sum of $51 and a beneficiary return, purporting to be on assessment No. 9, showing that on that day there were 51 workmen in good standing in said lodge; and on August 17, 1894, the sum of $50 and a 'beneficiary return, purporting to be assessment No. 10, showing that on said day there were 50 members in good standing, and that on August 1, 1894, Dan Montour was suspended for the nonpayment of delinquent assessment No'. 6. .Haines, appearing as defendant’s witness, testified
It will be remembered that the constitution of the grand lodge requires that when a subordinate, lodge is instituted,
In Jeane v. Grand Lodge, 86 Me. 434 (30 Atl. 70), the plaintiff’s husband, having been admitted as a member of a subordinate lodge, was expelled from the order for having made a false statement or answer in his application for membership, from which action of the lodge he never appealed to the governing body, but acquiesced therein by accepting the money which he had paid. Upon his death,, his beneficiary, claiming that the expulsion was irregular and void, instituted an action to recover the sum stipulated in his certificate of membership; and it was held that members of a beneficial association must exhaust the remedies given them by the rules of the society, before applying to the courts of law for relief. In Supreme Lodge v. Wilson, 14 C. C. A. 264 (66 Fed. 785), the husband of the defendant in error having become a member of the order of the Endowment Rank of the Knights of Pythias, a certificate was issued to him, in which
It was argued by plaintiff’s counsel that if it be admitted that Pig Iron Lodge only paid the sum of three dollars to the grand lodge on account of Montour’s assessment for May and June, 1894, the one dollar which he paid Haines for an assessment, and for which he received no credit on the books of the subordinate lodge, should have been applied in payment of the July, 1894, assessment, and, this being so, he was not in default three months when he paid the amount due. The right of a debtor at or-prior to the time of making a payment, to direct the application thereof, and the corresponding duty of-the creditor to obey such direction, are well established: Trullinger v. Kofoed, 7 Or. 228 (33 Am. Rep. 228). The receipt which Montour secured May 10, 1894, evidencing the payment of one dollar on account of an assessment, must be construed as a direction on his part to apply the money so paid in the particular manner specified: Stewart v. Keith, 12 Pa. St. 238. And this sum should therefore have been credited on assessment No. 6. But, notwithstanding the omission, said assessment was paid for Montour by the
If it be assumed that Haines was the agent of Pig Iron Lodge in collecting the assessments from its members, so that a payment to him was equivalent to a payment to his principal, and that the latter was liable to the grand lodge for the default or neglect of its agent, Haines’ failure to give Mon-tour credit for the payment of assessment No. 6 was cured by the subordinate lodge in remitting that sum to the grand lodge. The lodge faithfully performed the duty imposed by its by-laws, by remitting to the grand lodge Montour’s assessment No. 7, which became due May 28, 1894, upon his neglect to pay the same. These payments were the full measure of Montour’s rights under the rules of the order, and, notwithstanding he had not repaid assessment No. 7, his lodge, in violation of the section of its by-laws hereinbefore adverted to, also paid for him assessment No. 8, which became due June 28, 1894. He was therefore not injured in any manner by Haines’ failure to give him credit for the one
Reversed.