42 Mo. App. 485 | Mo. Ct. App. | 1890
This is an original proceeding by mandamus to compel the respondent, which is an incorporated insurance association doing business on what is called the “assessment plan,” to restore the relator to his rights therein. It appears that on the twenty-fifth day of May, 1887, the relator applied for a policy of insurance in the respondent society, and that his written and printed application contained the following agreement above his signature : “I agree that, while a member of the association, I will not use, sell nor petition for the sale of any intoxicant, and will endeavor to promote the social and moral advancement of fellow members, encourage them in the performance of the duties of good citizenship, and conform to the principles and regulations of the association.” The policy, or benefit certificate, which bears .date the twenty-eighth of May, 1887, recites “that the Temperance Benevolent Association, in consideration of the representations made in the application for benefit, and the payment of five dollars membership fee, an annual due of fifty cents, and the further payment to be made of all future assessments as per pro rata table on the death or disability of a member, do hereby constitute John H. Young,” etc., “ a beneficiary'member ” of the society. The benefit certificate further recites: “This certificate is accepted with the following conditions and agreements, which are made a part hereof. * * * All holders of certificates, who shall become addicted to the habitual or unnecessary use of intoxicants, or sign a petition for the sale of the same, shall forfeit their membership.”
The relator, paid his dues regularly and promptly until September of the present year, when the society refused to receive them any further, giving as a reason that he was engaged, contrary to his contract and the principles of the society, in keeping a saloon for the sale of intoxicating liquors. The relator in his reply to
On this established state of facts the position of the relator, if we rightly understand it, is' that the obligations of his contract are to be sought for in the policy alone; that the policy nowhere prohibits him from engaging in the business of keeping a saloon for the sale of intoxicating liquors, although it does prohibit him from petitioning for the establishment of such a saloon ; and, finally, that although, when he petitioned to the county court for his present license, he violated
• I. We shall first inquire' whether the contract subsisting between the parties prohibits the relator from engaging in the business of keeping a saloon for the sale of intoxicating liquors. It is perceived that the benefit certificate refers to the application and connects the application with it by the recital that the association,'“in consideration of the representations made in the application,” etc., issues the benefit certificate and undertakes as therein recited. This language connects the two papers together, so that they are, upon well-settled principles, to be construed as one contract. The word “representations” in the policy is large enough to include the promise which is conveyed in the application, that the applicant will not “use, sell nor petition for the sale of any intoxicants as a beverage.” When, therefore, the relator admits that he was so engaged at the time when the respondent canceled his benefit certificate, he admits a state of facts which, in our judgment, shows that he is not entitled to a mandamus to restore him to his rights in the society.
II. But, if we are wrong in this conclusion, there is a lower ground, upon which it is equally clear that the relator is not entitled to this relief. The benefit certificate, by its terms, prohibits the holder from petitioning for the sale of intoxicants. The relator admits that, in May of the present year, he procured from the county court of Wayne county a license as a dramshop-keeper, and that he has ever since been keeping a saloon under that license. By the provisions of section 4572 of the Revised Statutes of 1889, a person desiring a license as a dramshop-keeper must present to the county court an application in writing for such license; and in that section the application is designated as a “petition.” When, therefore, the relator applied
III. There is a remaining question which deserves consideration. It is admitted that the relator was suspended from membership by an ex parte order of the
In these two cases these principles were fully inquired into, and numerous cases cited which support the conclusion here stated. But these principles have no room for application in any judicial proceeding to reinstate the expelled member, where he himself admits that he was guilty of the offense which warranted his expulsion. The writ of mandamus is not a writ of right. At common law it was an extraordinary prerogative writ. It is never issued on merely technical grounds. It is only issued where the issuing of it will do substantial justice, vindicate substantial right and prevent substantial wrong. If we were to issue it in this case, we should adjudge that the respondent has done wrong in expelling the relator for a violation of the contract which he himself admits. We should command the society to reinstate him, for the mere purpose of trying him for an offense, the guilt of which he admits. The writ of mandamus cannot, in our judgment, be used for such a vain and nugatory purpose.
The judgment will, therefore, be entered for the respondent. It is so ordered.