191 Pa. 582 | Pa. | 1899
Opinion by
The appellant Fire Insurance Company was a mutual company organized under the laws of the state of Ohio. The defendant, Edgar Munson, a member of the company, is a resident of Williamsport and a citizen of Pennsylvania. Immediately after the articles of incorporation were filed, on May 27, 1887, in the office of the secretary of the state of Ohio, the company commenced to issue policies of insurance against fire, not only in Ohio but in other states. Before the final certificate dated October 1,1888, authorizing it to do business, was issued, Munson riiade application for insurance upon property in Pennsylvania, and in response policies were issued to him on deposit of the proper premium notes. The application and notes were executed at Williamsport and transmitted by mail to the office of the company at Cincinnati, whence was mailed to him the policy. Ostensibly, there was no agent of the company in this state, but before Munson made out and transmitted his application, before he even knew of the existence of the company, one Hotchkin, a resident of Elmira, called upon him in Williamsport, and suggested that he take out policies in the company. It was denied, that Hotchldn was an agent for the company; he was called an inspector, but the testimony of Munson and the correspondence between him and Williams, the secretary, establishes the fact beyond dispute, that he acted for tbe company in procuring the insurance of Munson’s
“ It is hereby agreed by and between the plaintiff and defendant in the above entitled case that the following facts are admitted with the force, effect and validity as if the same had been established upon the trial of the cause by competent evidence, viz: That the Union Mutual Fire Insurance Company is a corporation duly organized under the laws of the state of Ohio, and that said insurance company has never complied with any of the requirements of the several statutes of the state of Pennsylvania, obligatory upon insurance companies of other states seeking to transact business in the state of Pennsylvania.”
After hearing the evidence, which established the material facts as we have narrated them, Munson’s counsel asked the court to direct a verdict for defendant, for, among others, this reason:
“ 2. It having been admitted that the Union Mutual Fire Insurance Company, never having complied with any of the requirements of the several acts of assembly of the state of Pennsylvania obligatory upon insurance companies of other states seeking to transact business in the state of Pennsylvania, the contract of insurance is invalid and unlawful, and there can be no recovery for any assessments on premium notes given by defendant.”
The court reserved its answer to the point, and directed a verdict for plaintiff; afterwards, in opinion filed, it entered judgment for defendant on the point reserved, and we have this appeal by plaintiff.
Section 9 of the Act of April 4, 1873, P. L. 20, declares that: “ It shall be unlawful for any person, company or corporation to negotiate or solicit within this state any contract of insurance, or to effect an insurance or insurances, or pretend to effect the same, or to receive and transmit any offer or offers of insurance, or receive or deliver a policy or policies of insurance, or in any manner to aid in the transaction of the business of insurance without complying fully with the provisions of this act.”
The 8th, 10th, 11th and 12th sections prescribe in detail what conditions shall be performed by the foreign company precedent to the transaction of business, and specify penalties for neglect.
Then, the supplement of May 1,1876, makes it a misdemeanor in any person to act as agent within this state for a foreign company that has not complied with the provisions of the original act. Then follows the act of June 20, 1883, and then that of April 26, 1887, section 1 of which latter act declares: “ That any insurance company or association not of this state doing business without authority agreeable to the provisions of this act shall forfeit and pay to the commonwealth the sum of five hundred dollars for each month, or fraction thereof, during each
All these acts were violated by this appellant corporation; it made no pretense of observing the provisions of any of them. Assume that the contract, because made in Ohio, could have been enforced in the courts of that state, it does not follow that the courts of this state will lend their aid to the enforcement of a contract in violation of its own policy as declared in its laws. If these laws contravene the constitution of the United States or that of Pennsylvania, our courts would enforce the contract, because it would then be lawful here, as in Ohio; but if our statute be constitutional, then the contract is directly opposed to our declared law. There was a time when I doubted the constitutionality of any statute prohibiting the exercise of the common-law right of contract in the individual, as to things not malum in se ; but in Commonwealth v. Vrooman, 164 Pa. 306, a majority of this Court, in a very able opinion by our late Brother Williams, decided otherwise. That case is now the law. It decided that the regulation of the business of insurance might extend so far as to prohibit the citizen from making a contract of indemnity with other than a corporation, without violation of our bill of rights. Certainly, if the freedom of contract could be thus restricted, the legislature could prescribe terms, on observance of which foreign corporations could only do business within the state, so that the constitutionality of
The judgment is affirmed.