Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1901-02-14
THE INSURANCE LAWS.
Request That the Apparent Inconsisten
cips be 0byfafef

request That the Apparent mconsisten.
cies be obyiated.
Dover, Feb. 13-The General Assem-.
bly, yesterday, received the following
report from Insurance Commissioner
Marshall.
Tho torn Of Office for which my IRE
decessor was commissioned was cur
tailed three months by the amended
Constitution and as be is not In office,
ne holds to the opinion that 1t is not
ms duy TO make q report to the
General Assembly. That there uhall
be no derelict'on on the part Of the
present commiesioner, / herewith bog
to report that | took the oath Of Office
on January lst, 1901; and between that
date and January oath, received the
books, papers and seal Of the depart.
ment, and the blank licenses and
certificates OF authority to agents and
| companies, the latter obtained from
the secretary OF State.
From the books of my office, ms
audited by the auditor Of accounts from
October lat, 1898, TO January LIST, 1901,
find the amount turned into the
State TREASURY was S39, 1923. 81, exclusive
oft the salary Of the commissioner.
There is no record of expenses in the
office. i hold that | am not tho proper
person to report the official acts Of my
predecessor. The biennial report of
the former commissions. Pater X.
Meredith, was not authorized to be
published. and the reports OF my imme-
diate predecessor have never been pre-
pared, as they were not author lied to
DO published by the last General AS
sembly. would DO pleased to know
what Ia the pleasure Of the General AS
sembly as to the publication of these
last three reports.
Within the past twelve days, l, ms
insurance commissioner, have already
received Sl1, 72l.6S, aud deposited the
same in the Farmers Bank, at Dover !;
and as no contingency fund was turned
over to me by my predecessor, and as
yet none has been provided by law for
this department, l have myself fur
nished thirty dollars for postage stamps,
and about forty dollars for United
States documentary stamps, besides
deiraying other expenses Of stationery.
printing, &c, and the expense of clerk
hire.
ION careful study Of the insurance
laws, find that they are defet tive,
and at times inconsistent with the re.
quirements of the business OF insnr-
ance, and with one other. The general
law organizing the department OF in-
surance Ia Delaware was passed by the
Legislature in 1879; subsequent legisls-
tion has amended the law and given
special privileges to certain companies,
which materially conflict with the
general law. and, 10 the opinion of the
present attorney general, supervene the
general law.
1.-The insurance law specifies that
the insurance commissioner shall grant
certificates of authority to Delaware
companies only when they shall have q
paid up capital of sl00, 600 The
General Assembly, at dates later than
the passage of the general insurance
law, has at various times granted special
charters to insurance companies with
q paid up capital of less than 800, 600;
and 10 some instances, as low as g25, 900
lin cash or good security aud one
company has, been authorized to do
business with a capital of 5000. The
Chancellor has ruled that tho measure
OF the duties of these companies is con-
tanned in their charters. Because one
General Assembly must have equal
powers with another General Assembly,
and as the acts OF incorporation are
the latter, they ave, therefore, the con,
elusive announcements OF the will of
the lawmaking body The insurance
commissioner, as understand and in.
torpret the laws. acts under the
authority of the insurance law; there
fore, he cannot grant regular licenses
to those companies which do not comply
herewith. The insurance commits
sioner cannot prevent these companies
from doing business, because they have
complied with their charters; there
fore. these companies so organized are
under NO direct supervision. l would
respectfully recommend that these
apparent Inconsistencies be obyiated,
which. In my judgment, can be done
by an act revising and re-enncting the
general insurance laws OF Delaware. -
A joint committee will be appointed
to confer with the insurance commits
sioner.