The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-08-28
American Bar Association Hears
 Reports Read
NEW LAW ON BANKRUPTCY
Report of Committee Recommends Changes In Present Law, With Par tIeuIar Reference to Statutory
 Definition of Insolvency.

American Bar Association was devoted
 exclusively to the reading of reports of
 standing and special committees. The
 most important of these was the report
 on insurance law. which already has been
 published and widely commented upon throughout the country,
 Other reports prepared for presenta-
 tion were on jurisprudence and law re- l form. judicial administration and remedl-
 al procedure legal education and admis-
 sions to the bar, commercial law, griev-
 ances, law reporting and digesting, pa tent, trade mark and copyrightins law,
 taxation and uniform state laws. The sections of legal education and
 of patent, trade mark and copyright law were assigned to meet this afternoon.
 About forty European delegates have ar
 rived to attend the convention of the In- ternational Law Association, which opens Thursday and lasts three days. Ralph w. Breckenridge, of Omaha,
 Neb., today presented the report of the | standing committee on insurance The
 recommendations were as follows:
 Custom Condemned.
 That this association disapproves and condemns the prevailing custom which
 makes state insurance commissionships political prizes to be distributed as such without regard to fitness or knowledge of the insurance business.
 That all companies created under the | laws of foreign countries, be required to
 make deposition at least in one of tho l states before writing business anywhere
 in the United States.
 Repeal of the valued policy laws. "The creation In each state of the of- | flee of fire marshal.
 "The enactment of a federal statute | forbiddIng the use of mails to persons, as-
 sociatlons, copartnerships, or corporations
 conducting any kind of insurance busi
 ness in the United States who are not ] licensed to transact such business by the | state wherein such persons or associations
 are created.
 "The appointment and contingent dis
 tribution of the deferred dividends sur
 plus on existing life policies of all com
 panies as a condition precedent to the l transaction of business outside of the
 home states of the several companies" | Contest Over Report The first four articles of the resolutions
 were adopted without discussion. The | fifth paragraph brought out q spirited contest. The committees report recom-
 mended its approval of the following act, l which was discussed in connection with ! the fifth article:
 1 Be 1t enacted by the Senate and | House of Representative of the United | States, that the use of the mail service | and the postal facilities of the United 1 States be, and the same is hereby for 1 bldden to any and all persons, or asso
 citations conducting any kind of insur- 1 ance in this country, unless every such person, or association, shall obtain d | license or permit the condust of its bus | ness from the proper officer of the United | States or of the state where such person, | or assoclation, shall be domciled, pro-
 vided that this shall not apply to any in- surance company created under the laws 1 of any foreign nation that shall comply l with any acts of Congress regulating in- surance.
 The members favoring the recommends ton and tho proposed act contended that the purpose was to afford protection against the wild cat" insurance com panies which organize in some states
 without any intention of doing a legiti-
 mate business.
 
 vote.
 LittlefIeld Opposes. Congressman Charles F. Littleheld of
 Maine, who Is a director of the Equitable Assurance Society, vigorously opposed the sixth article, calling for the tap portionment and contingent distribution of the deferred dividends surplus on ex- isting life policies of all companies" as
 a condition precedent to the transaction of business outside of the home states of the several companies. He stated that if such a law should be enacted by the states and complied with by the companies there is not an insur- ance company in the United States that on the face of it's statement would not be bankrupt
 The first paragraph of the resolution l was reconsidered and amended so as to read as follows
 That this association disapproves and condemns the treatment of state insur- ance commissionerships political prizes to be distributed as such without regard to fitness or knowledge of the insurance business"
 Henry A. Estabrook read the report
 on judicial administration and remedial procedure.
 The report of the standing committee
 on commercial law was read by George Whitelock of Maryland Bankruptcy Law. Several amendments to the present bankruptcy law, including an enlarge ment of the definition of insolvency and a reconsideration that the association approve both the Uniform Sales Act and the Uniform Wareh ouse Receipts Act, were included in the report of the committee on commercial law. The changes in the bankruptcy law advo- cated by the report are made under the the heads: In the statutory definition and proof of insolvency in fact; in the enumera tion of acts of bankruptcy; and in respect to the person or persons qualified to make affidavit to a petition in involuntary bankruptcy. Committees Present. The report says:
 The present restricted statutary deh- milton of insolvency has been much criticized and is certainly practically embarrassing in matter of proof. It is said to protect a debtor whose property is not quickly convertible, but on the other hand 1t may operate to put creditors at the debtors mercy. The committee believes that the definition of insolvency in fact should be en- larged, and that the statute should provide that insolvency may be fur ther proven by any one of the three following circumstances, viz: by re- turn of nulla bona to writ of fieri facias; by proof of inability to pay debts in the due course of business as