Case Name: The People of the State of Illinois, Defendant in Error, v. Illinois Life Insurance Company and William T. Pursell, Plaintiffs in Error
Court: Illinois Appellate Court
Jurisdiction: Illinois
Decision Date: 1916-11-14
Citations: 202 Ill. App. 38
Docket Number: Gen. No. 21,456
Parties: The People of the State of Illinois, Defendant in Error, v. Illinois Life Insurance Company and William T. Pursell, Plaintiffs in Error.
Judges: 
Reporter: Illinois Appellate Court Reports
Volume: 202
Pages: 38–39

Head Matter:
The People of the State of Illinois, Defendant in Error, v. Illinois Life Insurance Company and William T. Pursell, Plaintiffs in Error.
Gen. No. 21,456.
(Not to he reported in full.)
Error to the Municipal Court of Chicago; the Hon. John Coubtney, Judge, presiding. Heard in the Branch Appellate Court at the October term, 1915.
Reversed and remanded.
Opinion filed November 14, 1916.
Statement of the Case.
Action by the People of the State of Illinois, plaintiff, against" the Illinois Life Insurance Company, a corporation, and William T. Pursell, defendants, in the Municipal Court of Chicago, to recover penalties provided by the Act of 1891, sec. 3 (J. & A. ft 6493). To reverse a judgment for the People for seven hundred dollars and costs, defendants prosecute a writ of error.
Henry W. Price and Hugh T. Martin, for plaintiffs in error.
Maclay Hoyne, for defendant in error; Albert F. Mecklenburger, of counsel.
Abstract of the Decision.
1. State’s Attorney, § 3 —when appointment by letter of State’s Attorney insufficient. A letter from the State’s Attorney authorizing an attorney to act as special attorney in a particular ease is without effect in the absence of an order of the court to that effect, since such an appointment is a judicial act, and a court speaks only by its record.
See Illinois Notes Digest, Vols. XI to XV, and Cumulative Quarterly, same topic and section number.
See Illinois Notes Digest, Vols. XI to XV, and Cumulative Quarterly, same topic and section number.

Opinion:
Mr. Justice MoGcorty
delivered the opinion of the court.
2. Insurance, § 17 —who may sue for penalty. The Act of 1891, sec. 3 (J. & A. If 6493), relating to penalties for violation of the prohibition of the act against discrimination between insurance companies as to rates, etc., providing that such penalty shall "be sued for and recovered in the name of the People of the State of Illinois, by the State's Attorney," is explicit in its terms and excludes every other method of procedure to recover such penalty.