Court Opinion

ID: 9883394
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-10-06 01:41:40.808595+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:48:23.025079
License: Public Domain

Baker, Chief Justice
(concurring in dissenting opinion).
I concur in the result of the opinion of Mr. Justice Taylor in which he adopts as a part thereof the decree of the lower Court herein.
Section 37-161 of the Code of 1952, Section 51 of Article 1 of Act No. 232 of 1947, as amended in 1950, when read in connection with Section 37-2(3) thereof, appears to include Fraternal Benefit Associations issuing contracts of insurance. But Section 37-857 of the Code of 1952 specifically exempts Fraternal Benefit Associations such as admittedly the respondent is, from the general insurance laws of this state. All of the sections above referred to stem from Act No. 232 of the Acts of 1947, which is quite often spoken of as a recodification of the Insurance Law of South Carolina. In fact, the Title of the Act begins with “An Act To Provide An Insurance Code For The State of South Carolina; * *
I cannot see how Section 37-2(3) under the subject “Definitions,” and the preface thereto, can override or take precedence over the legislation contained in Section 37-857 where the Legislature was directly dealing with Fraternal Benefit Associations in a separate chapter in the Code, and in a separate Article of the 1947 Act. See Article 3, Fraternal Benefit Associations, Section 41, at page 394 of the Acts of 1947.