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An Act to Incorporate the Millburn Mutual Insurance Company.
SEC. 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, REPRESENTED IN THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, That Ira R. Webb,
Wm. H. Hockaday, Peter Page, George Strang, Havelia Whitney, David H.
Sherman, Lemuel Edwards, and their associates, now members of the
"Millburn Mutual Insurance Company," shall be, and are hereby created a
body politic, and corporated, by the name and style of the "Millburn
Mutual Insurance Company," for the purpose of insuring dwelling houses,
household furniture, farm buildings and other property against loss or
damage by fire, and may, by that name, sue and be sued, appear, prosecute
and defend in any court of record, or other court, in this State. Said
Company may have and use a common seal, and alter or renew the same at
pleasure; may make, establish and put in execution such
bylaws,
ordinances and resolutions, not being contrary to the laws of this State,
or the United States, as may be necessary or convenient for their
regulation and government, and for the management of their affairs; and
may do and execute all such acts and things as may be necessary to carry
into effect the provisions of this act.
§ 2. All persons holding policies of insurance in this Company,
shall be members thereof, and entitled to vote upon any matter to be
determined by a vote of the Company, and a plurality of the votes cast
shall be sufficient to decide any matter voted on.
§ 3. The affairs of this Company shall be managed by a Board of
Directors, to consist of not less than three, nor more than twenty-one,
as shall be regulated by the
By-Laws of said Company. Said Directors
shall be chosen by ballot from among the members of the Company, and a
majority of the whole Board shall constitute a quorum for the transaction
of business.
§ 4. The persons acting as Trustees of the "Millburn Mutual
Insurance Company," as now organized, shall constitute the first Board of
Directors, to serve as such until the first annual meeting of the
Company, after the acceptance and adoption of this Charter, and until
others are chosen. PROVIDED, That if the Company now
organized do not accept and adopt this Charter within one year from the
passage hereof, then this act shall be null and void.
§ 5. All elections of this Company shall be held at such time and
place in the County of Lake, and be conducted by such officers as the
By-Laws
may determine. PROVIDED, The first election
shall be conducted in accordance with the Constitution and
By-laws of the
organization now known as the "Millburn Mutual Insurance Company." Notice
of the time and place of holding regular and special meetings of this
Company shall be published in such manner as the
By-laws shall direct.
Directors shall hold their office for one year, and until others are
chosen, and vacancies may be filled at any meeting of the Company.
§ 6. The officers of this Company, in addition to the Board of
Directors, shall be a President, Secretary and Treasurer, to be elected
by the Company at the time of electing Directors, and to hold their
offices for one year, and until others are chosen. The duties, as well as
the compensation, of the officers of this Company, shall be determined by
the
By-Laws
of the Company. The Directors may appoint such agents and
subordinate officer as the
By-Laws may determine.
§ 7. The rates of insurance shall be fixed and regulated by the
Company, and premium notes may be received from the insured, and shall be
paid at such times and in such sums as the Directors shall from time to
time require for losses and expenses; but the Directors shall not at any
time make a larger assessment on premium notes than is necessary to pay
such losses and expenses, and the premium notes shall constitute the
capital stock of said company.
§ 8. Members of this Company shall be bound and obliged to pay their
just proportion of all losses and expenses accruing during the time for
which their policies were issued to the amount of their premium note and
no more; and if any members shall neglect or refuse to pay his or her
assessment, as levied by the Board of Directors, for more shall thirty
days after notice of such assessment, then his or her policy shall become
void until such payment is made, but such forfeiture shall not exonerate
such person from paying his or her just proportion of all losses and
expenses up to the time of such forfeiture.
§ 9. The Board of Directors may establish rules by which
applications for insurance may be in writing, which shall state all
material facts and circumstances affecting the risk, and such statement
shall be binding upon the insured, and be a warranty on his or her part.
§ 10. It shall be lawful for this Company to reinsure any risk, or
part of risk, on which it has made insurance.
§ 11. For the purpose of preventing delay in the arrangement of
losses, and preventing vexatious litigation, this Company may establish
rules for securing fair and impartial arbitrations in such cases of loss
or damage as the insured and Directors cannot agree upon, and make the
award of such arbitration final and binding.
§ 12. In suits at law between this Company and any of its members,
any member of the Company not interested further than his or her
proportion of a loss as a member of the Company, shall be deemed a
competent witness, and the certificate of the Secretary or Treasurer as
to the amount of any premium note, or assessment on the same, or other
matter pertaining to the office of such Secretary or Treasurer necessary
to elucidate the facts, in any case pending, shall be deemed prima facie
evidence of such fact, and if the agent of the Company shall so desire,
the party suffering loss shall be examined under oath concerning the
circumstances of such loss.
§ 13. The Company, upon commencing business under this act, shall be
held to be the successor of the Company, in Lake County, known as the
"Millburn Mutual Insurance Company," and all policies issued under the
authority of said Company, and all premium notes held by said Company,
shall be valid, and all rules and
By-Laws of said Company shall be in
force until rescinded or amended.
ALLEN C. FULLER,
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
WM. BROSS,
Speaker of the Senate.
RICHARD J. OGLESBY,
Governor.
Approved February 16th, 1865.