Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 5.djvu/40

The property of the late company vested in them.Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the property, real and personal, owned by the late fire insurance company of Alexandria, be, and the same is hereby vested in the company newly created, subject, however, to all debts, contracts, and engagements of the former company.

Parts of the Act of Congress of 1814, ch. 24, revived.Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That an act of Congress, passed on the ninth day of March, eighteen hundred and fourteen, entitled “An act to incorporate a fire insurance company, in the town of Alexandria, in the District of Columbia,” with the exception of the first, second, and tenth sections thereof, be, and the same is hereby revived and declared to be in full force as to the company hereby created, and that the company hereby created, shall have all the powers and capacities which were granted to the former company by the said act; and shall be subject to the payment of all debts due, or contracted by the former company, and shall be chargeable with all their contracts.

Election of officers, when held.Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That the election of president and directors as made by the stockholders of the former company on the first Monday in November last, be, and the same is hereby confirmed; that the president and directors shall continue in office for one year from the first Monday in November last, and until others shall be chosen in their stead; and that all acts by them done within the provisions of the former charter shall be, and are hereby declared to be binding and obligatory on the company hereby created.

Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That this act shall continue in force, for the term of eighteen years, from and after the passing thereof, and until the end of the session of Congress then next following.

Approved, February 9, 1836.

Statute Ⅰ.

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Feb. 25, 1836.

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[Expired.]

Chap. XL.—An Act to extend the charters of the Bank of Columbia in Georgetown, and the Bank of Alexandria in the city of Alexandria.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That to enable the president and directors of the Bank of ColumbiaThe charters extended and limited to the 4th of March, 1839. in Georgetown, and the president and directors of the Bank of Alexandria in the city of Alexandria, to close all the concerns of the said banks, to recover the debts due to said banks, or either of them, to pay the sums due from said banks or either of them, and to divide the capital and profits which may remain among the stockholders of said banks, in proportion to their respective interests, the charter of the said Bank of Columbia, and the charter of the Bank of Alexandria, shall be, and are hereby, extended and continued and limited to the fourth day of March, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine; and that all laws now in force, imposing penalties, or inflicting punishments, for crimes or offences committed in relation to said banks, shall be, and the same are hereby, declared to be extended and continued, and to remain in force, to the same period of time: Provided,Proviso. That no new discounts shall be made by either of said banks, except such as may be deemed proper to renew such notes as have already been discounted, nor any promissory note thereof be put in

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fire. They have a tendency to keep premiums down to the lowest rates, and to uphold institutions of this sort, so essential to the present state of the country for the protection of the vast interests embarked in manufactures, and on consignments of goods in warehouses. Ibid.

Questions on a policy of insurance are of general commercial law, and depend upon the construction of a contract of insurance, which is by no means local in its character, or regulated by any local policy or customs. Ibid.
The Circuit Court charged the jury, that at law, whatever might be the case in equity, mere parol notice of another insurance on the same property was not a compliance with the terms of the policy; and that it was necessary in the case of such prior policy, that the same should not only be notified to the company, but should be mentioned in or endorsed on the policy; otherwise the insurance was to be void and of no effect. Held, that this instruction of the Circuit Court was correct. It never can be properly said that the stipulation in the policy is complied with, when there has been no such mention or endorsement as it positively requires; without which it declares that the policy shall be void and of no effect. Ibid.