$$ 250-251 Article VIII. ARTICLE VIII. CORPORATIONS FOR INSURANCE OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS. SECTION 250. Incorporation. 251. Annual meeting; election of directors. 252. Annual report. 253. Examinations; when corporation may be restrained from doing business. 254. Assessments. § 250. Incorporation.-Nine or more persons may become a corporation for the purposes of insuring the lives of domestic animals, upon the co-operative or assessment plan of insurance, by making, acknowledging and filing in the office of the superintendent of insurance, a declaration stating their intention to form such corporation; the name by which it shall be known; the place where its office shall be located within this state; its particular business and objects; its duration, not to exceed thirty years; the number of its directors, not less than five nor more than thirteen, who shall manage its affairs, and the names and post-office addresses of the directors for the first year of its existence, with a sworn statement by two or more of such persons, that at least fifty persons eligible to membership have applied in good faith, in writing, for membership and insurance in such corporation, to the amount of at least ten thousand dollars, and have severally in good faith paid in in cash the regular premiums therefor, and admission or membership fees in accordance with the by-laws of such corporation. If the requirements of this chapter have been complied with, the superintendent shall file such declaration, statement and certificate, and cause the same to be recorded in a book to be kept for that purpose, and shall deliver to such corporation a certified copy of the papers so filed and recorded, with his license to the corporation to engage in the business proposed in such declaration. Upon such certified copy and license being filed in the office of the clerk of the county where the corporation is to be located, such persons and those that may thereafter be associated with them, or their successors, shall be a corporation and authorized to commence and carry on such business. § 251. Annual meeting; election of directors.-Every such corporation shall hold, within the county in which its office is located, a stated annual meeting of its members in such manner and subject to Insurance of Domestic Animals. §§ 252-253 such regulations as its constitution or by-laws may provide. Notice of such meeting of not less than five days shall be given in such manner as the by-laws may direct. The directors named in such declaration shall hold their office for one year and until others are elected and qualified, and directors shall be annually elected at such stated meeting. The directors shall choose from their number a president and secretary, and shall appoint such other officers as their by-laws shall prescribe. At the stated annual meeting, a majority of the persons entitled to vote thereat shall not be necessary to a quorum, and if the meeting shall not be held on the day designated therefor, it may be held on a subsequent day, in such manner as may be directed by the by-laws. § 252. Annual report.-Every such corporation shall annually, on or before March first, make and file with the superintendent of insurance a report for the year ending on the thirty-first day of December immediately preceding, verified by the duly authorized officers of such corporation, which shall state the date of its organization, the number of certificates or policies issued during the year or members admitted, the number of losses paid and the amount paid on each loss, the amount received from each assessment for the year, the number of claims for which assessments have been made, the total amount received for benefit fund and the disposition thereof, the reserve fund, if any, and its amount, the number of policies or memberships lapsed during the year, the number in force at the beginning and the end of the year. No other report, and no deposit of securities with the superintendent, shall be required of the corporation. Any corporation refusing or neglecting to make such report, or to make payment of any fees required by law, may, upon the suit of the attorney-general, upon the recommendation of the superintendent of insurance, be enjoined by the supreme court from carrying on any business until such report and payment shall be made and the costs of such action be paid. § 253. Examinations; when corporation may be restrained from doing business. Every such corporation, together with its books, papers and vouchers, shall be subject to visitation and inspection by the superintendent of insurance, or such person as he may designate. When on investigation, the superintendent shall be satisfied that any such corporation has exceeded its powers, failed to comply with any provision of law, or is conducting business fraudulently, he shall report the facts to the attorney general; who, if he shall be of the opinion that the facts require such action, must thereupon apply to the supreme court at a special term thereof within the judicial district within which the office of such corporation is located for an order requiring its officers to show cause at a time and place within the district to be specified in the order why it should not be restrained from continuing to transact business, and the court may adjourn the hearing thereof from time to time not exceeding sixty days in all. Upon the return of such order the corporation may be heard and shall be entitled to a trial by jury of the facts stated in the report, if the same shall be traversed and the corporation shall demand a trial by jury, and to examine papers and witnesses under oath in the usual mode of trials of actions. If the facts thus reported shall be established by the finding of the court or verdict of the jury, the court may thereupon make its order or decree closing the business of the corporation and appointing a receiver for the distribution of its assets among its members, certificate-holders, policy-holders and creditors, or may make such other order as the interests of the corporation and the public may require. Pending such trial, the court may, upon the motion of the attorney-general, grant an injunction restraining the corporation and its directors or other officers from collecting any debt or demand, and from paying out or in any other way transferring or delivering to any person any money or property of the corporation during the pendency of such proceeding, except by the order of the court and may appoint one or more temporary receivers of the property of the corporation, with all the powers of such receivers; but no action shall be maintained to restrain or dissolve any such corporation except by the attorney-general, in the name and in behalf of the people. § 254. Assessments.-Each notice of assessment made by any such corporation upon its members, or any of them, shall truly state the cause and purposes of such assessment and the amount paid on the last loss claim paid, the maximum face value of the policy or certificate upon which such claim was paid, and if not paid in full, the reason therefor. The manner and mode of making such assessments and the cost, expense and collection thereof shall be regulated by the by-laws of the corporation. Town and County Co-operative Insurance. S$ 260-261 ARTICLE IX. TOWN AND COUNTY CO-OPERATIVE INSURANCE CORPORA TIONS. SECTION 260. Town corporations under the act of 1857. 261. Incorporation. 262. Directors. 263. Certificate to be filed. 264. Commencement of business. 265. Records. 266. Policies of insurance. 267. Contract of members. 268. Classification of risks; borrowing money; assessments. 270. Collection of unpaid assessments. 271. Restrictions of insurance. 272. Annual election. 273. Annual statement. 274. Withdrawal of members; new members. 275. Restrictions as to business. 276. By-laws. 277. Reorganization of existing corporations. 278. Limitation of business; extension of territorial limits. 279. Existing town corporation may extend itself to entire county. 260. Town corporations under the act of 1857.-Corporations formed under chapter 739 of the laws of 1857, and the acts amendatory thereof, are continued in existence according to the terms of such act and amendatory acts, and shall be subject to the provisions of such act and amendatory acts and not to the provisions of this chapter, notwithstanding the repeal of such acts. 261. Incorporation.--Twenty-five or more persons residing in one or more adjoining towns, or in any county, or in one or more adjoining counties, but not including the persons residing within said town or towns, county or counties, and within the limits of an incorporated city of more than six hundred thousand inhabitants, who collectively own property of the value of fifty thousand dollars or over, may become a corporation for either of the following purposes: I. For the purpose of co-operative insurance against loss or damage by fire or lightning. 2. For the purpose of preventing the larceny of domestic animals, horses, wagons, sleighs, harnesses, robes, blankets, whips, clothing, wearing apparel, jewelry, grain and any kind of farm produce, and all kinds of goods and property, or for the purpose of mutual insurance of such property against loss or damage by larceny, or any loss or expense incurred in recovering the same when stolen, or in the apprehension of the thief or thieves, or for all the purposes named in this subdivision, by making and acknowledging a certificate setting forth their intention to form such corporation, the county or counties or the town or towns in which it intends to do business, its corporate name, which shall embrace, in cases where the association includes one or more counties, the name of the county in which the business office of said company is located, and in case where the association includes one or more towns the name of town or towns in which its office is to be located. Every person insured in such corporation who shall sign an application for insurance as required by the certificate of incorporation, or by the by-laws of the corporation, shall thereby become a member thereof. (As amended by chap. 687 of 1893, § 1; chap. 609 of 1894, § 1, and chap. 844 of 1896, § 1.) 262. Directors.-Every such corporation, if a town corporation, shall have not less than five directors, and if a county corporation, not less than eleven, to be chosen from the members of the corporation, who shall manage its affairs and shall hold office for one year, and such longer term not exceeding four years as the by-laws of the corporation may prescribe, and until others are elected and qualified. They may be divided into classes and a portion only elected each year. They shall choose by ballot from their number a president, secretary, and such other officers as their by-laws shall prescribe, who shall hold their offices for not less than one nor more than four years, as may be prescribed in such by-laws. The board of directors shall exercise the corporate powers and transact the business of the corporation in accordance with its by-laws. The by-laws shall prescribe the number of directors to constitute a quorum, and may provide for an executive committee for such purposes as may be necessary, and may require officers to give such bonds as the needs of the corporation may require. The board of directors may by resolution duly passed at any regular meeting, remove the office of the corporation to any other town within the county or counties where it is organized, if a county corporation; to any other town in which it is authorized to make insurance, if a town |