About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

7 Legal & Ins. Rep. 1 (1865)

handle is hein.journals/lglir7 and id is 1 raw text is: JAMES FULTON, Proprietor, $2.510 In Advance. OFFICE, 703 Walnut Street. - - . flf' 314d gadmity. Single Copies S cli, VOL. VII. PIIILAI)ELPHJIA, JANUARY 5, 1865. NO. 1. Our Seventh Volume*- With this number we open the Seventh Volume of the Ry:PORTER, and beg leave of our readers in this way to announce the change we have made in its publication and terms. Heretofore, it has been a semi- monthly Journal, we now propose to have it appear every week. This will enable us to to the Bar the decisions of our courts very soon aster their rendering, and will permit us to present other matters that we have often before been obliged to postpone. Our Insurance Department will also be fresher, containing the latest items of in- teresting insurance intelligence that can be obtained. We shall also pay some attention to the great Oil business interest that has so recently sprung up in our midst. Many of the companies organized as well as organiz- ing are of the best character, others, we are sorry to say, are not. Both shall have notice in our columns. To meet the additional ex- pense necessarily incurred by these changes, and we trust improvements, we have deter- mined to advance the subscription price in tire following manner : Two dollars and fifty cents per annum, payable in advance, single copies eight cents. Every one of our readers is doubless aware if the increased cost of every article that enters into the composition of i journal. Labor has advanced end, materials ri su H very far beyond the standard of a few years ago. Notwithstanding this, however, we are making but a trifling inrerase in our rates such as none of our subscribe3rs will feel. We know that our readers will admit their reasonableness and have no doubt that we shall receive thesame cordialsupport we have heretofore. For the favors of the past we are grateful, we tender in advance our thanks for those we believe to be coming. The Universal Life Insurance Company. This is the title of a new Life Company recently organized in the City of New York, with a cash capital of $200,000, for the pur- pose as the circular of the Company informs us of making life insurance available to a large number of nersons who have hitherto been excluded from participating in its ad- vantages, but for whom its benefits tire par- ticularly desirable, i. c. in the first place, to those who from want of full health and vigor have been unsuccessful in their efforts to obtain insurance in any of the existing companies which accept sound lives only, atd secondly, to those who in consequence of some real or fancied infirmity of constitu- tion are deterred from ever making in effort to obtain insurance, knowing the careful scrutiny to which they will be subjected by an examining physician, and perhaps dread- ing such an unwelcome confirmation of their particular infirmities as a decided rejection would imply. In other words, this com- pany proposes to insure lives that no exist- ing company will take risks on. This is certainly a novel enterprise, and one the feasibility of which will be doubted by many, but the Universal comes backed by the names of gentlemen as Directors who have been actively engaged in the business of Life In- surance for many years, and are thoroughly versed in its science and practice. They must be presumed to have carefully con- sidered its merits and prospective success be- fore embarking in it. The greatest diffi- culty to be encountered is the abseoce of any data of unsound lives, on which' its business can be founded, and this desideratum will have to be acquired by experience. The company starts with a paid up capital of $200,000, all of which, securely invested, is immediatelv available for the payment of losses, and the entire receipts, deducting ex- penses and legal interest to stockholders alone, will be reserved and held as a con- tinually increasing fund for the payment of losses. It is due to say that its aims are meritorious and deserve successful accom- plishment, and thiis we cordially wish it In the selection of F. RxrTsuroanR STARn, Esq., as the agent of the company in this city, the Directors give evidence of a disposition to secure the best and most enterprising busi- ness talent, and this augurs well. Organization of Oil Companies.- We have been requested to state the law or laws under which so many of our Coal Oil Companies have been recently organized, and the provisions regulating their organiza- tion, and the liability of officers, directors snd stockholders for debts contracted. We give,dherfeore a brief statement in response. These companies are organized under an Act of Assembly, approved the 21st of April, 1854, entitled An Act to enable joint ten- ants, tenants in common, and adjoining owners of mineral lands in this Common- wealthetos anage and develope the .same,'' and the several supplements, thereto. Tihe act authorizes the formation of a company by any five or more persons who may be joint owners, tenants in common or joint tenants of mineral lands, but provides that before proceeding with any improvement they shall sign and acknowledge, before some officer competent to take acknowledgement of deeds, a certificate in writing, in whicht shall be stated the corporate name of the Company and the object for which it has been formed, a description of the lands, where located and the number of acres, the number of shares into which the land has been divided; the residence of the owners and the number of shares owned by each, the nane of the county in which the chief operations of the company are to be carried on, and the number and names of the direc- tors who shall manage its affifirs until the next annual election. This certificate is then to be submitted to the Attorney-general for examination, and to be by him certified, to be properly drawn and signed, and in con- fortuity with the constitution and laws of the common wealth. When so certified, it is to be recorded in the office for recording deeds in the county in which the business of the company is to be carried on, and a copy duly certified is to be filed in the office of the Sec- retary of the Commonwealth. When so re- corded and filed, the persons who have signed and acknowledged the same, and their suc- cessors shall, for the term agreed upon, not exceeding twenty years, be a body corporatev and politic in fact and in law.I The quantity of land to be held by the Company must not exceed 3,000 acres. The stockholders are annually to elect five Direc- tors. The provisions of this act were applied to- leasehold estates by Act of March 30th, 1860 The land may be divided into shares of not less than ten dollars. By Act of May 1st. 1861, the provisions of the Act of 21st April, 1851, were xtended to-mining for carbon oils, manufacturing, refining and selling, or conveying the same to market. By Act of March 80th, 1860, it is provided that the total amount of the debt and lin- bilities, other than its capital stock of a com- puny shall not exceed the amount of its capi- tal actually paid in, and if any debts or there is, of course, a possibility that it may turn out to be worthless so far as the produc- tion of oil is concerned; but it would not be safe to assume that it would always, or per- haps ever be so. If the lessee hirs erected valuable machinery upon the premises, or made valuable improvements which, upon terminanion or surrender of the lease, become the property of the lessor, it is evident that he has received a portion of the rent or corn- pensation for tre useof Iris landagreed upon, although rio oil is produced. ''The rentsl value cannit in such cases be accuratel-' esormined, and of course thoe stamp uty an no mtore )e accurately calcu- lated, aid tlreefo-e parties in such eases are liabilities in excess shall be contracted, tie idvised to appy to the Collector under see- directors and officers contracting the saure. tion Ili- of the Ac, of June 300h, to have the or assenting shall be jointly and severally liable in their individual capacities, and b- another section of the same act, stockholders are made jointly and severally liable ir their individual oripacities for all debts and con- tracts rade by their respective companies to the amount remaining unpaid on each share of stock held by them respectively and shall be liable in like manner for all debts due to mechanics, workmen and laborers employed by their company. Provided however, that no stockholder, director, or officer, shall be held individually liable for riny such debt uiless< , t who ,-ir shall have been sued for within one year after the time at which it was contracted. Hand FireEngines.- When the bill making an appropriation to the Fire Department for 1865 comes before Councils, an effort will be made to reduce the amount asked for by striking from the ordinance all appropriations for gratuities to hand engine companies. If the members of Council desire to save the money of the tax payers, such an effort will be sustained. It is a rare thing to see a hand engine at a fire, and why they should be paid it is hard to see. We have more steam fire engines now than are needed to put out all the fires that may take place, hence the hand engines have become almost useless. - - -* Oil Leases and Seamps.- Commissioner LEwis announces a decision of the Department in reference to oil leases and the stamp duty, He says: The law makes the ' rent or rental value' the test which determines the amount of the stamp duty, and of course when the rent is fixed at a specified sum in ioney the stamp duty is easily determined. 'In the case of these oil leases there is, however, very rarely a fixed rental value in lessee contracts to erect valuable machinery or sink shafts, as well as to pay i certain rate per gallon or barrel for the oil produced, or deliver a certain portion of the oil instead of cash payments, and in others the rent isto be a certain portion of the oil or its value in money-the machinery in the first case to become the property of the lessor at the end of the term. In such cases the annual rent or rental value can only be determined by estimation. If the lease is of new and untried lands, sarmp dity deturmi1ined, which of course, in- valves the calcjulatiosi of tie annual rental value. If the land has been worked befoft the lease is made, or if tie original lessee in such case underlets or-assigns hiis leas, og ia por- tion or undivided interest in it, the Collector will in such case have some reliable data to start upon, but in all cases ie should estimate from the best information he can get, the probable average rental value; and of course in doing this, he will have regard to his own knowledge of the premnises, the information derived from the partV 'nd other, and tie stipulations of the lease-and if the rent js payable in oil, the average inarketvalue of the oil is an element in the calculation; and in cases where he is in doubt, ie will of course receive such instructions as may be desired from this office. ' Such leases, whether of oil, coal or mine- ral lands, are held to be subject to stamp duty as leases, and a stamp as an agreement or contract is of course insufficient. There are instances of farms in the country which are leased 'upon shares,' as it is termed, and it is of course impossible to determine at a given date what the farm will produce for the ensuing year, the rental value must be estimated, and the quantity as well as value of the several products must become elements in the calculation, and yet no difficulty seems to have arisen in sucir cases. The calculation in the cases of a coai or oil lease may be more complicated, but the principle is the same. Oil Companies.- Our State, famous for tie vastness and richness of her mineral wealth, her coal and her iron, has now additional attraction in her immense Oil regions whose hidden tren- sures are but in the beginning of develop- ment. Day after day passes and brings fresih proofs of the grentness of this new source of prosperity and riches. Explorations serve but to reveal greater abundance, and com- panies multiply with anmazing rapidity. Of course, speculation has entered the new field. and Orginizations have been formed whosi- foundation is fraud and whose promises are lies. The public is never too cautious, and the mania that prevails finds plenty ready to profit by tire credulity of others. Stock Companies, for the working of oil lands, are already numbered by hundreds, and there

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most