Edward Douglass White

“ Besides, it is not disputed that the state, under its Constitution, had a reserve power to repeal, alter, and amend charters by it granted, and therefore, even if the impossible assumption was indulged that the grant of the power to do business implied, in the absence of such reservation, the right to carry on the business in violation of a lawfullyregulating statute, the existence of the reserve power leaves no semblance of ground for the proposition. The claim of an irrepealable contract cannot be predicated upon a contract which is repealable. ”

“ By the Constitution and laws of the state of Arkansas it is said foreign corporations, when lawfully admitted to do business in the state, were entitled to rights equal to those enjoyed by domestic corporations. Possessing this right of equality, it is argued that a permit to do business could not be revoked for causes not made applicable to domestic corporations without impairing the obligations of the contract which arose from the permit. ”

“ That is to say, we must trace the power to its true source, and if, from doing so, it results that the authority exerted flows from a reservoir of unquestioned power, it must follow that the action below was not unlawful, albeit in some narrower aspect that action might be considered as unlawful. The essential basis for the exercise of power, and not a mere incidental result, arising from its exertion, is the criterion by which its validity is to be measured. ”

“ Even if, as contended, the remedy given by the act for the production of books and papers and the examination of witnesses is confined to corporations and joint stock associations, and does not extend to individuals, that fact also furnishes no ground for the proposition that a denial of the equal protection of the laws thereby resulted. ”

“ The difference between the extent of the power which the state may exert over the doing of business within the state by an individual and that which it can exercise as to corporations furnishes a distinction authorizing a classification between the two. ”

“ Vermont, the books and papers were required for an investigation before a grand jury concerning supposed misconduct of the corporation. The power to compel the production to ascertain whether wrong had been done, in the nature of things, as the greater includes the less, is decisive as to the right to exact the production for the purpose of proof in a pending cause. ”

“ As the state possessed the plenary power to exclude a foreign corporation from doing business within its borders, it follows that, if the state exerted such unquestioned power from a consideration of acts done in another jurisdiction, the motive for the exertion of the lawful power did not operate to destroy the right to call the power into play. ”

“ Does the act prohibit, under the penalty named therein, a foreign insurance corporation from doing business in Arkansas while such corporation is a member of a pool, trust, or combination to fix insurance rates anywhere, although such pool, trust, or combination is not created or maintained in Arkansas, and does not affect or fix, or attempt to do so, rates of insurance in Arkansas? ”