Henry Billings Brown

“ The provision of the suicide statute, that it shall be no defense that the insured committed suicide, and that any stipulation in the policy to the contrary shall be void, must be considered as imposing a condition upon every policy thereafter issued, notwithstanding any stipulation in the policy to the contrary. ”

“ It seems to us quite clear that the dclaration of the proviso that corporations 'doing business under this act' shall not be subject to the general insurance laws of the state, applies only to corporations which took out a certificate of authority from the insurance department to do business on the assessment plan, and to policies thereafter issued by such companies, notwithstanding the fact that such companies may have issued policies under the general insurance laws of the state prior to the act of 1887. The words 'doing business' evidently refer to issuing policies, and not to paying them. ”

“ A man does business when he contracts obligations; he ceases to do business when he discharges them.
This is not only the natural construction of the act, but to hold that the proviso applies to policies antecedently issued might open it to the imputation of impairing the obligation of contracts previously entered into between these companies and their insured, since these policies amounted to a special agreement on the part of the companies that they would be liable in case of suicide,-an agreement upon which the insured and his beneficiary were entitled to rely. ”

“ While, as already stated, the supreme court has not decided as to the constitutional power of the legislature to incorporate the suicide statute into this amended § 5869, the decisions above cited, that a mere reference to the section amended is sufficient to sustain the validity of the law, would seem to cover the case, and for this reason the suicide statute, though not strictly germane to the other sections mentioned, is germane to the business of insurance on the assessment plan. ”

“ But there is another argument in this connection which ought not to be overlooked, and which is, in our opinion, decisive that the suicide statute is applicable to this policy. In 1897 a law was passed by the legislature of Missouri, specially applying the suicide statute to insurance companies doing business upon the assessment plan. This was done by an amendment to § 5869, which will hereafter be considered. Two objections to the applicability of this statute are deserving of consideration. First, that it is in conflict with art. ”

“ It must be treated as an independent and binding obligation, and as overriding and nullifying any stipulation of the parties. As Mr. Justice Gray observed in Equitable Life Assur. Soc. v. Clements, 140 U.S. 226, sub nom. Equitable Life Assur. Soc. ”

“ Miller, 45 Mo. 495, it was held that the object of this provision was to prevent logrolling, and surprise and fraud on members; and in State ex rel. Wolfe v. Bronson, 115 Mo. 271, 276, 21 S. W. 1125, 1126, it is said that 'these and other cases show that this section of the Constitution is to be reasonably and liberally construed and applied, due regard being had to its object and purpose. It was designed to prevent the insertion of disconnected matters in the same bill. The section asserts only two propositions. ”