Owen J. Roberts

“ The circumstance that at the time the certificate was issued domestic fraternal societies were exempted from the operation of the general insurance law of the state, and no similar exemption was extended to foreign societies, cannot enlarge the statutory and charter powers of such a foreign society. The fundamental error of the court below springs from a misapprehension of the effect to be given to the absence of provisions exempting foreign beneficiary associations from the statutes applicable generally to old line life insurance companies. ”

“ This conclusion is not altered by the nature of the society granting the insurance because the character of the insurance, so far as Missouri is concerned, depends on the terms of the contract only. Whatever may be the character of the petitioner in the eye of the Nebraska law it need not have the same character in Missouri. Whether it is a fraternal beneficiary society when sued in Missouri is a question of local law. Even if the issue of the certificate be an ultra vires act under the law of Nebraska it does not follow that it is such under the law of Missouri. ”

“ The beneficiary certificate was not a mere contract to be construed and enforced according to the laws of the state where it was delivered. Entry into membership of an incorporated beneficiary society is more than a contract ”