Commonwealth v. Biddle

Citations

• 139 Pa. 605
• 21 A. 134
• 1891 Pa. LEXIS 1028

Syllabus

<p>(á) The act of April 26, 1887, P. L. 61, amending § 14, act oí April 4, 1873, P. L. 20, prohibits any person or persons, etc., from “ paying, or receiving, or forwarding any premiums, applications for insurance, or in any manner securing, helping or aiding in the placing of any in- • surance,” etc., with any foreign insurance company or association, unauthorized to do business in this state:</p> <p>1. The prohibition applies to persons, etc., who as insurance agents or brokers do business with unauthorized foreign insurance companies or associations, as the brokers or agents of other parties, and not to persons, etc., who, as owners, make single contracts of insurance with such companies or associations upon their own property.</p> <p>2. It may be conceded that a statute which should attempt to prevent a non-resident owner of property in this state, or a resident owner not at the time within the state, from insuring his property in any manner lawful in the place of the contract, would be void as extra-territorial.</p> <p>3. So, also, it may be conceded that if a citizen of Pennsylvania has incurred a liability by a contract validly made outside its boundaries, no law of this state can, under the constitution of the United States, prevent his fulfilment of that obligation, even by an act done within the state.</p> <p>4. But, subject to constitutional limitations, the power of the legislature to declare any act done within the territory of the state unlawful or criminal, cannot be questioned; and considerations of policy, of hardship, of difficulty or even impossibility of general enforcement, must be addressed to the legislature.</p> <p>5. There is no doubt, therefore, as to the power of the legislature to make the insurance of property in an unauthorized foreign insurance company a criminal act on the part of the owner, but such an intent should not be attributed unless the terms of the act be plain, or the implication unavoidable.</p>