Supreme Lodge, Order of the Golden Chain v. Simering

Citations

• 88 Md. 276
• 41 L.R.A. 720
• 40 A. 723
• 1898 Md. LEXIS 174

Syllabus

<p>Corporations — Benefit Societies — Officers Not Legally Elected — Improper Exclusion of Representatives Entitled to Vote — Injunction—Representation in Fraternal Societies — Act i8g6, Ch. jji.</p> <p>When persons who are duly elected representatives in the governing body of a beneficial association are excluded from the right to vote by the existing officers, equity has jurisdiction to restrain such exclusion.</p> <p>Equity has no jurisdiction to remove officers of a corporation upon the ground that they were not legally elected or appointed, or to prohibit such officers from exercising the functions of the offices of which they are in possession.</p> <p>The Act of 1896, ch. 331, provides that in the supreme governing body of every fraternal beneficial association, no member shall be entitled to vote unless elected a representative by the chapter, etc., and that the number of members necessary to secure one representative shall be the unit of representation and the number of times the membership in any State is greater than this unit of representation is the number of representatives which the State is entitled to in the supreme body. It is also provided that every such association shall have a representative form of government. Defendant is a beneficial association, incorporated under the laws of this State, and under its constitution the members in this State were entitled to only two representatives in the Supreme Lodge. Under the Act of 1896, if applicable, these members would be entitled to eight representatives. At the regular biennial meeting of the Supreme Lodge, after the passage of the Act, representatives from this, and other States, elected under the Act, were excluded, and officers of the association were elected in the former manner and in part by persons who were not elected as representatives. Upon a bill to restrain the officers so elected from exercising the power of their offices, Held:</p> <p>1st. That the Act of 1896 is applicable to the defe