approved by the major part of the trustees and board of management of both societies or branches.29

35. Rules, &c., under hand of registrar to be received without proof of signature.-And be it enacted, that all rules, alteration of rules, transcript or copy of or extracts from all rules and alteration of rules, and all awards, writings, and documents, of what nature or kind soever, relating to any society or branch, directed by any act or acts of Parliament to be certified by the registrar, and purporting to be signed by him, shall, in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, be received in all courts of law and equity and elsewhere, without proof of the signature thereto.

36. Executors, &c., of officers of certified Friendly Societies to pay money due to society before any other debts, within forty days after demand in writing.-And be it enacted, that if any person appointed to any office in any Friendly Society or branch thereof established under this act, and being intrusted with the keeping of the accounts, or having in his hands or possession, by virtue of his said office or employment, any moneys or effects belonging thereto, or any deeds or securities relating to the same, shall die, or become a bankrupt or insolvent, or have any execution or attachment or other process issued, or action or diligence raised, against his lands, goods, chattels, or effects, or property or estate, heritable or moveable, or make any assignment, disposition, assignation, or other conveyance thereof, for the benefit of his creditors, his heirs, executors, administrators, or assignees, or other persons having legal right, or the sheriff or other officer executing such pro

29 This section makes it unlawful and punishable with the like penalty as provided by sect. 26, in cases of fraud to make any rule for the dissolution of a society contrary to its rules without the consent of five-sixths in value of its members. It is, in like manner, made unlawful to divide the stock of such society, otherwise than for the purposes declared by its rules originally certified. The section is taken from 10 Geo. 4, c. 56, s. 26.

cess, or the party using such action or diligence, shall, within forty days after demand made in writing by the order of any such society or branch, or of not less than three of the committee of management assembled at any meeting thereof, deliver and pay over all moneys and other things belonging to such society or branch to such person as such society or committee shall appoint, and shall pay out of the estates, assets, or effects, heritable or moveable, of such person, all sums of money remaining due which such person received by virtue of his said office or employment, before any other of his debts are paid or satisfied, or before the money directed to be levied by such process as aforesaid, or which may be recovered or recoverable under such diligence, is paid over to the party issuing such process or using such diligence; and all such assets, lands, goods, chattels, property, estates, and effects shall be bound to the payment and discharge thereof accordingly.30

30 This section is similar to 4 & 5 Will. 4, c. 40, s. 12, which extended the cases provided by the earlier acts in which the society was to be entitled to priority of payment. The debts to be preferred are not, by the present act any more than by the former acts, generally all debts due to the society, but only debts from an officer intrusted with the keeping of the accounts or having the effects of the society in his possession by virtue of his office; so that if the society trusts any person upon his private security, those debts have no preference (Ex parte the Amicable Society of Lancaster, 6 Ves. 98); and under 33 Geo. 3, c. 54, s. 10, it was held that the right to preference did not exist merely by the debtor being an officer of the society, but that it was necessary that the money should have come into his hands by virtue of his office; consequently, money lent by a society to one of its officers upon a special contract, as upon his promissory note, has been decided not to be money in his hands by virtue of his office: (Ex parte Ashley, 6 Ves. 441; Ex parte Ross, 6 Ves. 802; Ex parte Stamford Friendly Society, 15 Ves. 280; Ex parte Buckland, 1 Buck. 514.) The same construction will be applicable to this section of the present act, which also confines the cases to where the officer has had money or effects by virtue of his office. Where, however, a bankrupt, on being appointed treasurer of a Friendly Society, was by the rules to pay interest on a stated sum in hand, it was held, in Ex parte Ray (1 M. & Ch. 537), that that did not constitute a loan, but came within 4 & 5 Will. 4, c. 40, s. 12, as being money in his hands by virtue of his office as treasurer. In a case in which the rules of the society provided that the treasurer retaining upwards of 107. more than seven days after he was required to pay it over should be excluded from the society, and the rules also decided that a particular firm should be the bankers of the society, with

37. Member belonging to more than one society not to be entitled to benefits exceeding 100l., or 30l. annuity, or 20s. sickness.-And be it enacted, that if any person after the passing of this act shall become a member of more than one society or branch, and thereby be entitled to certain benefits on account of the same kind of assurance from more than one society or branch, it shall not be lawful for him to claim or receive such benefit from any or either society or branch without signing a declaration that the joint value or amount of all the benefits in any one kind of assurance to which he may be entitled from any society or societies, branch or branches, of which he may be a member, does not in the aggregate exceed the amount of one hundred pounds in one sum, or an annuity of thirty pounds per annum, or a sum in sickness of twenty shillings per week; and in case such declaration shall not be true, such member shall be liable to the penalties hereinbefore enacted in case of fraud.31

38. Power to certified societies to invest moneys with National Debt Commissioners, upon declaration that they belong exclusively to the society; in case declaration not true money to be forfeited and applied in manner directed by 9 Geo. 4, c. 92.—And be it enacted, that it shall be lawful for any certified society, or certified branch thereof, established under this act, to pay directly into the Bank of England any sum of money not less than fifty pounds to the account of the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt,

power for a general meeting to appoint other bankers, it was held that the bankers for the time being were not officers so as, upon their bankruptcy, to entitle the society to payment in full: (Ex parte Harris, 1 De Gex, 162.)

81 This is new. The object of the act is to limit the amount of benefit to be assured to any member to 1007., or an annuity of 307., or 20s. a week in case of sickness (see ante, s. 2.) The present section seeks to prevent such limit being exceeded by persons becoming members of several societies. The penalty for obtaining money by making a false declaration is to be that provided in cases of fraud by sect. 26, namely, double the amount so obtained. Where no money is so obtained, there must necessarily be no penalty.

upon the declaration of the treasurer or trustees of such society or branch, or any two or more of them, that such moneys belonging exclusively to the society or branch for which such payment is intended to be made; and the cashier of the Bank of England is hereby required to receive all such moneys, and to place the same to the account raised in the names of the said commissioners for the time being in the books of the bank, denominated "The Fund for Friendly Societies;" and in case such declaration shall not be true, then and in every such case the sum of money paid in on such declaration shall be forfeited to the said commissioners, and applied by them in the manner directed by an act passed in the ninth year of the reign of King George the Fourth, intituled An Act to consolidate and amend the Laws relating to Savings Banks; and all the clauses and provisions of the acts for the time being in force relating to savings banks, with respect to the account of such banks, and the regulation of receipts, certificates, or orders concerning the same, shall be applicable to the moneys so paid in as aforesaid under the authority of this act, as if the same had been repeated herein; and every such society or branch shall, on paying money directly into the bank as aforesaid, be entitled to receive receipts bearing interest at the rate of twopence per centum per diem: provided always, that no fractional part less than one penny shall be allowed or paid as interest upon the principal sum contained in such receipt.32

32 This section confines the privilege of investing moneys with the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt to certified Friendly Societies. Previously to the present act the power to invest their funds with the commissioners extended to all societies established under the Friendly Acts, except societies for purchase of food, implements of trade, &c., or which required the certificate of the AttorneyGeneral as mentioned in 9 & 10 Vict. c. 27, s. 1, or societies assuring for more than 2007. (see 3 & 4 Vict. c. 73, s. 2; and see also the 10 Geo. 4, c. 56, s. 31, on which the present section is framed.) What is required to become a certified society is printed out in sect. 7 of the present act.

Friendly Societies existing before the present act which have invested their funds with the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National

39. Powers of attorney, &c., not liable to stamp duty. -And be it enacted, that, except as hereinafter provided, no order of the registrar, or copy of rules, power, warrant, or letter of attorney granted by any person as trustee of any society or branch established under this act, for the transfer of any share in the public funds standing in the name of such trustee, nor any receipt for money contributed to the funds of any such society or branch, or received by any member, his executors, administrators, assigns, or attorneys, from the funds of such society, nor any bond to be given to or on account of any such society or branch, or by the treasurer or trustee or any officer thereof, nor any draft or order, nor any form of policy, nor any appointment of any agent, nor any certificate or other instrument for the revocation of any such appointment, nor any other document whatever required or authorized by or in pursuance of this act, shall be subject or liable to or charged with any stamp duty.33

40. For payment of sums not exceeding 50l. when members die intestate.—And be it enacted, that when on the death of any member of any such certified Friendly Society, or any certified branch, or of any Friendly Society already established, any sum not exceeding fifty pounds shall become payable, it shall be lawful for the trustees for the time being of such society, if they shall be satisfied that no will was made and left by such deceased member, and that no letters of administration or confirmation will be taken out of the funds, goods, and chattels of such depositor, to pay the same to the widower or widow of such member, as the case may be, or to the child of such member, if so directed by any rule of such society or branch, and in case there shall be no such direction, then to pay and

Debt are to be allowed to continue such investments; but they are not for the future to invest except on account of assurances made before the passing of this act: (see post, sect. 43.)

33 This is nearly the same as 10 Geo. 4, c. 56, s. 37.