103

38  &  39  Vict.  Cap.  60,  s.  29.

•children  of  any  age,  where  the  person  insuring  has  an
interest  in  the  life  of  the  person  insured,  or  to  existing,
•contracts.
29.  Societies  with  branches.  —The  provisions  of  the  present
section  apply  only  to  societies  having  branches  (a).
(1.)  How  to  be  registered.—The  application  for  registry
■shall  be  accompanied  with—
(a.)  A  list  of  every  branch,  and  of  the  place  wherein  the
same  is  established;
{b.)  If  any  branch  is  to  have  trustees  or  officers  authorized ­
  to  sue  and  be  sued  on  its  behalf  other  than
the  trustees  or  officers  authorized  to  sue  and  be
sued  on  behalf  of  the  society,  a  list  of  the  names
of  all  such  trustees  or  officers,  distinguishing  the
branches  for  which  they  are  authorized  to  sue  and
be  sued  :
{»■)  If  the  rules  of  all  the  branches  (herein  called  branch
rules)  are  or  are  intended  to  be  identical,  a  statement ­
  to  that  effect,  and  copies  of  such  rules:

,  («)  The  provisions  of  this  section  are  new.  By  the  49th  section ­
  of  18  &  19  Vict.  c.  63,  it  was  provided  that  the  word
“society”  shall  extend  to  and  include  every  branch  of  a  society,
by  whatever  name  it  may  he  designated.  The  effect  of  this  provision ­
  was,  that  every  branch  had  to  be  registered  as  a  separate
society.  Upon  this  portion  of  the  Act  the  chief  registrar
remarks:—“A  very  important  alteration  in  the  law  is  the  express ­
  recognition  of  societies  with  branches  as  registrable  units.
By  sect.  4  a  branch  is  defined  as  any  number  of  the  members  of
a  society,  under  the  control  of  a  central  body,  having  a  separate
fund  administered  by  themselves,  or  by  a  committee  of  officers
appointed  by  themselves—in  other  words,  having  some  power  of
self-government.  On  the  other  hand,  in  order  that  a  society  with
branches  may  be  entitled  to  registration  as  a  single  society,  it
must  have  a  fund  under  the  control  of  a  central  body,  to  which
every  branch  is  bound  to  contribute.  If  there  is  no  such  fund,
a)l  branches  must  be  registered,  as  heretofore,  as  separate  societies. ­
  Amendments  of  the  rules  of  affiliated  societies,  when
registered  under  sect.  29,  will  at  once  bind  all  their  branches.”