1798 ARTICLE 48A.

" Person " includes individuals, corporations, associations and partner-
ships;

Personal pronouns embrace all genders;

The singular number includes the plural, and the plural includes the
singular.

Insurance Department.

1922, ch. 492, sec. 3.

2. Title and Jurisdiction. There shall be a Department, to be known
as the State Insurance Department of Maryland, which shall be assigned
to the Division of- Financial Review and Control, and which shall be
charged, subject to the supervision and direction of the Comptroller, with
the execution of the laws of this State in relation to insurance. The princi-
pal office of said Department shall be located in the City of Baltimore.

1922, ch. 492, sec. 4.

3. Insurance Commissioner; Appointment and Term. The chief officer
of said Department shall be appointed by the Governor for a term of four
years beginning on the first Monday of May succeeding his appointment,
except that the Insurance Commissioner first appointed under this Article,
shall be appointed on the first day of January, 1923, on which date his
term shall begin, and shall hold office until the first Monday of May, 1924,
or until his successor shall be appointed and shall qualify.

Cited but not construed in State v. Applegarth, 81 Md. 304.

185. See notes to sec. 219 (this footnote).

186A. This section is no defense to a suit by a broker on an indebtedness for com-
missions on the purchase of the stock of another company, although such indebtedness
is in excess of 5% of the company's total capital stock. Conservation Company v.
Stimpson. 136 Md. 330.

192. Where an organization is incorporated " for social and fraternal beneficial pur-
poses," charges entrance fees, dues and assessments, and pays its members a specific
sum in case of sickness, accident or death, and also maturity benefits, it does an insur-
ance business within the meaning of this section, although it has a lodge system and
ritual. International Fraternal Alliance v. State, 77 Md. 556.

This section referred to in construing art. 23, sec. 213, An. Code, 1912—see notes
thereto (this footnote). Maryland Casualty Co. v. Gehrmann, 96 Md. 648.

Cited but not construed in Barton v. International Fraternal Alliance, 85 Md. 30;
Metropolitan Ins. Co. v. Dempsey,' 72 Md. 293.

See notes to secs. 182, 184, 193 and 218 (this footnote).

193. A corporation in reality doing an insurance business cannot evade require-
ments of the insurance laws by incorporating under art. 23, sec. 229, et seq., An. Code,
1912, and pretending to be doing business thereunder. Since such a corporation violated
its charter and the law in issuing policies in excess of $1,000, when it had only deposited
$10,000 with the insurance commissioner, its charter was forfeited. This section con-
strued in connection with said sec. 229, et seq. International Fraternal Alliance v.
State, 86 Md. 556 (decided in 1898).

This section referred to in declaring sec. 122B of the act of 1902, ch. 338, in conflict
with art. 3, sec. 29, of the Md. Constitution, and hence void. Kafka v. Wilkinson, 99
Md. 238; Baltimore v. Williams, 124 Md. 514.

201. Where the annual statement is submitted to the commissioner in due time, and
subsequently, a license (to be operative until revoked) is issued to the company on
condition that it submit to a personal examination of its affairs, but no examination
was made because when the commissioner was ready to make the same, the company
notified him of its withdrawal from the state and its license was then revoked, there
is no violation of the requirements of the act of 1878, ch. 106. A revocation of a license
does not render void a contract validly made before such revocation. Lycoming Fire
Ins. Co. v. Langley, 62 Md. 216.