INSURANCE. 1799

1922, ch. 492, sec. 5.

4. Qualifications; Compensation; Bond. No person who is a director,
officer or agent of, or directly or indirectly interested in any insurance
company, except as an assured, shall be eligible for appointment as com-
missioner. He shall give bond to the State of Maryland in the penalty of
fifty thousand dollars for the faithful performance of the duties of his
office, and shall receive an annual compensation as fixed and provided by
the budget.

1922, ch. 492, sec. 6.

5. Deputy Insurance Commissioner. There shall also be a deputy
insurance commissioner, who shall be appointed by the commissioner, and
who, in the event of the death, resignation, disability or disqualification of
the commissioner, or in case the office of commissioner shall for any cause
become vacant, shall have and exercise all the powers and duties vested
by law in the commissioner. He shall give bond to the commissioner in
such penalty as shall be determined by the commissioner, and shall receive
an annual compensation as fixed and provided by the budget,

1922, ch. 492, sec. 7.

6. Examiner. There shall be an examiner of the insurance department,
who shall be appointed by the commissioner and whose duty it shall be to
examine, under the direction of the commissioner, the condition and affairs

203. This section referred to in construing art. 23, secs. 193 and 229, An. Code,
1912—see notes thereto (this footnote and footnote to sec. 146). International Fra-
ternal Alliance v. State, 86 Md. 558.

205. When a New York superintendent of insurance in whom the law of that state
vested a discretion to refuse a foreign insurance company a license, unjustifiably re-
fuses such license to a Maryland company, the Maryland insurance commissioner, as a
measure of retaliation under this section, is justified in refusing a license to a similar
New York company, although such company had complied with the requirements of
art. 23, sec. 182, An. Code, 1912. Design and operation of this section. Talbott v.
Fidelity, etc., Co., 74 Md. 541.

This section referred to in construing art. 23, sec. 182, An. Code, 1912—see notes
thereto (this footnote). Oland v. Agricultural Ins. Co., 69 Md. 251.

For a case dealing with the act of 1878, ch. 106, sec. 36, see State v. Insurance Co. of
North America, 55 Md. 494.

Cited but not construed in Metropolitan Ins. Co. v. Dempsey, 72 Md. 293.

213. Statements held material. Query whether a statement was a misrepresenta-
tion or untrue statement of the facts as they existed when the policy was applied for.
Reference to the future. See notes to art. 101, sec. 15, U, S. Fidelity, & Guaranty Co. v.
Taylor, 132 Md. 519.

Innocent and immaterial misstatements of fact in application for health insurance
do not avoid the policy; jury questions; burden of proof; estoppel. Prayers. Evidence.
Casualty Co. v. Schwartz, 143 Md. 457.

Whether misstatements in the application for the insurance are false and material to
the risk, and whether they are made in bad faith, are ordinarily questions of fact for
the jury, but where the evidence is clear and uncontradicted, the court may rule as a
matter of law. Evidence of good faith and fraud. Object of this section. Maryland
Casualty Co. v. Gehrmann, 96 Md. 648; Aetna Life Ins. Co. v. Millar, 113 Md. 693;
Monahan v. Mutual Ins. Co., 103 Md. 156; Mutual Ins. Co. v. Mullan, 107 Md. 463.

This section is remedial and to be liberally construed. It is applicable to a contract
of insurance made in Maryland by a mutual insurance company of the state of New
York, although the contract provides that it is subject to the charter of the company
and the laws of New York. The burden of proof that misrepresentations or untrue
statements Were made, and that they were material to the risk or were not made in
good faith, is upon the insurance company. Proper prayer under this section. Mutual
Life Ins. Col v. Mullan, 107 Md. 460.