EMERSON C. HARRINGTON, GOVERNOR. 719

lic General Laws of Maryland be and the same is hereby
amended, by repealing and re-enacting with amendments Sec-
tions 231 and 234 thereof, as amended by Chapter 824 of the
Acts of the General Assembly of Maryland, session of 1912,
entitled "An Act for the regulation and control of Fraternal
Beneficiary Associations, and to repeal Sections 210 to 225,
both inclusive, of the Code of Public General Laws of Mary-
land, title 'Corporations, ' sub-title 'Fraternal Beneficiary Asso-
ciations, ' revision of 1904, " and by adding to said Article 23
three new and additional sections, to be known as Sections
244-F-1, 244-F-2, and 244-L-1, said sections 244-F-1 and
244-F-2 to follow immediately after Section 244-F, and said
Section 244-L-1 to follow immediately after Section 244-L,
said Sections 231 and 234, repealed and re-enacted as afore-
said, and said three new sections to read as follows:

Section 231. Representative Form of Government Defined.
Any such Association shall be deemed to have a representative
form of government when it shall provide in its constitution
and laws for a supreme legislative or governing body, composed
of representatives elected either by the members or by delegates
elected directly or indirectly by the members, together with
such other members as may be prescribed by its constitution
and laws; provided, that the elective members shall constitute
a majority in number and not have less than two-thirds of the
votes, nor less than the votes required to amend its constitu-
tion and laws; and provided, further, that the meetings of the
supreme or governing body, and the election of officers, repre-
sentatives or delegates shall be held as often as once in four
years. The members, officers, representatives or delegates of a
fraternal beneficiary association shall not vote by proxy.

Section 234. Beneficiaries. The payment of death benefits
shall be confined to wife, husband, relative by blood to the fourth
degree, father-in-law, mother-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-
law, stepfather, stepmother, stepchildren, children by legal adop-
tion, or to a person or persons dependent upon the member;
provided, that if after the issuance of the original certificate the
member shall become dependent upon an incorporated charitable
institution, he shall have the privilege, with the consent of the
association, to make such institution his beneficiary. Within the
above restrictions, each member shall have the right to desig-
nate his beneficiary, and, from time to time, have the same
changed in accordance with the laws, rules or regulations of
the association, and no beneficiary shall have or obtain any