ALBERT C. RITCHIE, GOVERNOR. 1183

posited with the Treasurer of Maryland or the Insurance Com-
missioner under the provisions of Sections 20 and 21 of this
article, as a guarantee for the payment of the policies issued
by said company. Any surplus that may be found to exist
in the assets of such corporation over and above all its lia-
bilities, including the legal reserve for all outstanding policies
in force, as ascertained and certified by the Insurance Com-
missioner as hereinabove provided at the date of its reorgani-
zation as a stock company, shall be held as a fund
for the security of the creditors of the company, and
shall under no circumstances pass to the ownership of the
stockholders, be distributed among them or be used or en-
croached upon for the payment of dividends upon the capital
stock.

The mutual policies and all rights and liabilities attaching
thereto, and all the powers and obligations of the company
with reference to the same, shall survive so long as said poli-
cies shall remain in force, except that such policies shall there-
after be considered as policies for the largest amount which,
according to their terms, might be payable thereunder in case
the assessments provided for should yield a sufficient amount
to pay the same, and if any certain number of assessments
be specified upon said policies as payable by the holders
thereof, the company shall not be entitled to levy any further
assessments, even though such rights may have been previously
reserved in the policy.

SEC. 97. Companies Converted Prior to July 1, 1916. Such
mutual, cooperative or assessment industrial insurance com-
panies, organized and doing business in this state prior to Jan-
uary 1, 1914, as actually converted, prior to July 1, 1916, in
conformity with the law providing for the conversion of such
companies, may have a paid-up capital less than fifty thousand
dollars, but not less than ten thousand dollars; provided, that in
no case shall the assets of any such company at any time be
insufficient to provide full legal reserve upon all outstanding
policies as required by law, over and above all bona fide debts
and claims against it, exclusive of capital stock; and provided
further, that no such company having a paid-up capital stock
less than fifty thousand dollars shall issue any certificate or
other form of contract for the payment of a greater sum of
money in the aggregate than five hundred dollars upon the
termination of any one life or combination of lives, or a sum