T. WATKINS LIGON, ESQUIRE, GOVERNOR

239

transfer of stock or property shall be made, nor any
mortgage or bond discharged except in pursuance of a
vote of the said board.

SEC. 14. And be it enacted, That no director, or
other person, shall be present, unless required, at any
meeting of the board when any business in which he
is interested shall be finally determined and passed
upon.

Interested
member.

SEC. 15. And Be it enacted, That a special meeting
of this company shall be called by the president and
directors upon the application, in writing, of twenty
members; notice of such meeting shall be given ten
days successively in two of the newspapers printed in
Baltimore; and special meetings of the company may
be called whenever the president and directors may deem
it expedient, upon the same notice.

Special meet-
ing.

SEC. 16. And be it enacted, That an annual state-

ment shall be made of the companies business, up to the
first day of January, eighteen hundred and fifty-five,
and in each and every year thereafter, on the same day,
to ascertain the net earned premiums as near as may be
for the preceding year, and which shall contain a fair
estimate of the net profits of the company not before
divided, up to, and including the said thirty-first of De-
cember, of each and every year, taking into view the
probable amount to be paid on all claims and demands
which have been, or may be against the company, and
allowing for any previous deficiencies, said statement to
be completed by the last day of the said month, and if
it be ascertained that any profits have been made dur-
ing the above period, the directors, or the majority of
them, may declare a dividend of said profits, the officers
of the company may issue certificates of a certain per
centum on the earned premiums paid or secured to be
paid during such period to the persons in whose names
the policies of insurance were originally made, or to
their representatives, and to the holders of certificates of
stock or their representatives, the said persons insuring,
and the said holders of certificates of stock, sharing the
amount thus actually earned pro rata, according to the
premiums paid, and for the amount of stock held by
them respectively, which certificates shall be designated
dividend certificates, and shall be conclusive upon the
parties entitled to receive them as such, and shall be
transferable only on the books of the company under
regulations prescribed by the by-laws, and shall con-
tain a proviso, declaring the same to be subject to any

Annual state-
ments to be
made.