feet two inches by eight feet, and made of good flag bunting. 'A,' flag staff and the necessary appliances therefor, and shall display said flag upon, near (or in a conspicuous place within) the public school building during school hours and at such other times as to the said board may seem proper; and that the necessary funds to defray the expenses to be incurred herein shall be assessed and collected in the same manner as moneys for public school purposes are collected by law. And the penalties for neglect of duty provided in Section 2, Chapter 14 of the General School Laws, shall apply to any school officer refusing to comply with the provisions of this act." The act just quoted has not been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. It is, therefore, the duty of every lawabiding citizen to obey the law until it is pronounced invalid by the court. It is not a little surprising to hear that any school board or any officer thereof would at this critical time protest against the purchase of an American flag in compliance with a direct law. Now that this country is engaged in war, the flag is more dear, more to be loved and respected than during ordinary times-and the eyes of all true and loyal Americans are turned towards the stars and stripes. The law is very plain, and I trust that there will be no further trouble regarding the displaying of our flag upon, near (or in a conspicuous place within) the public school building to which you refer. Yours respectfully, FRED A. MAYNARD, Attorney General. Notaries public---Commission, when forfeited. STATE OF MICHIGAN, ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OFFICE, Lansing, June 9, 1898. MR. W. C. EDWARDS, Dowagiac, Mich.: MY DEAR SIR-Your favor of the 8th inst. at hand and duly considered. In reply, will say that from the facts stated in your letter, you have forfeited your notarial commission for Cass county, as you state that you moved to Berrien county and took out a commission in that county. Section 636 of Howell's Statutes provides: "Notaries public shall reside in the county for which they are appointed, but they may act as such notaries in any part of this State." Section 649 of How. Stat. provides: "Every office shall become vacant on the happening of either of the following events, before the expiration of the term of such office. * * * "Fourth. His ceasing to be an inhabitant of this State; or, if the office be local, of the district, county, township, city or village, for which he shall have been elected or appointed, or within which the duties of his office are required to be discharged." A removal from the county for which a notary public was appointed necessarily creates a vacancy; the office of notary being a local one. Yours respectfully, HENRY E. CHASE, Deputy Attorney General. Officers at caucus Where not sworn in Effect. STATE OF MICHIGAN, ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OFFICE, Lansing, June 30, 1898. MR. L. S. ALLEN, Village President, South Lyon, Mich. : MY DEAR SIR-I have your favor of the 29th inst. In answer thereto I would say that the neglect to swear the officers of a caucus, the nominees of which were placed upon the regular ticket and elected would not invalidate an election. The failure to swear the officers of the caucus would amount to simply an irregularity, which would be cured by the election. The principle upon which this rule is based is, that the electors have a right to rely upon their ticket on the official ballot: Loranger v. Navarre, 102 Mich. 259. Yours respectfully, HENRY E. CHASE, Life insurance law-Persons under twenty-one years of age prevented from becoming members of certain corporations, under Act 187, P. A. 1887—In case of accident insurance companies, however, persons under twenty-one years of age can make contracts for insurance. STATE OF MICHIGAN, ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OFFICE, Lansing, June 30, 1898. HON. MILO, D. CAMPBELL, Commissioner of Insurance, Capitol, Lansing: MY DEAR SIR-You request my opinion as to whether or not the words found in Section 16 of Act 187 of the Public Acts of 1887, as follows: "Corporations organized, existing or doing business in this State under or by virtue of the provisions of this act shall not issue any policy or certificate of membership upon the life of any person over the age of sixty-five years, nor upon any person not capable in law of making contracts," operate to prevent persons under twenty-one years of age from being insured in, and becoming members of, corporations organized and doing business under this act. In answer thereto, I would say that after a careful examination of the provisions of that act, I have come to the conclusion that that language does operate to prevent persons under the age of twenty-one years from becoming members of corporations organized under that act, for the purpose of doing a life insurance business-as infants are, in this State, clearly incapable in law of making a finished and completed contract, which is neither void nor voidable, except for necessaries. And the contract of insurance has been held by our Supreme Court not to be a contract for necessaries; but it is within that class of beneficial contracts which though not void are voidable, at the option of the infant: Monaghan v. Agricultural Life Ins. Co., 53 Mich. 238. However, as to accident insurance companies and mutual benefit companies which do business under the accident portion of the act (See Sec. 31), they are excepted from the operation of the language above quoted by the words, "nor shall this section apply to accident insurance policies." I find in Act 187, no limitation upon the right of this class of companies to insure the lives of persons under twenty-one years of age. It, therefore, follows that such companies can insure the lives of persons under that age. But, in contracting with infants, the insurance company must contract subject to the disability of the infant to make a completed and finished contract, and subject to the infant's right to exercise his option to withdraw from the contract and cease to be bound thereby. Yours respectfully, FRED A. MAYNARD, |