McCoy v. Roman Catholic Mut. Ins. Co.

• Decision Date: 23 October 1890
• Citation: 25 N.E. 289,152 Mass. 272
• Parties: MCCOY v. ROMAN CATHOLIC MUT. INS. CO.
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court

152 Mass. 272

25 N.E. 289

MCCOY v. ROMAN CATHOLIC MUT. INS. CO.

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Suffolk.

October 23, 1890

COUNSEL

Wells, McClench & Barnes, for plaintiff.

William Slattery and James B. Carroll, for defendant.

OPINION

KNOWLTON J.

From the report it is fairly to be inferred that the defendant corporation was organized under the statute of 1877, c. 204 § 1, (Pub.St. c. 115, §§ 2, 8,) and that it was a mutual beneficiary association. Its by-laws are made a part of the case, and from them it appears that since their adoption only male Roman Catholics between the ages of 20 and 51 years are eligible to membership. John McCoy at the time he made his application was much older than that; and under the by-laws he could not be admitted to membership. It does not distinctly appear that any officer of the corporation intended to waive the provisions of the by-laws. Perhaps the court might properly infer that the vice-president and the three directors who approved the application did, for the vice-president knew, and the others knew, or had good reason to know, that the applicant was more than 51 years of age. But his application described him as about 49 years of age and expressly referred to the by-laws; and the directors who indorsed their approval certified that they considered him eligible for membership. It seems probable that their approval of the application was given through inadvertence. Moreover, the by-laws provide for a large number of directors, requiring at least three from each parish, and permitting the admission of members from every parish in the diocese. Geran, the director to whom the letter was written by John J. McCoy, did not intend to waive the by-laws; for he supposed that John McCoy was one of the original associates to whom this provision of the by-laws did not apply. None of the other officers of the corporation had any knowledge that the deceased was older than he represented himself to be in his application, and no other person has been admitted as a member of the corporation since the adoption of the by-laws without an application, under the by-laws, stating that he was less than 51 years of age. But, even if the officers of the corporation had attempted to waive the by-laws in this particular, which was of the substance of the contract, we are of opinion that they had no authority so to do. This is a corporation which does not make contracts of life insurance with strangers, but arranges a system of payments for the benefit of the relatives of its deceased members. It adopts by-laws to determine the relations of the members to each other, and fix their rights against the corporation. The principles which apply to ordinary...