Slaughter v. Commonwealth

• Decision Date: 07 February 1856
• Citation: 54 Va. 767
• Parties: SLAUGHTER v. THE COMMONWEALTH.
• Court: Virginia Supreme Court

54 Va. 767

SLAUGHTER v. THE COMMONWEALTH.

Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia.

February 7, 1856

(Absent ALLEN, P.)

1. An indictment against S for keeping an office and transacting business as agent of the Protection insurance company of Hartford, incorporated and authorized by the state of Connecticut, without having a license therefor, against the act, & c. does not state that the said company is an insurance company. This is cured by the verdict.

2. The act, Code, ch. 38, § 25, p. 210, is not in violation of the constitution of Virginia or the United States.^[a1]

3. The privileges and immunities guaranteed to the citizens of the states of the Union are annexed to their status of citizenship; they are personal and may not be assigned or imparted by them or any of them to any other person natural or artificial.

4. The general assembly of Virginia has authority to forbid foreign corporations engaging in any pursuit within the state; and of consequence to grant permission to engage therein only upon terms.

5. Taxes on licenses are not required by the constitution of Virginia to be equal and uniform.

At the October term 1853 of the Corporation court of Fredericksburg Franklin Slaughter was presented by the grand jury for that he did, on, & c. at, & c. establish and keep an office and transact business as agent of the Protection insurance company of Hartford, incorporated and authorized by the state of Connecticut, without having a license therefor against the act, & c.

The defendant demurred to the presentment, but the demurrer was afterwards withdrawn, and issue was made up on the plea of " not guilty."

On the trial the jury found the defendant guilty, and assessed his fine at forty dollars; whereupon he applied to the court for a new trial, on the ground that the verdict was contrary to the evidence; but the court overruled the motion, and he excepted. He also moved in arrest of judgment, but the motion was overruled, and judgment rendered on the verdict: And the defendant again excepted.

On the trial the facts stated in the presentment were proved, and it was also proved that the members of the Protection insurance company of Hartford were citizens of the state of Connecticut, and that there was no law of Virginia imposing a tax upon or requiring a license to be taken out by any citizen of Virginia, or any corporation created by the state of Virginia, who might establish an insurance office or transact the business in the state of Virginia, or by any agent of either.

Slaughter obtained a writ of error to the judgment from the judge of the Circuit court of Spotsylvania; but when the case was heard there, the judgment of the Corporation court was affirmed. And he then applied to this court for a writ of error, which was allowed.

Wellford and Patton, for the appellant.

The Attorney General, for the commonwealth.

SAMUELS J.

Franklin Slaughter was presented by the grand jury in the Corporation court of Fredericksburg, for having opened and kept (within the jurisdiction of that court) an office, and transacting business as agent, without a license therefor, of the Protection insurance company of Hartford, incorporated and authorized by the state of Connecticut. Issue was made up on the plea of not guilty, and a trial had, upon which the facts alleged in the presentment were proved, and the further fact that the members of the company are citizens of Connecticut. A verdict was found for the commonwealth assessing the fine at forty dollars. Several motions were made by the plaintiff in error for a new trial, and in arrest of judgment. These motions were severally overruled and judgment rendered on the verdict. The record was carried by writ of error to the Circuit court of Spotsylvania, by which court the judgment of the Corporation court was affirmed. The record is brought here by writ of error to the judgment of the Circuit court.

Whether the presentment should have been adjudged sufficient upon a demurrer, it is not material here to enquire, as the demurrer filed when the plaintiff in error first appeared, was afterwards withdrawn. After verdict a motion in arrest of judgment for defects in the presentment, can be sustained only in case it be so uncertain that judgment " according to the very right of the case," cannot be given thereon. Although there is no distinct averment in the presentment that the Protection insurance company is an insurance company, and we are left to infer the fact that it is such from its name, yet the offense is " charged therein with sufficient certainty for judgment to be given thereon according to the very right of the case." The defect in the presentment, if it be a defect, is cured by the verdict; and the motion in arrest of judgment for this defect could not be sustained. Code of Virginia, ch. 207, § 12, p. 770.

The question made in the Circuit court and in this court in regard to the constitutionality of the statute, Code of Virginia, ch. 38, § 25, p. 210, under which this prosecution is had, is presented by the motion for a new trial, and that in arrest of judgment. It is insisted that the judgment should be reversed, for that the plaintiff in error was merely an agent for the Protection insurance company of Hartford, incorporated or authorized by the law of the state of Connecticut; that the individual corporators of that company are citizens of that state; that as such citizens, under the constitution of the United States, article 4, § 2, clause 1, they are " entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several states; " that in a case like this they have the privileges and immunities of citizens of Virginia; that as citizens of Virginia have the privilege to make contracts in Virginia for the insurance of others, with an immunity from taxation for making such contracts, that these citizens of Connecticut have the same privilege and immunity; and that the statute above cited, imposing terms upon the agents and subagents of the company, which are not imposed upon citizens of Virginia, is a violation of that portion of the federal constitution above cited.

It is somewhat difficult to perceive how the plaintiff in error can raise this question in his case. He points out no discrimination between his privileges and immunities and those of all other citizens of Virginia engaged in his pursuit. It is not shown that he is a citizen of a state other than Virginia; the restrictions prescribed by the statute are imposed alike upon all in his condition. The defense, however, is not founded upon any alleged violation of the plaintiff's personal privileges or immunities, nor upon any violation of privileges and immunities pertaining to his immediate principal, the Protection insurance company of Hartford; but upon an alleged violation of privileges and immunities guaranteed to those citizens of Connecticut, the corporators in that company.

This defense has its basis upon an error in confounding things, which are essentially different, in holding these individual citizens, with their privileges and immunities as such, to be identical with the company in which they are corporators. The privileges and immunities guaranteed to them are annexed to their status of citizenship. They are personal, and may not be assigned or imparted by them, or any of them, to any other person, natural or artificial. If it were otherwise, and these citizens could impart their right to others, the limitation of the guaranty to " citizens" would be without practical effect; the right might be imparted to classes, and for purposes in contravention of our policy and laws; and thus our welfare or even our safety be endangered.

It must be conceded by all, that these citizens of Connecticut can have no greater " privileges and immunities" than those which an equal number of our own citizens might enjoy. It must be further conceded by every one in Virginia, that fifty or a hundred (whatever number) citizens of Virginia could not without a charter associate...