ance, addressed to it, which either negative the idea of authority to contract or, as in the present case, is signed by the applicant without actual knowledge of its contents, does not have the apparent authority to enter into a contract of insurance. 8. Where such forms, within the actual knowledge of the applicant, are free from specific limitation upon the authority of such agent, does he thus have the apparent authority to bind such principal, as inducement to the making of such application, by a temporary contract of insurance, until such principal may reject such application? 2. There is no contract of insurance unless the minds of the parties have mef in agreement as to (a) the subject matter, (b) the risk insured against, (c) the period of risk, (d) the amount of insurance, and (e) the prem. ium. 3. An unaccepted application for insurance, accom panied by the premium, although retained without notice of objection for five days after its date and untill the ap. plicant has suffered the loss against which he desired the insurance, is not a contract of insurance HUMOR. Only eleven jurors had been secured; but when the e leventh was seated his pet dog that had followed him to court junped on the seat by him and filled the 12th seat on the box. The judge immediately called the attorney impanelling that the box was full and he might proceed "No, your honor," replied the attorney, "he might do for a judge but not for a jury man. "My wife will bear witness," said the prisoner at the bar, "that, at the very time I am accused of burglarizing Mr. Smith's premises, I was engaged in walking the floor with my baby endeavoring to soothe it by singing Rocka-by-baby." "The prisoner is discharged," said the J. P "He can prove a lullaby." SIDE LINES OF A LAWYER. Response to a Toast, delivered by H. E. P. Stanford, at the Annual Meeting of the Oklahoma State Bar Association. Other fellows have their side lines, A lawyer should be ever striving That the law's a jealous mistress Has been told us o'er and o'er This same adage, old and hoary, In the onward march of progress, Now and then one rides his hobby, Call them side line if you will, Some for business, some for pleasure, Some the time to merely kill. There's no side line for the lawyer- But when the lawyer gets to farming Have you ever tried a mixture If you haven't, then don't do it Its the worst I ever saw. There's one side line that I figure Don't look frightered 'cause I've said it- When the ivory chips are rattling, 'Cause it's not my own side lige. You know that life is short and fleeting When your business grows in volume In this modern time of thinking If we could hark back again. To those good old days, now passing, When the lawyer was the lawyer And carried no side line. THE OKLAHOMA LAW JOURNAL EDITED AND PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY D. H. FERNANDES, GUTHRIE, Oklahoma. VOL. 12. April, 1914. THE PRESENT SYSTEM OF No. 10 TAXATION IN THIS STATE. By Hon. Ernest E. Blake. Read by request before the Tulsa Bar Association February 21st, 1914. The subject, the "Present System of Taxation in this State," presents as many difficulties to determine what the present "system" is, as it does in describing it after it is discovered. Every legislature, and nearly every term of the Supreme Court, has changed the system. The Township Assessor Law, operated under from 1903 to 1910, turned out to be a myth, never having passed the legislature, and the County Assessors under the law of 1910 did not very well fit into the accustomed procedure, or the scheme for equalization, libelously so called. In addition to this, the Harris Code has been twice adopted; first, with certain limitations which political caution suggests when dealing with Sam Harris, he having once been employed by a corporation, and second with that absence of caution and limitation which marks all the "River Bed" Sand-Gravel legislation. The Harris Code retains all of the Township Assessor law provisions, and the second adoption probably annihilated the county assessors-and some other things- but of this no man knoweth until the Supreme Court. Under substantially similar constitutional provisions to ours County Assessor Laws have been declared unconstitutional, as violating the clause re lating to local self-government. Kentucky, California and Washington hold likewise. Contrary to newspaper report our court has not passed on the pròposition. Charter cities, under our Constitution and the Lackey decision, have power relating to taxation as yet unrecognized and unappreciated, but calculated to engender complications unlimited. The smaller the assessing district the better opportunity for knowing the ad valorem properties in it. It is manifest that the County Assessor System is a failure as to discovery, a misnomer in practice, and leads to greater intentional disregard of the law, in the interest of "percentage" than the Township Assessors were capable of unintentionally. The 1913 legislation is only referred to herein, That the legislature did not adjourn when it adjourned, but adjourned when it did not adjourn saved the capital, a few appointments, but destroyed the 1913 revenue statute which was a mixture of questionable ancestry and impossible to unscramble. The Attorney General with becoming modesty admits the initial paternity of the offspring, but, considering the grammar of the Act, and its physical peculiarities, I am loath to publicly admit a family resemblance. If, however, the pride of authorship is justified, I wonder why he felt disposed to have Boards of Equalization "sit as courts" and why he wanted these pseudo, quasi, pretended, and probably unconstitutional bodies, in the legislative department of our state government. Our tax assessment legislation since 1907 lies deep shrouded in abysmal ignorance of names, principles, purposes and means: Its present if not understandable, and its future, is problematical beyond conjecture. Most of it, on due considera |