SECTION 5. No corporation shall transact such business, unless it shall have received from the commissioner a license, issued as follows: When the deposit has been made or the official statement has been filed, as required by section three, if the commissioner after an examination of the assets and liabilities of the corporation, is satisfied that it is in a sound financial condition, and if the corporation is otherwise duly qualified under the laws of this state to transact its business herein, he shall issue to the corporation a license to transact such business within this state. Every such license shall expire on the thirty-first day of December succeeding the date of its issuance, unless renewed by the commissioner. The corporation shall pay to the commissioner a fee of five dollars for the original issuance of each license and two dollars for each renewal. All fees paid to the commissioner under the provisions of this chapter shall be accounted for by him in the same manner as other fees collected by him.

SECTION 6. Whenever the commissioner may deem it to be prudent for the protection of investors in this state, he may visit personally or by a competent examiner or examiners whom he shall appoint, any corporation transacting such business, and thoroughly inspect and examine its affairs, and ascertain its financial condition and whether it has complied with the provisions of law. The proper charges incurred in the examination of the corporation, including the expenses of the commissioner and the expenses and compensation of his assistants employed therein, shall be paid by the corporation. For the purposes aforesaid, the commissioner or the person or persons making the examination shall have free access to all the books and papers of the corporation which relate to its business, and to the books and papers kept by any of its agents; and may administer oaths to, and examine as witnesses, the directors, officers and agents of said corporation, and any other person, relative to its affairs, transactions and condition.

SECTION 7. Each corporation transacting such business shall annually, on or before the fifteenth day of January, file in the office of the commissioner a report which shall exhibit its financial condition on the thirty-first day of December of the previous year, and its business of that year, and shall at any other time, upon the written request of the commissioner, file a supplemental report of its financial condition and business done. For cause, the commissioner may extend the time for filing the annual report, but not to a date later than the fifteenth day of February. Such reports shall be in such forms as may be established from time to time by the commissioner, and shall be sworn to by the president and secretary of the corporation, or, in their absence, by two of its principal officers, empowered to act in their stead. For filing each annual report the corporation shall pay to the commissioner a fee of five dollars. A corporation which neglects to file its annual report with the commissioner within the time required, shall forfeit one hundred dollars for each day during which such neglect continues.

SECTION 8. If the commissioner is of opinion upon examination or otherwise that a person who is transacting such business is in an unsound financial condition, or if he finds that such person has failed to comply with the law, or that the officers or agents of such person have refused to submit to examination or to perform any legal obligation relative thereto, he shall suspend the license, if any, granted to such person, its officers or agents, and shall cause notice of the lack of authority of such person to transact business to be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the commonwealth; and no new business shall thereafter be done by such person in the commonwealth, or anywhere in the case of a domestic corporation, while such default or disability continues, nor until the authority of such person to do business is restored by the commissioner, or by the court as hereinafter provided. The commissioner shall forthwith notify such person of such suspension or lack of authority and shall specify in the notice the cause thereof and the particulars of any alleged violation of law. The supreme judicial court for Suffolk County, upon petition in equity by such person brought within thirty days after receipt of said notice, shall hear and determine the question as to whether such person lacks authority to transact such business or whether cause for suspension exists, and shall make any appropriate order or decree therein. The statutes and rules relative to petitions in equity shall govern such proceedings.

SECTION 9. The supreme judicial court for Suffolk County shall have jurisdiction, in equity, on petition of the commissioner or of any interested person, to enjoin the unauthorized transaction of such business, to enforce any of the provisions of this chapter, or to appoint a receiver or receivers to take possession of the property and effects of any unlicensed, suspended or financially unsound person, who is or has been transacting such business, and to settle his affairs, subject to the order of the court. If such petition is brought by any person other than the commissioner, the commissioner shall be named as a party respondent.

SECTION 10. Whoever sells or attempts to sell an unsecured installment contract, unless issued by a corporation duly licensed under this chapter, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and liable to a fine of not less than one hundred nor more than one thousand dollars, or to imprisonment for not more than six months, or to both such fine and imprisonment.

SECTION 11. Whoever transacts the business of reselling unsecured installment contracts, unless issued by a corporation duly licensed under this chapter, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and liable to a fine of not less than one hundred nor more than one thousand dollars, or to imprisonment for not more than six months, or to both such fine and imprisonment.

SECTION 12. Whoever does any business act in aid of the transaction of such business, and whoever holds out himself as an agent, agency,

officer, or employee in the transaction of such business, or holds out his address as an office or place of business in aid of the transaction of such business, except on behalf of a corporation duly licensed under this chapter, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and liable to a fine of not less than one hundred nor more than one thousand dollars, or to imprisonment for not more than six months, or to both such fine and imprisonment.

SECTION 13. No unsecured installment contract shall be sold in the commonwealth, or sold anywhere by a domestic corporation, unless it shall provide that, after one-fourth of the total amount of installments therein required has been paid, and in any event after installments for two full years have been paid thereon, in case of default in the payment of any subsequent installment, the contract shall not be forfeited, but a paid-up contract shall be given to the holder of the contract, of not less than the full amount paid thereon less any amount paid by the person selling the contract on account thereof, said paidup contract to mature at the same date as the original contract; and no such contract shall provide for the payment of profits in the form of dividends or otherwise, except from earnings, nor for the payment of any part of the payments made by the holder of any such contract in force, to the holder of any other such contract.

SECTION 14. No unsecured installment contract shall be sold in the commonwealth, or sold anywhere by a domestic corporation, until a copy of the form thereof shall have been filed at least thirty days with the commissioner; nor if the commissioner within said thirty days notifies the person issuing or filing said copy that in his opinion said form does not comply with the requirements of the laws of the commonwealth.

SECTION 15. The sale of any unsecured installment contract which does not conform to the requirements of the two preceding sections, or which is issued by a person not duly licensed under this chapter, shall be voidable by the purchaser and the purchaser shall be entitled to recover from the person selling the same in an action of contract all installments paid thereon, with legal interest from the date of each payment.

SECTION 16. Any corporation making a report which is false in any material part, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and be liable to a fine of not less than five hundred nor more than five thousand dollars.

SECTION 17. Whoever wilfully or negligently subscribes or makes oath to a report which is false in any material part, shall be liable to a fine of not less than five hundred nor more than five thousand dollars; and whoever wilfully makes oath to a report which is false in any material part, shall in addition be guilty of perjury.

SECTION 18. Any person violating any provision of this chapter for which no penalty is specifically provided shall be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars.

SECTION 19. Nothing contained in this chapter shall be construed as prohibiting sales by agents of corporations duly licensed or as prohibiting the resale of contracts once lawfully sold, except contracts resold in violation of the provisions of section eleven.

SECTION 20. The provisions of this chapter shall not apply to contracts issued by a person who is subject to the provisions of the general banking laws or the general insurance laws of this state; nor to contracts issued by a person for the purpose of raising money for his principal business, if his principal business is other than the issuance or selling of unsecured installment contracts.

SECTION 21. Nothing contained in this chapter shall be construed as legalizing a lottery.

SECTION 22. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed.

SECTION 23. This act shall take effect upon its passage.

OPINIONS.

Surgery Unauthorized Operations, when permitted.

A surgical operation which is immediately necessary for the preservation of life or health may be performed without the consent of the patient if it is impracticable to secure such consent or the consent of any one authorized to speak for him.

JAN. 26, 1914.

H. LOUIS STICK, M.D., Superintendent, Worcester State Asylum.

DEAR SIR: In response to your inquiry in regard to a surgical operation upon an inmate of your hospital, I have to say that there is, as you are doubtless well aware, a well settled rule of law that in all cases in which a patient is in full possession of his faculties and able to consult about his condition, his consent is a necessary prerequisite to a surgical operation by his physician. In cases where an emergency arises calling for immediate action for the preservation of life or health of the patient, and it is impracticable to obtain his consent or the consent of any one authorized to speak for him, it is the duty of the physician to perform such operation as good surgery demands without such consent. The only case that will justify surgical operation without consent is "necessity for immediate action for the preservation of life or health." It does not seem to me that the case you state falls within this class, and, in my opinion, you should not operate without the consent of a legally appointed guardian.

Yours respectfully,

THOMAS J. BOYNTON, Attorney-General.

District Police Transfer to Board of Labor and Industries May be retransferred.

St. 1913, c. 610, § 1, providing for appointment by the Governor in case of vacancies in the two inspection departments of the District Police, did not repeal St. 1913, c. 424, § 1, permitting inspectors of factories and public buildings of the District Police who were transferred to the State Board of Labor and Industries from being transferred to the building department of the District Police to fill vacancies, upon their request.