811.506/107
The State Auditor of Montana (Holmes) to the Secretary of State
[Received January 2, 1935.]
Dear Sir: The French Union and Universal Insurance Company, of Paris, France, has made application to the State of Montana for a license to transact the business of fire insurance in the State of Montana. The French Union and Universal Insurance Company was organized on the 22nd day of June, 1899, and, since that date, it would appear, has been operating a fire insurance company under its corporate existence.
The Insurance Department of the State of Montana is of the opinion that American companies now operating in the State of Montana under Departmental license offer the insuring public of the state adequate and ample opportunity to insure all risks existing in the state. The Department is of the opinion that corporations of foreign countries which have refused or have been dilatory in meeting their war debt to the United States should receive little or no consideration by State Departments where it is remembered that surplus earnings of such corporations will inure to the benefit, either directly or indirectly, of the country which has repudiated or has been dilatory in meeting its war obligations to the United States of America. The Montana [Page 255] Department is prone to deny the application of the French Union and Universal Insurance Company, of Paris, France, solely on this ground, however, before so doing, the Department desires to be informed as to whether or not such an act would be in violation of any treaty existing between the Republic of France and the United States of America.
The Insurance Department has made a study of the Consular Convention between the United States of America and His Majesty, the Emperor of the French, as proclaimed by the United States on the 12th day of August, 1853,57 and, from such study, concludes that the contemplated action on the part of the Department would not be violative of any of the provisions contained in said convention except Article 7, which, in substance, provides that Frenchmen shall enjoy the same right of possessing personal and real property by the same title and the same manner as citizens of the United States. The fire company under discussion might declare that, as part of its business, it would become possessed of personal and real property and that an inhibition to so do by any State Department would be violative of express provisions of Article 7 of the Consular Convention above referred to.
There may be other treaties or agreements existing between the United States of America and the Republic of France, of which the Department has no knowledge, which would prohibit the Department refusing a license to the fire company on the grounds herein set forth.
The Department respectfully requests to be advised by your honorable office as to whether or not a refusal of the Department to issue a license to the French Union and Universal Insurance Company, of Paris, France, on the grounds that it is a corporation of a country which has failed to wholly meet its war debt with the United States, would be violative of any treaty or agreement now existing between the United States of America and the Republic of France.
Respectfully submitted,
- Signed at Washington, February 23, 1853, Hunter Miller (ed.), Treaties and Other International Acts of the United States of America, vol. 6, p. 169.↩