Page:North Dakota Reports (vol. 2).pdf/68

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42
NORTH DAKOTA REPORTS.

common law or a complaint under the Code, and nothing which is omitted from it need be answered. Comp. Laws 1887, §§ 5519, 5521, 5522, 5528; High, Extr. Rem. §§ 449, 451.

Proceeding to the merits of the motion to quash the writ, we are called upon to determine whether the facts stated in the writ, including for the purposes of this case all the facts set out in the affidavit, are sufficient in law to entitle the relator to the peremptory writ. The attorney general contends that the affidavit shows affirmatively and clearly that the relator is not entitled to invoke the aid of the writ for the purpose of compelling the commissioner of insurance to do the various acts and things required to be done by the writ, viz., to designate the newspapers in which the relator's annual statement should be published, and to issue the certificates of authority to enable the local agents of the relator to transact business, etc. § 3053, Comp. Laws 1887. The ground work of the contention is that the insurance company complaining is not entitled to the writ, because it is not, and was not when the writ issued, legally entitled to have its annual statement for 1890 published, nor legally entitled to have certificates issued to its local agents enabling them to do business for the current year, because, as counsel contends, the company itself was and is without authority to do business in this state; the certificate issued to the company by the defendant for the year 1891 having been "canceled" and declared "null and void," and the company notified thereof by a formal letter from the commissioner, dated March 15, 1891. The motion to quash admits the facts set out, and it is conceded that the various letters constituting the exhibits were written by the insurance commissioner and received by the relator prior to instituting this proceeding; but the relator denies the authority of the commissioner to revoke the relator's certificate on any grounds set out in any of the letters. In his brief counsel for relator says: "It is admitted that the commissioner of insurance has authority, in some cases, to revoke and cancel certificates issued by him, but it is vigorously denied that this is one of such cases. There must be cause for such action on the part of the commissioner. Having once authorized an insurance company to commence business in this state,