Page:Public General Statutes 1896.djvu/309

1896. age, where the person insuring has an interest in the life of the person insured.

66 —(1.) Every dispute between

(a) a member or person claiming through a member or under the ruies of a registered society or branch, and the society or branch or an officer thereof; or

(b) any person aggrieved who has for not more than six months ceased to be a member of a registered society or branch, or any person claiming through such person aggrieved, and the society or branch, or an officer thereof; or

(c) any registered branch of any society or branch and the society or branch of which it is a branch; or

(d) an officer of any such registered branch and the society or branch of which that registered branch is a branch; or

(e) any two or more registered branches of any society or branch, or any officers thereof respectively, shall be decided in manner directed by the rules of the society or branch, and the decision so given shall be binding and conclusive on all parties without appeal, and shall not be removable into any court of law or restrainable by injunction; and application for the enforcement thereof may be made to the county court.

(2.) The parties to a dispute in a registered society or branch may, by consent (unless the rules of the society or branch expressly forbid it), refer the dispute to the chief registrar, or in Scotland or Ireland to the assistant registrar.

(3.) The chief or other registrar to whom a dispute is referred shall, with the consent of the Treasury, either by himself or by any other registrar, hear and determine the dispute, and shall have power to order the expenses of determining the dispute to be paid either out of the funds of the society or branch, or by such parties to the dispute as he may think fit, and his determination and order shall have the same effect and be enforceable in like manner as a decision made in the manner directed by the rules of the society or branch.

(4.) The chief or other registrar to whom a dispute is referred may administer oaths, and may require the attendance of all parties concerned, and of witnesses, and the production of all books and documents relating to the matter in question.

(5.) Where the rules of a registered society or branch direct that disputes shall be referred to justices, the dispute shall be determined by a court of summary jurisdiction, or, if the parties thereto consent, by the county court.

(6.) Where the rules contain no direction as to disputes, or where no decision is made on a dispute within forty days after application to the society or branch for a reference under its rules, the member or person aggrieved may apply either to the county court, or to a court of summary jurisdiction and the court to which application is so made may hear and determine the matter in dispute; but in the case of a society with branches the said forty days shall not begin