620 ARTICLE 48A.

any such company applying therefor, certified copies of said documents
filed in his department. He shall furnish in December of each year to the
companies required by this Article to report to him, the necessary blank
forms for the statements required, and shall carry out, fulfill and enforce
all the provisions of this Article with reference to the supervision and regu-
lation of insurance companies and the business of insurance. It shall be
his duty to report in detail to the Attorney General any violations of the
laws relative to insurance companies or the business of insurance, and he
shall have power to institute suits and prosecutions either by the Attorney
General or such other attorney as the Attorney 'General may select, for any
violation of the provisions of this Article. The Commissioner is a neces-
sary party to any proceedings instituted for the purpose of closing up the
affairs of any company, when the same shall not be in the name of the
State of Maryland. The Commissioner and the Deputy Commissioner
shall have the power to administer oaths to all witnesses who appear before
them, or either of them, in connection with any examination, investigation
or hearing, and also to require agents and brokers to produce any books,
policies or papers in their possession that may be needed in connection
with any hearing, examination or investigation of such agents or brokers.
For the purpose of all hearings and inquiries which they are authorized
to hold or make, the Commissioner or the Deputy Commissioner may issue
summons for witnesses, and all summons so issued shall be served by the
Sheriff of Baltimore City or by the Sheriff of any of the Counties. If
any witness so summoned shall refuse or neglect to attend, or attending
refuse to testify, the official issuing the summons shall report the facts to
the Superior Court of Baltimore City, or the Circuit Court of any County,
as the case may be, and said Court is hereby authorized and directed to
proceed by attachment against said witness in all respects as if said
neglect or refusal had been a witness summoned to appear in said Court
in a -case pending before it.

The requirement of this section that the insurance commissioner be a party to
any proceeding to close up the affairs of an insurance company was satisfied
where the commissioner was made defendant to an amended bill and so re-
mained until after the order appealed from, when he was by order made a
party plaintiff. Great Nat. Ins. Co. v. Fire Ins. Co., 165 Md. 515.

1933, ch. 152. 1935, ch. 151.

10A. The Insurance Commissioner of this State shall have power to
make, alter, amend and rescind rules and regulations imposing any con-
dition upon the conduct of the business of any insurance company which
may be necessary or desirable to maintain sound methods of insurance and
to safeguard the interests of policyholders, beneficiaries, obligees and the
public generally, during the period of such emergency, which rules and
regulations shall have the force of law and shall become inoperative when
such emergency shall cease, and an order to that effect shall be made by
said Commissioner, but in no event shall this section be effective for
more than two years from the date of its passage.