2021 Colorado Code
Title 7 - Corporations and Associations
Article 40 - Corporations Not for Profit
§ 7-40-102. Powers
A corporation not for profit shall be a body corporate in the name stated in its certificate and may sue and be sued; make and enforce contracts in relation to its business, powers, and objects; have a seal; acquire, hold, encumber, and dispose of property, real, personal, or mixed; adopt and alter bylaws; amend its certificate of incorporation; consolidate or merge with any other corporation; have different classes of members with or without voting rights; and exercise every right and privilege necessary, incident, or appertaining to its business, objects, and purposes. Associations and societies which are intended to benefit the widows, orphans, heirs, and devisees of deceased members thereof, where the members thereof receive no money as profit or otherwise, shall not be deemed insurance companies.
History. Source: G.L. § 226. G.S. § 369. R.S. 08: § 1015. C.L. § 2381. CSA: C. 41, § 174. L. 51: P. 282, § 2. CRS 53: § 31-20-2 . C.R.S. 1963: § 31-19-2 .
ANNOTATION
Law reviews. For article, “Restrictions on Charitable Gifts in Colorado”, see 23 Rocky Mt. L. Rev. 434 (1951). For a brief comment on the 1951 amendment to this section, see 28 Dicta 174 (1951).
This section is specifically for the benefit of corporations, associations and societies, not for pecuniary profit, founded under this section; and where the association is not a corporation, association, or society so founded, it does not come within the purview of this section and can claim no benefit or exemption from it. Head Camp, Pac. Jurisdiction, Woodmen of the World v. Sloss, 49 Colo. 177 , 112 P. 49 (1910).
Hence the provisions of this section relating to nonprofit corporations not being deemed insurance companies have no application to a corporation not organized under this section or one insuring those not of the classes named herein. Head Camp, Pac. Jurisdiction, Woodmen of the World v. Sloss, 49 Colo. 177 , 112 P. 49 (1910).
Corporate powers are to be determined from statute. The powers which can be exercised by a corporation organized under a special statute are to be determined from the provisions of the legislative act and not from the company's charter, for it is a mere creature of the act to which it owes its existence and it derives all of its powers therefrom. Int'l Serv. Union Co. v. People ex rel. Wettengel, 101 Colo. 1 , 70 P.2d 431 (1937).
Prohibiting life insurance companies organized on the mutual assessment plan from doing business in the state does not effect this section. Int'l Serv. Union Co. v. People ex rel. Wettengel 101 Colo. 1 , 70 P.2d 431 (1937).
