Opinion of the Court. inclusive, and except as provided in section 7306a, -which section is without importance or application in the present case, the procedure to obtain such review is not by petition or proceeding in error, but upon a bill of exceptions taken and presented to this court by the prosecuting attorney. Upon the hearing of such exceptions this court is without right to disturb or reverse the judgment or decision rendered in favor of the accused in the court below, it being expressly provided by section 7308 that: "The judgment of the court in the case in which the bill was taken shall not be reversed, nor in any manner affected; but the decision of the Supreme Court shall determine the law to govern in any similar case." We are of opinion, therefore, that in this case, the circuit court was without jurisdiction to review or reverse the judgment rendered in favor of the plaintiff in error by the court of common pleas, and the judgment entered by the circuit court will therefore be reversed. Judgment of the circuit court reversed. DAVIS, C. J., SHAUCK, PRICE, SUMMERS and Spear, JJ., concur. Statement of the Case. CRAMER V. THE SOUTHERN OHIO LOAN & TRUST COMPANY. Power of building and loan associations-To assess and collect from members dues, fines, interest, etc.-Under section 3836-3, Revised Statutes-Said section a valid enactment-Section 26 of article 2 and section 2 of article 1 of Ohio constitution— Dues, fines, premiums, etc., not deemed usury-Question of competitive bidding in securing loans. 1. Section 3836-3, Revised Statutes, which confers power on building and loan associations "to assess and collect from members and depositors, such dues, fines, interest and premium on loans made, or other assessments as may be provided for in the constitution and by-laws," and which further provides, that "such dues, fines, premiums or other assessments, shall not be deemed usury, although in excess of the legal rate of interest," is a valid enactment, and is not in conflict with section 26 of article 2, nor with section 2 of article 1 of the constitution of Ohio. 2. Under the provisions of said statute, the premium for a loan, if reasonable in amount, need not be ascertained by competitive bidding for precedence in obtaining the loan, but it may be fixed at a uniform rate by the constitution and by-laws of the association. (No. 8846-Decided May 2, 1905.) ERROR to the Circuit Court of Paulding county. The defendant in error began a suit in the court of common pleas of Paulding county against the plaintiff in error and his wife (who is now deceased) to foreclose a mortgage on certain real estate in that county, and for a personal judgment against the husband. The petition alleges that plaintiff is a corporation under the laws of Ohio, and organized for the purpose of raising money to be loaned among its members, and that it is engaged in that business; that on the twenty-fourth day of June, 1896, under an appli Statement of the Case. cation in writing for that purpose and submitted to said company, Cramer became a member of the company and a stockholder to the extent of seventeen shares of installment stock of class B, of one hundred dollars each share; that on the same day, he made application for a loan of $1,700 and offered as security for the same the mortgage in suit, an assignment of all fire insurance on the buildings and a transfer of the seventeen shares of stock; that the application contained, besides a description of the real estate, several conditions with which he would comply; that acting on the application the company loaned to Cramer $1,700, and as security for which, he gave the mortgage, assigned the fire insurance and transferred the said shares of stock. It is alleged that Cramer, as one of the stipulations of the mortgage "agreed to pay monthly without demand therefor until said loan was fully repaid, as follows: 'the dues upon said seventeen shares of stock; the five per cent premium bid upon said $1,700; five per cent interest on said $1,700; and in addition thereto, to pay all fines, penalties and other charges which should become due against said shares, and all taxes, assessments, costs of insurance and other charges upon said premises, in accordance with the constitution and by-laws theretofore duly adopted by said company.'" The dues were fixed at $8.50 per month on the seventeen shares. The company alleged that Cramer failed to keep and perform the agreement made in his application and mortgage, so that on the fourteenth day of October, 1902, the sum due upon said loan, including principal, interest, premiums, fines incurred on said stock and cost of insurance paid by the company, according to the terms of the agreement, amounted Statement of the Case. to $2,787.35 and that Cramer had paid thereon in cash and dividends to be applied, only the sum of $1,391,83, leaving a balance due at that date of $1,395.52. For this amount the petition prays judgment and foreclosure. The answer of Cramer admits that he obtained a loan from the Southern Ohio Loan & Trust Company for $1,700 and gave his mortgage to secure the same; admits that he has paid thereon the sum of $1,391.83, but he denies each and every other allegation of the petition. He further answered, "that section 3836-3 of the Revised Statutes of Ohio, in so far as it presumes to authorize building and loan associations to collect dues, fines, interest and premiums in excess of the legal rate of interest, is unconstitutional, against the public policy of the said state of Ohio, and void." He further claims in the answer, "that any amount or sum of money exacted or attempted to be collected by the company is usurious, and he claims the privilege of the usury statutes of the said state of Ohio." * * For the purpose of a settlement, and for no other purpose, he tendered in the answer, the sum of $900; and he prays that "all amounts collected and heretofore paid in excess of the legal rate of interest, be credited to him as payments of that amount of principal, and if the amount found to be due is less than the amount here tendered, that the plaintiff be decreed to pay all costs after the date of making of the said tender." A jury was waived and the cause was heard and submitted to the court who made findings of fact in substance, that the plaintiff in that court, on the twenty-fourth day of June, 1896, was and at the time Statement of the Case. of the trial, a domestic building and loan association, duly organized and empowered under the laws of Ohio, as such associations are described and defined by section 1 of "an act to provide for the organization, regulation and inspection of building and loan associations, passed May 1, 1891 (88 O. L., 469).” Further, that on the twenty-fourth day of June, 1896, defendant purchased from said company seventeen shares of its installment stock of the par value of one hundred dollars each and became a member of said association, and that on the same day and as part of the same transaction, he made application to the association for a loan of $1,700 in all respects as stated in the petition, which loan was granted on July 24, 1896, and that sum was paid to Cramer, on the terms and conditions aforesaid, and that to secure the payment of the loan, he gave to the association his mortgage deed on the real estate described in the petition; and that the mortgage contained by reference thereto, all the provisions and agreements in the application for stock, and for the said loan. This mortgage was filed for record on the same day and recorded the succeeding day. The court found the terms and conditions of the mortgage to be as above stated, but found that the premium mentioned in said application and mortgage was not fixed by any competitive bidding; but by the terms and provisions of the constitution and by-laws of said association, the said defendant and all other borrowers from said association of class B therein referred to, were required to pay interest on their respective loans at the rate of five per cent per annum, payable in equal monthly installments, together with a so-called premium at the uniform rate of five per cent per annum on said loan, in addition |