The Armstrong Investigation in late 1905 was a landmark in examining the life insurance industry and exposing its faults, and the enacted by the New York legislature the following year have had a significant impact on the industry ever since. This paper reexamines the segment of the Armstrong legislation which has had a strong, though indirect, impact on life insurance rates, namely, the limitations imposed on company expenses. The effects of these depended on the dominance of the New York-licensed companies, since most other states failed to adopt limitation laws. This paper examines, on a state-by-state basis, why this form of life insurance rate regulation was adopted only by New York and Wisconsin. It discovers that geographical prejudices, local economics, and occasionally political pressures intervened to preclude rational consideration of the merits of such legislation. It concludes that these have never been seriously discussed and evaluated by the legislatures of most states. Property and liability insurance regulation is now under feverish but meticulous reconsideration and revision. Old and procedures are being discarded, in many cases, without the benefit of knowing either the original purposes for which the and procedures were designed or the political or technical considerations which led to rejection of alternatives. One of the areas most resistant to reconsideration is that of rate regulation. A strong case is currently being made in favor of abolishing the of prior approval of property and liability insurance rates. Where this case is not accepted, at least those opposed faN7or explicit, direct regulation of rates. In life insurance, on the other hand, a of rate rcgulation which is indirect Steven N. Weisbart, M.A., is a Huebner Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania and is cuirently working on his doctoral dissertation. The author expresses his appreciation to Dr. Dan NI. McGill and Dr. Herbert S. Denenberg for their help and encouragement in the preparation and submission of this article. Of course, he assumes full responsibility for the completed paper. This paper was submitted in June, 1969. and unrelated to many objectives of rate regulation prevails. This originated sixty-five years ago in New York State and, although on the statute books of only three states, affects virtually all life insurance in force in this country through the Appleton Rule. The system referred to is the limitation of expenses of life insurers. With basic regulatory reconsideration under way, this is an appropriate time to reconsider the purposes and the means of enforcement of the limitation laws.' The object of this paper is to provide historical insight into the origins of the upon which to base that reconsideration. 'The term expense limitation laws is used to mean a law or the purpose of which is to restrict the amount of money a life insurance company may expend for the acquisition of new business, frequently including a direct limitation on the first-year commission rate. However, it should be recognized that many states, including New York, have other which directly limit expenses of various kinds-some of which will be discussed below-and still other which might be called expense publication laws which act as indirect limitations by requiring disclosure.