JOINT STOCK LIABILITIES.

Westport Times, Volume VIII, Issue 1227, 10 November 1874, Page 4

JOINT STOCK LIABILITIES.

[WESTPOBT EVENING STAB.] A case of importance to investors in shares in joint stock ventures, was heard at the Charleston R.M. Court on Thursday last. The legal manager of the Four«mile Water-race Company brought an action to recover £2O unpaid calls alleged to be due on twenty shares held in that company. The defendant admitted applying for shares and signing the usu<d form of application, but contended that he had never signed the deed of association, and that in the Act, (Joint Stock Companies Act, I860,) it is provided that unless the name of the applicant appeared on the deed he could not be held liable as a shareholder, that he had not paid any calls, and on the share certificate being tendered hiin had repudiated any liability. Counsel for the plaintiff pleaded that the issue of the certificate of allotment of shares was not necessary, the entry in the register of shareholders being evidence under the Act, onus of proof that he was not a share holder at the time of such entry resting with the defendant. Moreover the regulations of the Company declared, that the onlynecessary proof of calls was the production of the minute book in evidence, and that the deed of association merely required some seven or eight names to be recorded on it previouh to being deposited with the Registrar. There were also special clauses in the rules stipulating that even when shares are forfeited, the shareholder shall be liable for calls due. The Court ruled that no valid defence had been raised and gave judgment for the plaintiffs. The case is worth noting because similar clauses to those above referred to are generally adopted by Joint Stock Associations, although many persons who are induced to make applications for shares seem not cognisant of the fact.