Principles of Company Law

are, of course, paid before unsecured debts. Companies of this kind are created and governed entirely by the Companies Acts, 1862 to 1900. Some knowledge, therefore, of the chief provisions of these Acts is necessary before the details of company law can be rightly understood. For this purpose, a short summary of the Acts is set out in the next chapter. This summary is intended to show in a short form all the most important rules, with the sections of the Acts by which they were made. All the matters therein contained will be found more fully explained later in the book. CHAPTER TI. THE COMPANIES ACTS. Companies Act, 1862.?(The first statute to create companies with limited liability.) Sects. 4. No company or partnership of more than twenty persons (or ten for banking purposes) shall be formed, unless it is registered under the Act. 6. Any seven or more persons may form a com- pany, with or without limited liability. 8. The Memorandum shall contain the five points mentioned above. 12. Gives a company power to increase its capital. 14. The Articles of Association shall contain the regulations of the company, and may be in the form given in Table A. of the First Schedule of the Act. 18. Gives a company power to hold land (c). 26. A register of members is to be kept. 30. No notice of any trust is to be put on the register. 31. Certificates given to shareholders for their shares are primd facie evidence o£ the right to those ...