Butchers Union Slaughter House & Livestock Landing Co. v. Mothe
Butchers Union Slaughter House & Livestock Landing Co. v. Mothe
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion and decree of the court in the words and figures following, to wit;
Plaintiff, a corporation duly authorized under the laws of this State, sues defendant for $500 as a non-paying subscriber to 5 shares of its capital stock at $100 per share. Defendant’s first pleading was an exception setting up that the charter and organization were for a purpose prohibited by law, and hence illegal; and that subscription therein cannot be enforced. This exception being overruled, by the lower court, defendant answered admitting that he agreed to take a portion, or subscribe to the capital stock of plaintiff, on the face of representations made to him by the plaintiff and his agent or agents, that the purpose of plaintiff was to erect and operate a slaughter house according to a particular plan or prospectus explained and exhibited; that subsequent to his said agreement to subscribe to the capital stock of plaintiff, said plan or prospectus was changed without the consent of defendant, whereby defendant was freed from his engagement to take said stock for the reason that plaintiff engaged in and entered upon an enterprise
I
The statute relied upon by defendant as striking with nullity the charter of plaintiff is Act No. 118 of 1869. This statute contains several sections, of which the first makes it unlawful after June 1st, 1869 to land, keep, or slaughter cattle, or establish any stock landing yards, pens, abbatoirs or slaughter houses within the City of New Orleans, or the parishes of Orleans, Jefferson and St. Bernard, or at any point or place on the east bank of the Mississippi within the corporate limits of New Orleans, or at any point on the west bank of the Mississippi river about the present depots of the N. O. Opolousas & G. W. R. R. Co. except that the Crescent City Stock Landing and Slaughter House may establish themselves at any point or place as hereinafter provided, etc. The third section authorizes said Crescent City Stock Landing and Slaughter House Company, to establish its landing yards, abbatoirs, etc., at any point or place on the east bank of the Mississippi river within the Parish of St. Bernard, or in the corporate limits of the City of New Orleans, below the U. S. Barracks, or at any point on the west bank of the said river below the present depots of said, N. O. O. & G. W. R. R. Co.
It is urged that the purpose of this corporation is to build within the limits prohibited by the legislative act above mentioned. The case comes up to us on a statement of facts, and this statement says nothing about the proposed location of the slaughter house to be erected under the charter and organization of plaintiff. It is urged that, under the rules of this court, and the clear wording of Arts. 602 and 603 C.P., it is only the oral testimony that is to be covered by such statements
Even, however, if we were to consider the charter in question, it does not appear that the plaintiff corporation must be considered illegal. It may be, as is contended, that the said corporation contemplated creating its slaughter houses, etc., within the prohibited limits as such limits are by Act 118 of 1869. The constitution of 1869 abolished monopolies, the Crescent City Stock Landing Slaughter House Co., included. See Art. 258, 248, gives to the police juries of the several parishes, and to the constituted authorities of incorporated municipalities the right of regulating and locating slaughter houses within these limits, although at the date of plaintiff’s charter, the erection of a slaughter house at Caifin Lane may have been
Upon the second branch of the case, the judge a quo certified that the subscription of defendant was solicited by one Paul Lacroix, who was not an officer, or director of the corporation, or specially authorized to solicit for or bind it; that Lacroix did exhibit to Mothe, .at the time of the subscribing, a plan which he (Lacroix) desired the company to adopt; that said plan was not adopted, and that defendant had not subscribed to the stock in consideration of the adoption of such plan.
This statement of the facts, in our opinion, effectually disposes of this defense. Every person concerning themselves in extending the subscription list of a corporation is not necessarily a solicitor for the same, as the term solicitor in such connection is known to the law. A man may have faith in the future of such an association, or he may desire to obtain a certain grace, or influence in its affairs; in either of which case he might place the prospectus before his friends and seek to influence them to invest in the stock of the corporation. Under such circumstances, if his arguments being convincing, and he sells subscriptions, when he brings the latter to the company, he is acting as the agent of his friend and not of the association; the latter, in accepting the subscribers, extends no ratification to the acts and declarations of a mandatary, but simply gives its consent to a proposition, as a result of which a contract springs up.
Ill
Under the laws of this state, the stockholders of any incorporated company may alter its charter however with the consent of the shareholders present at a meeting formally called for that purpose. There seems to be no complaint that any of the formalities of the law, provided for such cases have been ignored, or that the requisite vote was not had. The pleadings, and statement of facts puts the defendant before us as an actual subscriber to the stock of the company, and not simply as one who had agreed to purchase or to subscribe to shares. If he were a subscriber, the fact that he was refusing to pay the sum agreed did not add to his privileges or increase his immunities. The other stockholders had the right to avail themselves of the law, to alter the charter; and the minority were bound, whether they had paid for the shares or not. We do not consider defendant, as we have already intimated, in the light of one who has simply agreed to take or subscribe to stock. The circumstances of this transaction are not detailed in the statement of facts, beyond which we cannot go. That statement, however, declares that, the defendant, Guillaume Mothe, subscribed in writing to the capital stock of the plaintiff for five shares, etc.
Under such conditions, we cannot comprehend what is meant by requiring the tendering of stock as a prerequisite to this suit or to the inauguration of the proceedings for alteration of charter. Possibly certificates of shares are meant; but
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.