State ex rel. Thompson v. Reynolds
State ex rel. Thompson v. Reynolds
Opinion of the Court
— Certiorari. Relator seeks to quash the record of the St. Louis Court of Appeals affirming a judgment rendered against him by the St. Louis City Circuit Court in an action instituted by the De Giver-ville Land Company, a corporation, .to recover on a
The relevant facts are that relator was. one of a large number of persons owning realty in the vicinity of a railroad switchyard. To rid the community of the noise and smoke emanating from this place it was determined to organize a corporation and purchase the property from the railroad. Relator and 127 other property owners affected participated in this movement in its beginning. They signed an agreement whose pertinent provisions are: “The undersigned, each acting herein for himself and not for the other, hereby subscribe for the number of shares set- opposite his or her name, in a corporation to be organized under the laws of the State of Missouri, as hereinafter provided.” Then follow paragraphs stating the purpose of such corporation to be the acquisition of the switchyard mentioned, and proceeding: “And we do hereby appoint as a committee” six named persons “as our attorneys in fact and agents ’ ’ to make the purchase and take, or designate a taker of, title “for the benefit of the subscribers hereto, in the proportion of their respective subscriptions. The said committee is hereby authorized' by the undersigned to cause a corporation to be formed, with a capital stock equal to the total amount of the subscription hereto, to which corporation, when organized, the above described real estate.is to be conveyed.” Further, the committee, or its nominee, was authorized to borrow on the property any sum needed over and above the aggregate of the subscriptions. All subscriptions were made payable on demand of the committee, when in their judgment the amount subscribed justified the purchase of the switchyard property. Relator and 127 others signed this agreement and, as therein stated, set opposite their names the amount of their respective subscriptions. Relator’s subscription was $2500, the principal of the sum for which the circuit court gave
It is unnecessary to examine at length the criticisms which have been made of the rule approved in the Wilkerson case. The rule supported by reason and the weight of authority is quoted in Railroad v. Crow, 137 Mo. App. l. c. 466: “First, that the co-adventurers who sign such contract obligate themselves to each other and that the promise of each is a consideration for the promise of the others. Second, that the subscription is in the nature of a standing and continuing proposal to the corporation which is contemplated by the parties, and that when the corporation is called into existence and accepts the proposal, the minds of the contracting parties meet and the contract is obligatory. ’ ’
In the case just referred to and in that before us the Court of Appeals has collected the authorities and they need not be set out here.
The rule is stated thus in 7 R. C. L. 222, sec. 192: “The law is fairly well settled that where parties propose to form a corporation, and become shareholders therein, and such parties intend to become such shareholders, without further act upon their part, upon the incorporation of the company, and the agreement remains open and is unrevoked, and the corporation is formed in pursuance of it, and thereafter acts upon it by accepting the same, such agreement is valid and binding as a subscription to the capital stock of such corporation.” This rule we think applicable to the facts of this case. The authorities referred to lead to
Reference
- Full Case Name
- THE STATE ex rel. JOHN T. THOMPSON v. GEORGE D. REYNOLDS, Judges of St. Louis Court of Appeals
- Status
- Published