Fairview R. R. v. Spillman
Fairview R. R. v. Spillman
Opinion of the Court
The amount of the capital stock of plaintiff, as provided in its articles of incorporation, is fifty thousand dollars. On June 29, 1891, the date of the attempted organization, the total amount of subscriptions for stock was twenty-nine thousand two hundred and sixty-five dollars, but five thousand dollars of this amount was upon the condition that the amount of stock subscribed, exclusive of this subscription, be not less than twenty-five thousand dollars; another five thousand dollars was on condition that a certain tract of land owned
By the statute of this state one-half of the capital stock of a private corporation must be subscribed before the corporation can be organized, or an assessment be lawfully made upon its subscribed stock. Section 3222,-Hill’s Code. This is an implied part of every contract of subscription, and the contract is not binding or enforceable against the subscriber until one-half of the capital stock has been subscribed, and the company legally organized. It is a rule of law, too well settled to be now questioned, that subscribers to the capital of a corporation prior to its organization cannot be required to pay assessments upon their shares until the company is authorized by law to begin the prosecution of its enterprise: Morawetz, Corp. § 137; Thompson, Liab. Stockh. § 120; Cook, Stocks & Stockh. § 176. Until the company is organized, a subscription for stock is a mere proposition or agreement to take a specified number of shares in a
“There is no better settled principle,” says the court in State v. Churchill, 48 Ark. 445 (3 S. W. Rep. 360), than ‘ ‘ that to hold one bound by any word or act as a waiver, it must be shown that he so spoke or acted with a knowledge of all the facts and circumstances attending the creation of the right he is alleged to have waived.” It was the duty of the corporation, after the articles of incorporation were filed, to open books and receive subscriptions to the capital stock of the corporation, and they were authorized, as soon as one-half of the stock was subscribed, and not before, to give notice to the subscribers to meet and elect directors: Section 3222, Hill’s Code. In waiving formal notice of such meeting, defendant had a right to assume that the law had been followed, and the requisite amount of stock had been subscribed, and voting by proxy at the stockholders’ meeting, in view of the object of such meeting, is not in any way inconsistent with the contract of subscription, and does not indicate an intention to waive the conditions upon which it was made. It seems to us clear that the facts shown by the record are not sufficient to estop the defendant from insisting, as a defense to this action that the conditions upon which his subscription was made have not been complied with, and that the company was not lawfully organized: Livesey v. Omaha Hotel Co. 5 Neb. 50; Oldtown R. R. Co. v. Veazie, 39 Me. 571.
It was insisted at the argument that plaintiff is at least a corporation defacto, and that its existence cannot
From these considerations we conclude that the judgment of the court below should be affirmed, and it is so ordered.
Reference
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- FAIRVIEW R. R. CO. v. THOS. SPILLMAN
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- Corporations — Conditional Stock Subscriptions — Code, § 3221.— Conditional subscriptions to the capital stock of a corporation, made before an organization is effected, are not to be considered as absolute and unqualified, or the conditions attached thereto void, under the Oregon statute requiring the corporate articles to be filed, and the charter obtained, before any stock is subscribed (Code, g 3221), since such subscription is only an agreement to take stock in a corporation thereafter to be organized, and any lawful condition may be attached thereto. Organization op Corporation — Code, g 3222.— Conditional subscriptions to the capital stock of a corporation, made before organization thereof, cannot be counted in determining whether the requisite amount of stock has been subscribed to authorize the organization of’the corporation, under Hill’s Code, § 3222. Stock Subscriptions — Assessments.— It is an implied part of the contract of an original subscriber to the stock of a corporation afterwards to be organized, that he is not liable to pay assessments on the stock before one-half of the capital stock is subscribed. Action for Stock Subscription — Code, § 3222.— No action can he maintained on a subscription to the capital stock of a corporation, made prior to its organization, where, at the time of an attempted organization thereof, one-half of the capital stock had not been subscribed, as required by Hill’s Code, § 3222, unless there has been some act on the part of the subscriber constituting a waiver of such requirement. Waiver op Conditions to Subscription — Estoppel.— Where a stock subscriber, knowing that the amount of stock necessary to organize the corporation has not been taken, attends the meetings of the stockholders, participates in the organization of the company, or does other acts indicating a consent to become a stockholder, and acts as such before the requirements of the statute have been complied with, he waives the implied conditions of his subscription, and cannot thereafter refuse to pay the assessments against his stock on the ground that the corporation was not legally organized. Idem. — A subscriber to the capital stock of a corporation does not waive a statutory condition that a certain amount of stock shall be subscribed before the corporation can be organized, by consenting to, and waiving notice of, a stockholders’ meeting on three occasions, and voting by proxy at one special meeting, where he does not then know that the required amount of stock has not been subscribed. Corporations — Collateral Attack.— The fact that a corporation whose attempted organization was made before the required amount of its capital stock had been subscribed is a corporation de facto, so that its existence cannot be questioned collaterally, will not enable it to recover against a subscriber to its capital stock, where the conditions upon which his subscription was made have not been complied with or waived by him.