Stannaries Act 1869
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1869 c. 19 |
| Year | 1869 |
Stannaries Act, 1869.
(32 & 33 Vict.) CHAP. 19.
An Act for amending the law relating to Mining Partnerships within the Stannaries of Devon and Cornwall, and to the Court of the Vice-Warden of the Stannaries.
[24th June 1869]
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
Preliminary.
1 Short title.
1. This Act may be cited as TheStannaries Act, 1869.
2 Interpretation of terms.
2. In this Act—
The term ‘the stannaries’ means the stannaries of Devon and Cornwall:
The term ‘the vice-warden’ means the vice-warden of the stannaries:
The term ‘the court’ means the court of the vice-warden:
The term ‘the registrar’ means the registrar of the court:
The term ‘company’ includes any persons or partnership body working a mine in the stannaries:
The term ‘purser’ means the purser for the time being of a company, and if there is no purser, then the secretary for the time being, or if there is no secretary, then the principal agent for the time being of a company:
The term ‘cost book’ includes all books and papers relating to the business of a mine, which are for the time being kept by a purser, or which, according to the custom of the stannaries, or the directions of the company, ought to be kept by him.
3 Extent and application of Act.
3. This Act extends only to mines within the stannaries, and subject to the jurisdiction of the court, or within the cognizance of the vice-warden; and nothing in this Act shall extend to companies registered under any of the Joint Stock Companies Acts, except where such companies are expressly mentioned or necessarily implied.
Meetings and proceedings generally.
4 Majority in value at meeting to bind.
4. Except as otherwise provided by this Act, or by the rules or regulations of any company, a resolution passed at a meeting of the company, by the votes of a majority in value of such of the shareholders as are present in person or represented by proxy at the meeting, shall be deemed the resolution of the meeting, and shall be binding on all the shareholders in the company, whether present or absent, but nothing in this clause shall authorize any ordinary meeting to transact any business which an ordinary meeting could not transact at the time of the passing of this Act, except as is herein-after provided.
5 Proceedings with special notice.
5. Where anything to be done by a company is by this Act required to be done at a meeting with special notice, it shall not be valid if done otherwise than at a meeting notice whereof is served on the several shareholders not less than seven clear days before the day of the meeting, specifying the place, day, and hour of meeting, and the business to be transacted thereat, or so much thereof as is required to be done with special notice.
6 Definition of special resolution.
6. A resolution passed by a company shall be deemed a special resolution within this Act when it has been passed at a meeting with special notice, and has been confirmed at a subsequent meeting with special notice; the last-mentioned meeting being held not less than fourteen days and not more than one month after the meeting at which the resolution was first passed.
7 Regulations by special resolution.
7. A company may, by special resolution passed by not less than three fourths in value of the shareholders present in person or represented by proxy at the meeting held for the purpose of confirming the resolution to be made special, from time to time alter the rules and regulations for the time being by custom or otherwise governing the company, and make new or additional rules or regulations in that behalf; and any rules or regulations so made by special resolution shall be of the like validity and effect as if they had been made at the original formation of the company; but nothing in this Act shall authorize a company to make rules or regulations inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, or shall abrogate any special rules or regulations existing at the passing of this Act for the management of any company, or shall authorize the making of any special rule or regulation to enable a company existing at the passing of this Act to borrow money.
8 Service of notices.
8. A notice to be served by a company for any purpose of this Act on a shareholder shall be served personally, or shall be served by prepaid letter sent by post addressed to him at his address as entered in the cost book, in which case the notice shall be taken as served at the time when the letter containing it was put into the post office; and in proving such service it shall be sufficient to prove that the letter was properly addressed and prepaid, and was put into the post office, and the time when it was put in.
As regards a company existing at the passing of this Act, the address of a shareholder as known to the purser at the passing of this Act shall be and remain entered in the cost book as his address, unless and until he gives notice in writing to the contrary.
Accounts.
9 Entry of accounts.
9. The purser of every company shall, once at least in every four months, truly enter in the cost book of the company accounts showing the actual financial position of the company at the end of the financial month of the company last preceding the time of entry, including a statement of all credits, debts, and liabilities, and distinguishing in such accounts the amount of calls paid and calls not paid, with accurate lists of all the shareholders for the time being in the company, with their respective addresses, corrected from time to time as occasion requires, and all other accounts, documents, and things which the purser is for the time being required to enter therein by the custom of the stannaries, or by the directions of the company; and after the passing of this Act all existing or future companies having any rules or regulations touching the management of the company or conduct of the business of any mine, shall file a true copy of them at the office of the registrar without payment of any fee; and such rules or regulations shall be subject to the inspection of all applicants at reasonable times; and if any company shall neglect to file such rules or regulations as above required, then any shareholder in or creditor of any such company may apply for an order of the court to file such rules or regulations forthwith, which order shall be enforced by the process of the court.
Calls.
10 Audit and call.
10. At any meeting of a company with special notice the accounts of the company may be audited, and a call may be made.
11 Call for prospective expenses.
11. A call may be made by a company for the purpose of defraying the whole or any portion of the estimated expenses to be incurred at any time within three months after the date of the meeting at which the call is made.
12 Discount or interest on calls.
12. At the time of making a call, a company may direct that discount not exceeding five per cent. shall be allowed to every shareholder on payment of the call, at or within the time appointed for payment thereof, and may direct that interest at the rate of five pounds per centum per annum shall be charged on all amounts due on account of a call, and remaining unpaid after one month from the time appointed for the payment thereof.
13 Recovery of calls, &c.
13. The amount for the time being unpaid of any call made after the passing of this Act on any share in a company shall be deemed to be a debt due from the holder of such share to the company, and if at the time appointed by the company for the payment of any such call any shareholder shall fail to pay the amount thereof, it shall be lawful for the company to sue such shareholder for the amount of such call, in any court of law having competent jurisdiction, in the name of the purser for the time being of the company, whether such purser is a shareholder in the company or not, as the nominal plaintiff for the company, and to recover the amount of such call, together with interest for the same and costs of suit; and in any action to be brought by the company to recover the amount of such call it shall be sufficient in the declaration or other proceeding in the said action to state that the defendant or (in case of such action being brought against the legal personal representative of a deceased shareholder) that the deceased shareholder was at the time of such call being made the holder of one share or more in the company (stating the number of shares), and that the defendant, or (in case of the death of a shareholder as aforesaid) that the defendant or defendants, as executor or administrator or executors or administrators of such deceased shareholder, is or are indebted to the company in the sum of money to which the calls in arrear and interest shall amount, in respect of one call or more upon one share or more (stating the number and amount of each of such calls), and that the plaintiff is the purser of the company and sues in the action as nominal plaintiff for the company, and on the trial or hearing of such action it shall be sufficient to prove, as a prim facie case on the part of the plaintiff, that the defendant or such deceased shareholder, at the time of making such call, was a holder of such one share or more as may be in the company, and that such call was duly made, and that the plaintiff at the commencement of the action was acting...
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