1852.

LAWS OF MARYLAND.

CHAP. 338.

Passed May

29, 1852.

CHAPTER 338.

AN ACT to authorise the Formation of Corpora-
tions for Manufacturing Purposes.

Any five or
more persons
may form

company for
manufactur-
ing purposes.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of
Maryland, That any time hereafter, any five or more
persons, except free negroes and mulattoes, who may
desire to form a company, for the purpose of carrying
on any kind of manufacturing business, may make,
sign and acknowledge before some officer, competent
to take the acknowledgment of deeds, and record the
same in the office of the clerk of the Circuit, Court, or
the Superior Court of Baltimore city, in which the
business of the company shall he carried on, a certifi-
cate in writing, in which shall be stated the corpo-
rate name of said company, the corporate name al-
ways to include the name of the county or city in
which the business is carried on, the amount of the
capital stock of said company, the term of its existence,
not to exceed forty years, the number of shares of
which the said stock shall consist, the number of trus-
tees, directors, or managers, and their names, who shall
manage the concerns of the said company for the first
year, and the name or names of the county in which
the operations of the said company are to be carried on.

Body politic
and corporate
by name stat-
ed in certifi-
cate.

SEC. 2. And be it enacted, That when the certifi-
cate shall have been recorded, as aforesaid, the person
or persons who shall have signed and acknowledged the
same, and their successor, shall be a body politic and
corporate, in fact and in name, by the name stated in
such certificate, and by that name shall have succession,
and shall be capable of sueing and being sued, in any
court of law or equity in this State, and they and their
successors may have a common seal, and. may make
and alter the same at pleasure, and they shall, by their
corporate name, be capable in law of purchasing, hold-
ing, and conveying any real or personal estate what
ever, which may be necessary to enable the said com-
pany to carry on their operations named in such certi-
ticate.

Affairs— how
managed.

SEC. 3. And be it enacted, That the stock property
and concerns of such company shall be managed by not
less than four, nor more than twelve trustees, directors,
or managers, who shall respectively be stockholders in
such company, and citizens of the United States, who
shall, except the first year, be annually elected by the
stockholders, at such time and place as shall be directed