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THE CARE SABLE COMPANY'S CASE. 657
are not limited to any place by the terms, and nature of their crea-
tion and objects, may be considered as domiciled, for some pur-
poses, in that county of the state, by the government of which
they have been created, where they transact their business; and
for other purposes in that county in which their property is
held, (g) It is said, that the name of a body politic is sometimes
taken from the place of its residence; because a corporation has a
fixed place where it is settled, and whence it cannot be removed,
like a natural person; and therefore, that a distringas against it to
compel an appearance, or obedience to an order or decree, must be
directed to the sheriff of the county wherein it is resident, (h) In
some cases the Legislature has anticipated and removed all ambi-
guity and difficulty in relation to this matter by expressly de-
claring, that suits against it shall be prosecuted in the county
court of the county in which the president of the body politic
shall reside, (i)
Admitting it, however, to be true, as a general rule, that all
process against a corporation should be directed to the sheriff of
that county of which it is resident; that there may be corporations
liable to be sued any where, because of their having no distinctly
fixed place of residence; and that this judgment, confessed in the
court of Anne Arundel county, cannot be deemed illegal, because
of that county not having been the residence of The Cape Sable
Company; yet, as its act of incorporation has declared, that a
meeting of its stockholders shall be held on the first Monday of
April of every year, in the city of Baltimore, (j) the law has, so
far as a special domicil can be given to such an institution, fixed
its local habitation in the city of Baltimore. It is therefore dear,
that this case comes within the spirit, if not within the letter of
the provisions of those acts of Assembly which declare it to be
unlawful to sue or arrest any inhabitant out of his proper county,
or where he may happen to be found about his necessary affairs
out of the county where he resides, (k) And, as it is obvious, that
a fraud may be more easily practised by suing and obtaining a
(g) 2 Inst 703; Rex v. Gardner, Cowp. 83; Society, &c. v. Winter, 2 Gall. 131. —
(h) Gilb. Com. Pleas, 228; 1 Harr. Pra. Chan. 263. —(i) 1797, ch. 70, s. 24. It has
been since declared, that where a scire facias may be ordered against a corporation
to shew cause why its charter should not be vacated, the writ shall issue out of the
county court of the county which shall be used by it for keeping its place of bow-
ness in, &c. —1832, ch. 306, s. 3 -(j) 1818, ch. 195, s, 2, —(k) 1714, ch. 4, s. 2;
1728, ch. 24, s 2; 1796, ch. 48, s. 14; 1801, ch. 74, s. 11.
83 V. 3
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