ART. 23] FORMATION. 535

nothing in said sections contained shall be construed to affect the exist-
ence of any then existing corporation or to impair the validity of any
corporate act done and performed in accordance with the pre-existing
law; and provided (second), that in the event of any inconsistency
between any of the provisions of said sections and the rights conferred
by any special act or any legally authorized agreement of consolidation
passed, or filed prior to said first day of June, in the year nineteen
hundred and eight (1908), the provisions of said special act or agree-
ment of consolidation shall prevail to the extent of such inconsistency;
and provided (third), that in the event of any inconsistency between
any of the provisions of said sections and the provisions made for par-
ticular classes of corporations by the subsequent sections of this article,
the latter shall prevail to the extent of such inconsistency; and pro-
vided (finally), that unless therein otherwise stated, the said sections
shall be available to all corporations of this State as alternative to and
not in substitution for any inconsistent provisions contained in any such
special act or agreement of consolidation or in the provisions made for
particular classes of corporations by the subsequent sections of this
article.

(2) The words "Clerk of the Circuit or Superior Court," used
herein, shall be taken to mean the clerk of the circuit court for a county,
or the clerk of the superior court of Baltimore city, as the case may fee.

(3) The word "directors" shall include trustees, managers and the
members of the governing body of the corporation, by whatever name
they may be called.

(4) The words "stockholders" and "shareholders" shall include,
members in the case of corporations having no capital stock, and vice
versa, unless such construction would be inconsistent with the context.

(5) The location of the principal office of a corporation shall be the
place named as such in the charter, certificate of incorporation or
amendment thereof; and where the location of the principal office is
not so named, it shall be deemed to be the place where the main office
of such corporation in this State for the transaction of business is actu-
ally situated.

In the light of section 417 of the code of 1904, section 66 of said code (see
section 19 of this code), was held not to repeal a conflicting provision in the
charter of a corporation created by special act. Webb v. Ridgely, 38 Md. 371.
Section 417 of the code of 1904 (making article 23 applicable to corpora-
tions already formed), applied. Williamsport, etc., Turnpike Co. v. Startz-
man, 86 Md. 365; State v. Consolidation Coal Co., 46 Md. 9.

Section 417 of the code of 1904, cited but not construed in Erb v. Grimes,
94 Md. 105; Goodman v. Jedidjah Lodge, 67 Md. 125.

Provisions for the Formation of Corporations.

1904, art. 23, sec. 14. 1888, art. 23, sec. 14. 1868, ch. 471, sec. 14.
1908, ch. 240, sec. 2.

2. Corporations may be formed under the provisions of this article
for any one or more lawful purposes, except such as are excluded from
the operation of a general law by the constitution of this State. And