CORPORATIONS. 717

the stock and the estate and funds in the hands of such executor, adminis-
trator, guardian or trustee shall be subject to the liability imposed upon
the holders of said shares. And the liability of such stockholders shall be
an asset of the corporation for the benefit ratably of all the depositors and
creditors of any such corporation, if necessary, to pay the debts of such
corporation, and shall be enforceable only by appropriate proceedings by a
receiver, assignee or trustee of such corporation acting under the orders of
a court of competent jurisdiction; provided, that this section shall not
affect the rights or remedies of any creditor or depositor under the existing
laws of this State against the stockholders of any such corporation, who
were liable to any such creditor or depositor on March 30, 1908; and pro-
vided further, that nothing in this section shall be considered as a construc-
tion by the legislature of the law hereby repealed.1

A corporation held to be embraced within, this section; the charter of such cor-
poration could not exempt its stockholders from the obligations imposed by art.
3, sec. 39, of the Constitution. Statute of limitations begins to run in favor of
stockholder only from date of order fixing amount to be paid by him. Mister v.
Thomas, 122 Md. 456.

The words " such corporation," as used in this section as it stood in the Code of
1904, construed to refer to the corporations mentioned in sec. 137. and this section
held applicable to a company incorporated by special act of the legislature sub-
sequent to its adoption. If sec. 104 of the Code of 1904 were invalid in so far as it
imposed liabilities upon the stockholders of foreign corporations not covered by
their subscriptions to their stock, it would still be valid as to the holders of stock
in domestic corporations, and would be read as if it excluded foreign corporations
from its operation. Murphy v. Wheatley, 100 Md. 362.

As this section stood prior to the act of 1904, ch. 101, each stockholder was liable
to creditors in an amount equal to double the amount of his stock, and such liability
was not dependent upon, or affected by, the stockholder's liability to pay for his
stock, under sec. 77 (sec. 72, Code of 1904). Murphy y. Wbeatley, 102 Md. 513.
Stockholders are only liable for debts contracted while they were stockholders.
When the relationship is terminated so as to put an end to liability under this
section. Murphy v. Wheatley, 102 Md. 516 (construing this section as it stood
prior to the act of 1904, ch. 101). And see Weber v. Fickey, 47 Md. 200; Hager v.
Cleveland, 36 Md. 476; Hammond v. Straus, 53 Md. 10; Knickerbocker Trust Co. v.
Myers, 133 Fed. 764; Myers v. Knickerbocker Trust Co., 139 Fed. 111.

The liability of stockholders under this section to creditors is absolute and
primary; hence, the former may be sued without exhausting remedy against the
corporation. Matters which do not discharge the stockholder from liability. Knicker-
bocker Trust Co. v. Myers, 133 Fed. 764 (based on act of 1892, ch. 109). And see
Myers v. Knickerbocker Trust Co., 139 Fed. 111; Republic Iron, etc., Co. v. Carlton,
189 Fed. 130.

A stockholder may be sued on his liability by virtue of this section, under the
practice act of 1886, ch. 184, applicable to Baltimore city. Coulbourn v. Boulton,
100 Md. 354. And see Norris v. Wrenschall, 34 Md. 492.

This section referred to in construing sec. 148—see notes thereto. Miners' Bank v.
Snyder, 100 Md. 66; Myers v. Knickerbocker Trust Co., 139 Fed. 111 (affirming
133 Fed. 764); Knickerbocker Trust Co. v. Cremen, 140 Fed. 973.

The act of 1892, ch. 109, sec. 85L, referred to in construing sec. 28—see notes
thereto. Md. Trust Co. v. Mechanics' Bank, 102 Md. 619.

The act of 1892, ch. 109, cited but not construed in Penniman v. Miners' Bank,
100 Md. 456.
As to the liability of stockholders of banks and trust companies, see art. 11, sec. 72.

An. Code, sec. 117. 1904, sec. 105. 1904, ch. 337, sec. 85L 1.

148. The exclusive remedy for the enforcement against stockholders
of all rights existing under the preceding section as said section stood

1 This section, so far as it related to trust companies, was repealed by the act of
1910, ch. 219 (p. 6). As to trust companies, see art. 11, sec. 42, et seq.