ART. 67. ] PROCEEDINGS AGAINST CORPORATIONS.

defendant shall take issue or demur to said plea or traverse within
five days thereafter.

685

4. If issue, or issues, be joined on such proceedings, the same
shall stand for trial at such time as the court shall direct, and the
said issue or issues shall be tried by a jury, if either party desire it,
otherwise, they shall be heard and determined by the court. If,
from the findings of the jury, or upon consideration and determina-
tion of the case by the com t, the court shall be of opinion that legal
cause of forfeiture has been shown, and the public interest require

Id s 179
Joinder of Issue
and trial

that the said forfeiture should be declared, a decree of forfeiture
shall be entered, and the charter of said corporation shall thereby
be annulled and vacated, and all its corporate franchises and powers
shall cease and henceforth be void, and the court shall thereupon ap-

Forfeiture of
charter

point a receiver, or receivers, of the estate and assets of the said
corporation, in the same manner and with like powers as is provided
in sections 14 and 15 of this article, subtitle Proceedings against
Corporations, in reference to dissolution of corporations on bill filed
therefor on their own motion.

Receivers

5. If any corporation upon whom the aforesaid petition and rule
to show cause has been served, shall neglect to file an answer to the
petition at the time appointed by the said court, the court shall there-

Id s 180
Neglect to file
answer

upon proceed to hear the said application ex parte, within five days
thereafter, and if it shall be of opinion that good cause of forfeiture
is shown, it shall proceed forthwith to decree the same, as is herein-
before provided in the preceding section of this article.

Hearing

ex parte

6. If the court, either upon a hearing ex parte, as hereinbefore
provided, or upon a hearing after answer, as provided in section 4
hereof, shall be of opinion that no cause of forfeiture has been shown,
or that the public interest does not demand that such forfeiture
should be decreed, even though legal cause therefor has been shown,

Id s 1S1
Dismissal of
petition.

it shall dismiss the petition and award costs in favor of the corpora-
tion proceeded against, in its discretion, and if the court shall de-
termine that legal cause of forfeiture has been shown, it may, in its

Costs

discretion, before passing a final decree of forfeiture, pass orders re-
quiring the said corporation, within a time to be thereby fixed, to
remedy the grievance complained of, and may suspend the passage

Orders

of the final decree of forfeiture until the time so fixed, and may after-
wards refuse to pass such decree, if the grievance shall have been
remedied by the time so fixed.

Final decree

7. The petition for forfeiture, hereinbefore mentioned, shall be
filed in the Circuit Court for the county in which the certificate of
incorporation of said corporation was filed, if said corporation shall
have been incorporated under the laws requiring the filing of such
certificate, and in the case of all other corporations such petition
shall be filed in the county in which either the principal office of
said corporation was last located, or in which the principal business
of said corporation was last carried on, but if the corporation to
be proceeded against has filed the certificate of incorporation in

Id s 182
Petition for for-
feiture, where
filed