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CHAP.
LXVIII.
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15th. That the corporation shall not deal or trade in any thing except bills of exchange, promis-
sory notes and bullion, or in the sale of goods which shall be the produce of their lands, or of such
goods ami effects as shall have been bona fide pledged or mortgaged to it by way of security, or con-
veyed to it in satisfaction of debts contracted in the course of its dealings, or purchased at sales
upon judgments which shall have been obtained lor such debts, neither shall the corporation take
more than at the rate of six per centum per annum for or upon its loans or discounts; all bills or notes
which may be issued by order of the said corporation, signed by the president, and countersigned
by the principal cashier or treasurer thereof, promising the payment of money to any person or per-
sons, his, her or their order, or to bearer, though not under the seal of the said corporation, shall
be binding and obligatory upon the same in like manner, and with the like force and effect, as upon
any private person or persons if issued by him or them in his or their private or natural capacity or
capacities, and shall be assignable and negotiable in like manner ns if they were so issued by such
private person or persons; that is to say, those which si vail be payable to any person or persons,
his, her or their order, shall be assignable by endorsement in like manner, and with the like effect,
as foreign bills of exchange now are, and those which are payable to bearer shall be negotiable or
assignable by delivery only.
16th. The shares of stock shall be transferable on the books of the bank only, according to such
rules as shall be established by the president and directors, but all debts actually due and payable to
the bank, by a stockholder requesting a transfer, must be satisfied before such a transfer shall be
made, unless the president and directors shall direct to the contrary.
17th. No loan shall be made by the said corporation lor the use or on account of this state, or
the United States, or of any particular state, to an amount exceeding twenty thousand dollars, or
to any foreign prince or state whatever, without the previous consent of the legislature; that the
capital stock and funds of the bank shall be deemed and taken to be personal and not real estate.
18th. The president and directors, for the time being, shall give six weeks public notice in the
several news-papers of the city of Baltimore of the time and place of holding the election of direc-
tors annually.
19th. The books, papers, correspondence and funds, of the company, shall at all times be sub-
ject to the inspection of the directors.
20th. If the said directors shall at any time wilfully and knowingly make or declare any dividend
which shall impair the said capital stock, all the directors present at the making or declaring of such
dividend, and consenting thereto, shall be liable in their individual capacities to the company for
the amount or proportion of the said capital stock so divided by the said directors, and each direc-
tor who shall be present at the making or declaring of such dividend, shall be deemed to have con-
sented thereto, unless he shall immediately enter, in writing, his dissent on the minutes of the pro-
ceedings of the board, and give public notice to the stockholders that such dividend has been de-
clared.
VII. AND BE IT ENACTED, That those persons who have heretofore entered into articles of as-
sociation as a banking company, and now carry on the usual operations of banking in the city of
Baltimore, under the name and title of The President, Directors and Company, of the Commercial
and Farmers Bank of Baltimore, shall be and hereby are established as the bank or corporation be-
fore mentioned, according to the provisions and limitations herein contained, and the present pre-
sident and directors of the said banking association, to wit: Joseph H. Nicholson, President, Isaac
Burneston, Henry Stouffer, William W. Taylor, Augustus I. Schwartze, Charles Bohn, George
Decker, Nathaniel F. Williams, Edward Harris, Benjamin Ricaud, Jacob Adams, Andrew Clopper,
Talbot Jones, William Ross and James Hutton, shall continue to act as such until the first Monday
in May, eighteen hundred and eleven, and until a new election of directors shall take place.
VIII. AND EE IT ENACTED, That so much of the several shares of the capital stock in the said
bank as remains due and unpaid at the time of the passage of this act, may be called for in such
proportions, and at such times, as the directors thereof shall appoint; but no further payment shall
be required without first giving two months notice at least in three news papers printed in the city
of Baltimore, and if any stockholder shall fail to make regular payment of any instalment, so called
for, such stockholder shall not be entitled to any dividend until such instalment shall be fully paid,
and the dividend thereafter to be paid to such stockholder, as well upon the money by him regularly
paid, as upon the money paid after default, shall be calculated only from the time when said last
instalment was fully paid.
IX. AND BE IT ENACTED, That this act shall continue in force until the expiration of the year
eighteen hundred and fifteen, and until the end of the next session of the general assembly there-
after.
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