The Express.
London, England, 1852-06-02 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JUNE 2, 1852.

being directors or auditors, should be entitled to inspect the
books end accounts 'Rapt those exhibited at the general
meetings, so that the general body of shareholder hod no
opportunity whatever of knowing the affairs of the com-
pany except from the statements therein submitted.
at the bellies/4y meetings. They had no power to call
gee the predui don of accounts, and they were bound by
those which the directors were required to furnish for their
infennatios. The account. in question, which were sub-
mitted at the general meetings, in accordance with the pro-
, visions of the deed, were each es be could only term Iran-
dalent accounts. it was said that it must have been known
I that they did not show a true statement, and
that it mast have been known that loam were
sustained ; but that told against the directors, end
they could -not now turn round and my that their
accounts shoild not be binding as between themselves and
the shareholders. The 22nd clause was of great importance
in reference to this question ; it directs that every halt year
the directors shall set a value on the shares, which shall be
deemed and taken as their true and actual value. No man
could sell his shares till the value of the share was
placed on it by the directors, and the value so stated
was declared by the deed to be the true value of the share.
The value of the shares must depend on the state of the
affairs of the company. The sheret transferred by 111 v,
lolme mat, Ilmmtom, have been valued by•the dbieton,
and they theme mold bow known their actual value. The
clause then welthe that it shall be lawful for the pro-
prietors, wlth the masset of the directors, to sell their
shares; bet they are tint to
allow
notice to the directors, and
if the threshes refuse to allow the tender, they are re-
=rul toir. at the actual value set on them at the
thensfore, be no transfer without the
..O Sias SNOW% and if they refused that sanction,
they min gees bound to purchase. Could they,
bevies ad a ides ell the therm as if no loam had been
ineemel. to Om mead and say we shall .11 ups&
you la hew year
onioefa the lee width it we
shows bed may pleas ? Is hi sedition they meth
do no each tlinea tan wee, aesthete Mime
of allionlasha been isseleal ibe beak at Wthee
Mr. Me 'es assume ger
tailed emy steleetme the
theme
We leek. bus leamed.
Wham ins be to led odium el ten Mimed he whisk
this /tea was to be made liable ? He add lad
no millage of any with km. It was thee it was
swami h Iheelidatht made by Haley. theeresjer. that
ensefene LINO had stagily been imieed_s
el Us Noe.
New be Lod Obaneellor) did age le Ord
oatmeal*, it wee very likely le he leWe. bet it wee
• stalmmat had no weight os this 1g 11 ledley
mailed km tine to thee--werst isipeepedy smiled—in
prepeft Cos sogreats whish were submitted to the gene-
cal enistal ht emending the fasts ea to the
keses b the general body of the eberebeldlee. He
mile& lathe media of ammo diming Halm losses
had ban bieerrA sad sew be Mee *mar=
that Isere bed bees imam& Use set if
readieed k Impossible to sheep this greienea W Sebes,
when Ilie eiereats did not dhow shed way We had ale*
been eirerieed. Re mall fad se reel of sub a ism
Mob* been slava If the dime= bed dew shill deb
no penal, doubt eeddiealty amid have bees label ea she
pais', flie a sieste Dime se the 111111111120 Weal to Uwe
haw glom abeam been bed bees Memel et sat. Leek-
' ramorthe twiemedieeie which had bees eihilted at the
insgs
lthige Of the company, there wee no Wak-
eless, lieue_L be wee, therefore, of opinion, that Mr.
litho gm aft IBM• •• a thetributory. Without an re-
MOOR deg emelt bled ea the 'abject, he was, there-
to, ef aphis SO Ilbt. Nakao wee not liable as a mete.
%Mem end the appal ewe be illamiased, and dismissed
with ode.

Ix is TEI ST. GEOROI'S STEAM PACK= COMIANT.
E DEVIOUS/I.— CONTRIMUTORT.—DR-
TIMMS SHARZROLDERS.—DERTS.—STATUTTA I WM.
IV. C. 47, AND 3 AND 4 WM. IV., C. 104.—JUDOWIWT.
This was an appeal from an order of the Viet-Chancellor
Knight Bruce, refusing to place the names of Mr. and
Mrs. Rawdon and Mr. James Hamer on the list of contri-
butories as devisees of the real estate. By the deed of
settlement of the Bt. George's Steam Packet Company,
dated 20th December, 1833, it was provided that the oom-
, pany should continue for' 9 years, and that the proprietors
should be entitled to the profits and be liable for the losses
in proportion to their shares, The testator, Mr. James
Hamer, was the holder of 25 shares. By his will he gave
and devised all his real estate to his wife for her life, and
after her death to his daughter Everalda Sarah, wife of
Joshua Rawdon, her heirs and assigns for ever. The will
contained the following clause :—" Nevertheless 1 do condi-
tionally will and desire that my said daughter her heirs
and assigns, shall, after the decease of my said wife, in case
of her surviving me, pay one-half of the clear annual profits
thereof into the hands of my son, James Hamer, during
his life, monthly or half-yearly, as she or he shall
think proper." Mr. Hamer died in October, 1838, and his
wire and daughter, who were appointed his executrixes,
proved the will. The St. George's Steam Packet Company
was solvent at the time of his death. For five years after
Mrs. Hamer continued to receive dividends on the shares,
and was treated as the proprietor of the shares. When the
company was wound up she was in the first instance put on
the list of contributories as personally liable in respect of
the shares, and not in her representative character of execu-
trix ; but afterwards her name and those of Mr. and Mrs.
Rawdon were placed on the list as the personal repreeenta-
tires of the testator. Mrs. Hamer died in April, 1860. In
August of that year Mr. and Mrs. Rawdon filed as affi-
davit, swearing that Ramer's personal estate had been fully
administered and exhausted. It was admitted by the offi-
cial manager that no debt was due by the company at the
data of the death of the testater, that all the liabilities were
incurred after his decease, and ;hat the oompanv was finally
dissolved on the 14th of September, 1843. is Honour the
Via-Chancellor held that Mr. and Mrs. Hamden ought not
to have been placed there in their character of devisees.
Mr. Boom, Mr. Rolt, and Mr. J. V. Prior, on behalf of
the official managers, submitted that the language of the
statute directing the payment of debts out of the real estate
was to be construed strictly. The term debts was to in-
dude not only all the liabilities which the testator was
under at the time of his death, but all those to which his
estate might afterwards become 'abject. The following
cases were cited in the course of the argument Mane
v. Tacker" (6 Hare, 79), " Willson,. Leonard" (3 Bear.,
373), and the Irish we of " Bermingham v. Burke" (2
Jo. and Lt. 899).
Mr. Bothell, Mr. Mains, and Mr. Valentine Hsmphreys,
contra, contended that the statute against fraudulent e-
' vises (3 William and Mary, c. 14), which first made devi-
sees liable to testator's specialty debts was only applicable
where the relation of debtor and creditor existed at the time
of the death of the testator. " Wilson v. Knubley" (7
Rest, 128), " Farley v. Briant" (3 Ad. and Ellis, 839).
The statutes 1 William IV., e. 47, and 3 and 4 William
' IV., c. 104, made the lands of deceased debtors wets for
the payment of their debts, but the word "debts" was
only to be taken as meaning debts actually due by the
testator at the time of his death. There was no relation of
debtor and creditor existing at the testator's death between
him and the company. The winding-up acts bad not in
any way altered the position of non-liability in respect of
the real estate now contended for.
_ _

The Lord CeilorQlil;i; was a ere in which, after
the lapse of severml years, en attempt was made to charge a
reel estate with ttr liabilities of a company incurred long
after the death althea testator. At the time of his death no ,
debts were dee by the company, end therefore, in point of
feet, middle were due at the time the devise of the reel
estate wee node. The question for dechina was, whether
the red Mate of the testator was now to be
made Noble for the debts of the company,
' after theales.of
some twelve years, it being found that the
personal was insufficient to eet the demand. There
wail MO that this might be a meeisconvenieat dispo.
Mks at ereporty by the leresiateam that after a con-
eidambie hese el time, es is Oa proems case, such claims
ISOM be maim a devised Male{ but *the there he bad
acebber to tie bat to detonate what me the law es the
point. It a that the oaseassee of Mr. Her, the
testator, N. deed MI the }mid at the eleppee
of the oom meshed the &Tama en bib diem bat
only in Mareeleir. It had bees ball la
Doyle's ease ICNlMaireesh eirenmetesem a nada'
tv.e.Ly ea awandar did net maw, him pmemelly ISM&
that wee_ sushi Male ea his mind was me she-
geth.—rr.. treat des% be bed no Wattle to Warfare
sow with thee decides he put that plat ellsesther out
at the renal meeillea. The heir of a shmeMider was not
Mend by the partides la the deed of settlement, and
there mad be ea relief saint the real estates
Wee ea let of peileoesat had provided thee the veal
estates shed' ha ee lanai What, taw, was the elate et
the law ea the edema I The Act of 3& 4 Wilkie apd
Mary, e. Id, had bola Warred M. bat in his opinion le did
not bear es Me am; he there the word " debts" see need
ia a limited mean, namely, to asthma of debt. The mom et
" Wilma v. Ladsley" (7
awedlB) and
Haar (8 Ad. & El., 834, this limited aesaYas
tie et the eat. The easasare whisk the legialsture posed
earalk the dikes of that statute, did net ea emi I. this
ease bled, kende% to pees et eke to the AN el llt 4
Wldem IV. e. 104. the ask "le reader &kW mad espy-
bold estates meets kit the p.t of enilessimeet
delta" He was set at al myriad that rely should
be eekeleked, for the shade wee emblems* framed. It
oodles that when say pima shall die seised of es entitled
to may estate or hamlet la heeds, &e., which he shell not
by his hot will have ruedl with or devised sadist to the
payment et hie debts, the sense shell be meta to be stasis.
homed Is asses of equity for the pepessat at the jest debts
at wok as well debts dee ea simple misses es ea
spookily. the met was in she ises
1111111111111011 ig drip& debts of mery diemeipme ea the
red able is OM he whisk the testator did 014 le AMMO
them himself. It has bees derided Untwists* atestaler hes
charged his estate with debts, that even future debts ode*
out at a mime liability ere bashaded is the charm As
the Nee& la prim kr pried %supply that cheep in
all ores, the soosiorik seseinatisa Is tins, that the reel
estate, la the peak, ease were liable. The a= that
this was a specialty mad thee the heir was not woe,
be theeilet.- des* 'amend by the proviso of the eel.
" that la the eislaistration of meets by courts of assi
' wader ass ley obese of this act all creditors by epeele ly in
whisk the hire ON baud shell be paid the full amount of
the delis dm to them beam any of the creditor by
Maple eastreat or by oposialig I. which the heirs ere red
beast dad be paid any part af their demade." 'paddy
debts woes thus made a days ea reel wake whore Ms
heir weak es* otherwise haw less bird. With needer
foam to Ibe lead satheities Wow, it w his
that Ibises,' foil within the Oct. If kb wars so then the
e tee ,s:rignegable. He had, thosedbre, to larks If
there
was in the deed of selllsmeat the sem
paay In with that dew. The aid provides that
seprkaeWhaspmwMras he has reasked a &i-
-deal weft hie irks. Ikea tba eassakas bad key received
dividekk me sopealsaleikes of the keiker, sid
dew, the they did
ail likely Isms peepaklNd Hy dew,
ikon aimbid Melsitalin ilispart is the hie real