Page:An Act for Extending and improving the Trade to Africa (1750).djvu/4

 II. And be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, That all his Majesty's subjects, who shall trade to or from any of the ports or places of Africa, between Cape Blanco, and the Cape of Good Hope, shall for ever hereafter be a body corporate and politick, in name, and in deed, by the name of The Company of Merchants trading to Africa; and by the same name shall have perpetual succession, and shall have a common seal; and by that name shall and may sue, and may be sued, and do any other act, matter and thing, which any other body corporate or politick, as such, can or may lawfully do.

III. And, the better to uphold, maintain, and defend, all such forts, factories, and settlements, on the coast of Africa, as now are erected, or hereafter shall be thought necessary to be erected, for the securing and better carrying on the said trade, be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That all and every the British forts, settlements, and factories on the coast of Africa, beginning at Cape Blanco aforesaid, and extending from thence to the Cape of Good Hope inclusive, and all other the regions, countries, dominions, territories, continents, coasts, ports, bays, rivers, and places; lying and being within the aforesaid limits, and the islands near adjoining to those coasts, and comprehended within those limits, which are now claimed by, or are in the possession of, the Royal African Company of England, or which may be hereafter in the possession of the company hereby established, shall, from and after the passing of an act of parliament for divesting the African company of their charter, forts, castles, and military stores, canoe men, castle slaves, and all other their property on the coast of Africa, their goods and merchandizes only excepted, be absolutely vested in the said new company established by this act and their successors, to the intent and purpose that the raid forts, settlements, and premisses, shall be employed at all times hereafter, only for the protection, encouragement, and defence, of the said trade.

IV. And it is hereby further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That it shall not be lawful for the company established by this act, to trade to or from Africa in their corporate or joint capacity, or to have any joint or transferrable stock, or to borrow or take up any sum or sums of money on their common seal.

V. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the direction and management of the affairs of the