Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 2.djvu/607



such officers shall be chosen in their place; and at that or any subsequent legal meeting of stockholders, may make such rules, orders and regulations, not inconsistent with the constitution and laws of the United States, as shall be necessary for the well being of the affairs of said company: Provided always, that no stockholder shall, in person or by proxy, have more than twenty-five votes at any election, or in determining any question arising at such meeting, whatever number of shares he or she may hold: and each stockholder, in person or by proxy, shall be entitled to one vote for every share by him or her held, not exceeding said number, and all persons who may then be, or thereafter may become, the actual holders or proprietors of shares in the said capital stock, either as subscribers for the same, or as the legal representatives, successors or assignees, of such subscribers, shall become one body politic and corporate, in deed and in law, by the name and style of the “President, Directors and Company of the Columbia Turnpike Roads;” and by the said name shall have perpetual succession, and all the privileges incident to a corporation, and shall be capable of taking and holding their said capital stock, and the increase and profits thereof, and of enlarging the same by new subscriptions, if such enlargement shall be found necessary to fulfil the intent of this act, and of purchasing, taking, and holding to them, and their successors and assigns in fee simple, or for any lesser estate, all such lands, tenements, hereditaments and estate, real and personal, as shall be necessary or useful to them in the prosecution of their works, and of suing and being sued, of having a common seal, the same breaking and altering at pleasure, and of doing all and every other matter and thing concerning the subject aforesaid, which a corporation or body politic may lawfully do.

. And be it further enacted, That the said company shall meet on the first Monday in January, in every year, at such place as shall be fixed by their by-laws, for the purpose of choosing such officers as aforesaid for the ensuing year, in manner aforesaid, and at such other times as they shall be summoned by the president and directors aforesaid, at which annual or special meetings, they shall have full power and authority to do and perform any act by law allowed, and pertaining to the affairs of said company; and the president and directors for the time being, shall hold their offices until others shall be appointed in their places, and the said corporation shall not be deemed to be dissolved, by reason of any defect of officers, but if it should happen that there should be no president or directors competent to call a meeting of stockholders, the same may be called by any stockholder, for the purpose of electing such officers, giving thirty days notice of the time and place of such meeting, by advertisement in a newspaper, printed in the city of Washington.

. And be it further enacted, That the president and directors shall procure printed certificates for all the shares of said stock, and shall deliver one such certificate, signed by the president, to each person for every share by him or her subscribed and held, which certificate shall be transferable, at his or her pleasure, in person or by attorney, in the presence of the president, clerk, or treasurer, of said company, who shall witness the same, subject however to all payments due or to grow due thereupon: and the assignee holding any such certificate, having caused the assignment to be entered in a book of the company to be kept for that purpose, shall be a member of said company, and for every certificate by him held, shall be entitled to one share in the capital stock and estate of said company; and if any stockholder, after thirty days’ public notice in a newspaper printed in the city of Washington, of the time and place appointed for the payment of any portion or dividend of the sum subscribed in said stock, shall neglect to pay the same for the space of thirty days after the time so appointed, the share or shares on which