Law Commons^™

Slides: The Trust For Public Land: Conserving Land For People, Ernest Cook

Community-Owned Forests: Possibilities, Experiences, and Lessons Learned (June 16-19)

Presenter: Ernest Cook, Senior Vice President, Conservation Finance Program, The Trust for Public Land, Boston, MA

19 slides

Corporations-Ultra Vires Acts-Gifts To Educational Institutions, Judson M. Werbelow S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, a New Jersey corporation, was engaged in the manufacture and sale of valves, fire hydrants and other special equipment for use in water and gas industries. The company employed about 300 persons at its plant in New Jersey. In 1951 the board of directors adopted a resolution appropriating $1,500 as a donation to Princeton University for university maintenance. When this appropriation was questioned by certain stockholders, the company instituted a declaratory judgment action to determine whether the proposed donation was ultra vires. The lower court ruled that the donation was intra vires. On appeal, held, affirmed. The gift …

Corporations-General Effect Of Statutes Prohibiting Corporate Loans To Directors, Officers And Stockholders, Paul W. Eaton, Jr.

Michigan Law Review

Over the years a number of states have felt that loans by private corporations to their directors and stockholders should be regulated to protect the interests of creditors and, in many cases, stockholders. At present, twenty-two states have statutes which either absolutely prevent such loans or else limit their scope, and this number will probably increase. A typical statute may be found in New Jersey: "No corporation shall loan money to a stockholder or officer thereof. If any such loan be made the officers who make it, or assent thereto, shall be jointly and severally liable, to the extent of …

Corporations-Voluntary Dissolution - Rights Of Minority Stockholders, Bayard E. Heath S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The directors of defendant, a New Jersey corporation, in an effort to effect corporate tax savings and simplification of operations, submitted the following plan to its shareholders: Defendant was to sell all of its operating assets to X, a Pennsylvania corporation which had been formed by the directors and was to receive as consideration all of the capital stock of X. Then defendant was to be dissolved and X's stock and any corporate surplus was to be distributed to the stockholders. The necessary two-thirds majority of the stockholders, as required by statute, voted to sell the operating …

Corporations - Limitation Of Actions - Nature Of Directors' Statutory Liability For Illegal Loans To Stockholders, Oscar Freedenberg

Michigan Law Review

The creditors of a bankrupt corporation sued its directors under a New Jersey statute that made the directors liable for all corporate debts to the extent of loans illegally made to stockholders. The decision hinged on the nature of the directors' liability with respect to the New Jersey statute of limitations. The directors maintained that the action was either for a contractual debt or else for a penalty, and that in either case it was barred by limitations. Held, that the liability of the directors was neither for a simple debt nor for a penalty within the meaning of …

Corporations - Jurisdiction - Foreign Corporations And Venue In The Federal Courts - Consent To Be Sued, Theodore R. Vogt

Michigan Law Review

In the long history of the struggle to hold foreign corporations subject to suit at the place of their business activity/ another chapter was written when the Supreme Court decided Neirbo Company v. Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corp., Ltd., hereinafter referred to as the Neirbo case. In that case the plaintiffs, who were citizens and residents of New Jersey, had brought an action in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York and had sought and obtained the addition, as a party defendant, of Bethlehem, a Delaware corporation. Since, as between plaintiffs and Bethlehem, the suit had …

Corporations - Stockholder's Derivative Suit - Diversity Of Citizenship, Edward S. Biggar

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, a New York corporation, brought a stockholder's derivative suit, in federal court, against the American Tobacco Company, a New Jersey corporation, and its directors, the majority of whom were citizens of New York. There being no federal question involved, defendant moved to dismiss the complaint because there was no proper diversity of citizenship. Plaintiff argued that by the New York decisions the ultimate interests of the defendant corporation and the plaintiff were identical, and that consequently the defendant corporation must be considered as the real plaintiff, thus supplying the necessary diversity of citizenship under the rule of Erie R.R. …

Corporations - Interference With The Internal Affairs Of A Foreign Corporation

Michigan Law Review

The quaint cliché, "interference with the internal affairs of a foreign corporation," has sufficiently dominated judicial decisions to merit an exalted place in what Justice Cardozo has called "the tyranny of tags and tickets." A frequently adopted analysis for the purpose of determining whether the court will hear the cause allegedly involving internal affairs confines the inquiry of the court to the application of a test laid down by the Maryland court about a half century ago.

Corporations - Insolvency - Statutes Giving Priority To Wage Claims

Michigan Law Review

Statutes giving liens or preferences to wage claims upon the insolvency of corporations are found among the laws of many states. In reference to the priority established, these statutes can be divided into three classes: those specifically stating that the lien or preference created shall be prior to all other claims not secured by specific liens, those specifically stating that wage claims shall be superior to all other claims upon the property of the corporation, including mortgages, and those making wage claims a lien or preferred debt to be paid "before any other debt or debts." Under this last type …

Corporations - Issue Of Stock

Michigan Law Review

The Eastman Kodak Company, a New Jersey corporation, entered into a contract with Vereinigte Fabriken Photagraphischer Papiere of Dresden, a German corporation, whereby it was agreed that the German company would discontinue the manufacture and sale of "Collodion papers" in North America, Great Britain, France, Spain, and Portugal and that those territories would be given over exclusively to the Eastman Company for the manufacture and sale of this paper. In consideration of this concession the Eastman Company issued 28,450 shares of its no par stock to the German company. This stock was later seized by the United States Alien Property …

Corporations - Injunctive Relief Against Corporate Action Which Requires Unanimous Approval

Michigan Law Review

A bill for an injunction to prevent the submission, at a stockholders' meeting, of a corporate by-law providing for extra dividends on stock owned by officers and employees, was maintained, on the ground that the proposed move was illegal and unauthorized by statute. Scott v. P. Lorillard Co. (N. J. Eq. 1931) 154 Atl. 515.

Right Of Joint Adventurers Holding All The Stock Of A Corporation To A Dissolution And Accounting In Equity, Horace Lafayette Wilgus

Articles

The case of Jackson v. Hooper, in the New Jersey Court of Errors and Appeals, decided February 28, 1910, by Judge DILL, (42 N. Y. Law Journal, March 8, 1910), overruling Vice Chancellor HOWELL, of the Court of Chancery (74 AtL. 130) presents interesting and unusual points in corporation and partnership law, and the jurisdiction of courts of equity over corporate affairs.