261 Pa. 370 | Pa. | 1918
Opinion by
The appeal is from a judgment entered sustaining a demurrer which appears in the affidavit of defense filed to an action brought to recover from the Aluminum Company of America, a corporation chartered under the general corporation Act of 29th April, 1874, P. L. 73, the penalty prescribed by the 24th section of the Act of 7th April, 1849, P. L. 563, which act, after prescribing that it shall be the duty of the directors of every such company, incorporated under the provisions of said act, to (cause a book to be kept by the treasurer or secretary thereof at the office or principal place of business of the company, which shall contain among other things the names of all persons, alphabetically arranged, Avho are or who shall Avithin one year have been stockholders of such company, shOAving their places of residence, the number of shares of the stock held by them respectively, and the time when they respectively became the owners thereof, and the amount paid on such shares, and the total amount of the capital stock paid in; which book shall at the end of the year be carefully preserved in the office of the company for future reference, and shall during the usual business hours of the day, on every business day, be opened for the inspection of all persons who may desire to inspect the same, and any and every person shall have the right to make extracts from such book, further provides that, “if any such company shall neglect or refuse to keep such book; or to make or cause to be made any proper entry therein, or shall, on application made to any director or officer thereof, neglect or refuse to exhibit the same, or to alIoAA extracts to be
The plaintiff in his statement of claim avers that he is the owner of one share of capital stock in the defendant company; that on or about September, 1917, he demanded of the defendant company the right to inspect the book required by the statutes to which reference has been made, to be kept and maintained for inspection, and demanded further that he be allowed to make extracts therefrom; that the defendant company refused plaintiff’s demand and in such refusal persisted for 41 days from October 3, 1916, and that because of such refusal defendant became indebted to plaintiff in the sum of $2,050, for the recovery of which sum suit was brought. The affidavit of defense averred that the facts set forth in the statement were insufficient in law to constitute a good cause of action inasmuch as the acts of assembly upon which the cause of action was based had been repealed, and judgment was prayed for on the whole record. The learned trial judge sustained the demurrer, holding in an opinion to which little need be added, that the Act of 7th April, 1849, P. L. 563, and 17th April, 1869, P. L. 71, supra, had no application to a manufacturing company chartered under the General Corporation Act of 29th April, 1874, P. L. 73. This latter act in its 38th section provides for the incorporation of companies formed for the manufacture of iron or steel or both, or of any other metals or of any articles of commerce from wood or metal or both,- and in its several sections prescribes
. The judgment is affirmed.