Thе appellant is a private corporation, constituted as such under the laws of the State, having its principal office at Corvallis, in the county of Benton. The. respondеnt attempted to commence an action against the appellant in the said Circuit Court, to recover a small amount of indebtedness alleged to be due him from it. He filed his complaint thereon in the office of the clerk of said Circuit Court, and issued a summons in the usual form, notifying the appellant to appear and answer the complaint. The summons was delivered to the sheriff of said county of Multnomah, and thereafter at said last mentioned county served upon Wallis Nash, second vice-president of the appellant, intending thе same as a service upon the latter. The appellant failed to appear in accordance with the notice contained in the summons, whereupon a default and judgment for the amount claimed in the complaint were entered against it, and from which judgment this appeal was taken.
A corporation bеing the creature of the legislative assembly can be served with process for the purpose of commencing an action against it, in such manner as that department may prescribe. (Cairo & Fulton Railroad Co. v. Hecht,
These are all the provisions of the Code which bear upon the question, and we must ascertain therefrom what the legislature meant and intended by adopting them. They constitute separate sections of the Code, but as they relate to the same subject should be construed together. It cannot be maintained that under said section 44 the service was sufficient to bind the corрoration, as the action was not attempted to be commenced in the county where the defendant resided or was found. The residence of the corporation, if an artificial person can be said to have a residence, must be deemed to be in the county of Benton, where it has its principal office and place of business, and where it is required to pay its taxes. It has its entity in that county, which is permanently fixed until a change is made in its charter. Mr. Nash certainly did not take the corporation with him when he went to Portland and was served with the summons, whatever his official position in the institution may have been; and by no fiction even can it be maintained that the appellant was found in Multnomah County upon that occasion. If the attempted service of the summons, therefore, was sufficient in law, it must be found to be so under said section 55 of the Code.
In construing the latter section the circumstance of its amendment in 1876 may be taken into consideration. The original provision upon the subject is included in section 54 as compiled in 1874. By the amendment all the language contained in subdivision 1 of said section 55, after the words “managing agent,” was added thereto, and it is well understood by the older members of the bar why such addition was made. The business of railrodd corporations in particular generally extended through other counties than the one in which the principal office was situated, where stations were established, and clerks and agents located to transact the local business connected with their roads.
Controversies between the corporations and individuals arose, of course, in these various counties, which had to be adjusted in the courts; but owing to the fact that the officers the legislature
It is necessary in the commencement of an action against a corporation under the Civil Code of this State, in order to acquire jurisdiction over the person, that the return of service of summons show that a duly authenticated copy thеreof, and of a copy of the complaint, were delivered to one of the officers thereof designated in said subdivision 1 of said section 55 of the Code, either in the county where its principal office is situated, or in the county where the cause of action arose, or in case none of such officei’s shall reside or have an office in the county where the cause of action arose, then to any clerk or agent of such corporation who may reside or be found in the county where the cause оf action arose, or if no such officer be found, then by leaving such copies at the residence or usual place of abode of such clerk or agent.
The action may be commenced in the county where the corporation has its principal office, whether the cause of action arose there or not, because thаt is its place of residence. In that ease, however, the service must be made upon the president, or other head of the corporation, secretary, cashier, or managing agent thereof; but if commenced in a county where the cause of action arose, the service may be made upon a clerk or agent under the
The judgment will therefore be reversed and the complaint dismissed.