By the Court.-
delivering the opinion.
The plaintiff’s action of debt is founded on the 11th section of the Act of the Legislature, incorporating the Planters’ and Mechanics’ Bank of Columbus, which declares, that “ the persons and property of the stockholders shall be pledged and held bound, in proportion to the amount of shares and the value thereof, that each individual or company may hold in said bank, for the ultimate redemption of the bills or notes issued by said bank, in the same manner as in common actions of debt, and no stockholder shall be relieved from such liability by sale of his stock, until he shall have caused to have been given sixty days’notice in some public gazette of this State.” Prince, 127.
To the plaintiff’s action, the defendant pleaded the Statute of Limitations of four years, which the Court below sustained, and the plaintiff excepted, and now assigns the same for error in this Court.
There can be no doubt that the liability of the defendant, as a stockholder, for the ultimate redemption of the bills of the bank, is created by the 11th section of the Statute, incorporating the Planters’ and Mechanics’ Bank of Columbus; without that section in the Act, he would not be liable to the plaintiff, as a holder of the bills of the bank. Having ascertained, then, that the plaintiff’s cause of action against the defendant, is grounded on a statutory liability, and that such statutory liability has always been considered in the nature of a specialty, and not within the Statute of Limitations of 21st James in England, nor within the Statutes of Limitations of this country, containing the same or similar provisions, we will now proceed to examine the legislation of this State in regard to that subject, and see wherein our own Statute of Limitations differs from that of the English Statute of James, in-reference to this question.
The first Statute of Limitations which we find upon our Statute book, was passed in 1767. Prince, 573. On the 7th Dec. 1805, the Act of 1767 was repealed, andan Act prescribing a different rule for the limitation of actions in this State was adopt
But if we should be in error in regard to this point, and the Act of 1805 intended to embrace actions of debt founded upon Statutes under the term “ specialty,” and not actions of debt founded upon contracts under seal, then we hold, that the Act of 1805 was repealed by the Act of the 8th December, 1806, reviving the Act of 1767. By the 5th section of the Act of 1767, it is declared, “ That all actions of debt, grounded upon any lending or contract, without specialty, shall be commenced and sued within four years next after the- cause of such actions or
If it was the intent and meaning of the Act of 1805, to include actions of debt founded upon Statutes, because Statutes were specialties, then it was most clearly the intent and meaning of the Act of December, 1805, in reviving the Act of 1767, to exclude all actions of debt founded upon Statutes, under the name of “ specialties,” for specialties are expressly exempted from the operation of that Act. The Act of 1805, including actions of debt upon specialties, and the Act of the 8th December, 1806, reviving the Act of 1767, expressly excluding actions of debt on specialties, the last Act must prevail, which we hold repeals the Act of 1805, even if actions of debt, founded upon Statutes, were intended to have been included in the lattei Act. In the case of Branch Bank of Alabama vs. Kirkpatrick, (5 Ga. Rep. 38,) we held, that the Act of 1805, was not repealed by the Act of 8th December, 1806, reviving the Act of 1767, so far as it regarded suits on foreign judgments, for the reason there was no repugnancy between the two Acts on that subject, judgments not being mentioned in the Act of 1767; therefore the Act of 1767, as revived, did not militate against the Act of 1805, in respect to foreign judgments; but in regard to actions of debt on specialties, we have showm, that there is a repugnancy between the twm Acts, the one including specialties, the other excluding them; thereby showing a different intent and meaning-on the part of the Legislature, on the 8th December,' 1806, than
The next Act which we shall notice, is that of 13th December, 1809, which limits all actions founded on bonds or instruments under seal, to twenty years ; all actions founded upon notes and other acknowledgments under the hand of the party, to six years, and all actions founded on open accounts, to four years. Prince, 577.
Although bonds and instruments under seal are, in legal contemplation, specialties, yet it may be said, that the Act of 1809 is only applicable to a particular class of specialties, to wit: bonds and instruments under seal, and does not include actions of debt on Statutes or domestic judgments, w'hich are not, technically, specialties, but only in the nature of specialties. Taking this view of the Act of 1809, what is the result of our own legislative enactments in regard to the limitation of actions of debt, founded upon a statutory liability ? If the Act of 1805 was intended to embrace actions of debt founded on a statutory liability, because Statutes were in the nature of “ specialties,” then the Act of 1805 being repealed by the Act of the 8th December, 1806, which revived the Act of 1767, by which latter Act of 1767, all actions of debt on “specialties” were excepted from its operation ; and if actions of debt, founded upon Statutes, are not embraced in the Act of 1809, the result is, that there is no Statute of Limitations of force in this State, which limits the action of debt founded on Statutes, airy more than there is in regard to actions of debt on domestic judgments. Actions of debt founded upon Statutes and domestic judgments, being in the nature of specialties, are excepted from the operation of the Act of 1767, and occupy the same position in regard to the Statute of Limitations, as at the Common Law, which presumed a specialty to have been paid after the expiration of twenty years.
The fifth section of the Act of 1767, does not bar every action of debt in four years, but only such actions of debt as are “ grounded upon any lending or contract without specialty.” Taking into consideration, then, that the Legislature, by the Act of
What rule of limitation shall be applied to actions of debt founded upon Statutes and domestic judgments ? The answer is, the rule of the Common Law, which presumes payment or satisfaction, after the lapse of twenty years. Angell on Lim. 95. 1 Greenlf. Ev. 46, §39. The time prescribed by the rule of the Common Law for presuming payment or satisfaction of specialties and judgments, is analogous to the time prescribed for the limitation of actions on bonds and instruments under seal, by the Act of 1809. The intention of the Legislature to limit actions on specialities, is declared, in that Act, to be twenty years, and by analogy we hold, that actions of debt founded on Stat
The Court below held, that the defendant was only liable to pay interest on the bills from the time of the return of nulla bona by the Sheriff on the ji. fa. issued on the judgment obtained against the corporation; to which ruling of the Court the plaintiff excepted, and now insists before this Court, as he did in the Court below, that the defendant is bound to pay interest on the bills from the time of the demand of payment thereof made on the bank, and not from the time of the return of nulla bona on the fi. fa. by the Sheriff. In our judgment, the plaintiff, as a billholder, is not entitled to recover interest on his bills against the defendant, as a stockholder, from the time of the demand of payment made on the bank, nor from the time of the return of nulla bana made on the fi. fa. issued on the judgment obtained against the bank or its assignee, but only from the time of a demand made by the billholder upon the stockholder, for the payment of the bills. By the 11th section of the charter, the defendant, as a stockholder, is only bound for the ultimate redemption of the bills, that is to say, after the assets of the bank and the capital stock thereof have been exhausted. The remedy of the billholder against the stockholder is not through the corporation. Whenever the state of facts exists, which will authorize the billholder to call upon the stockholder for the ultimate redemption of the bills, his remedy, under the 11th section of the charter, is directly against the stockholder, and the stockholder is not to be considered in default, in not making payment, until a demand is made upon him, for the reason, he does not know ■who is the holder of the bills of the corporation. But it was insisted, on the argument for the plaintiff in error, that it was the duty of the stockholder to come forward and pay up the amount for which he is bound to pay under the charter, if he desires to avoid the payment of interest. To whom shall he
The Legislature granted to this company the privilege of banking on a capital stock of one million of dollars, which was divided into shares of one hundred dollars each. The capital stock of the bank is definitely settled by the several sections of the charter, and is divided into shares. Did the Legislature leave the value of each share to be taken by the stockholders indefinite and uncertain, to be determined by the amount which might be paid in on each share, or the market value thereof ? Certainly not, for the second section declares, that the stock of the company shall consist of one million of dollars, in shares of one hundred dollars each. This section contemplates the value of each share taken by the stockholders, at the time of subscribing therefor, to be one hundred dollars. The same section provides, that before the board of directors shall be permitted to issue bank notes, the stockholders shall pay twenty-five per cent, on the amount of their capital stock. How much would each stockholder be required to pay, to meet this assessment of twen
The Legislature could not have anticipated what amount of the stock subscribed by the stockholders would be paid in, nor what would be the market value of it when paid in. The Legislature knew that they had granted the privilege to this company to subscribe for stock to the amount of one million of dollars, in shares,- of one hundred dollars each, and when paid in, to
The 6th section of the charter makes tire directors liable for an excessive issue of bills, in their private and individual capacities, but does not affect the stockholders. One hundred dollars is the value which the Legislature placed on each share of the capital stock, in the second section of the charter, and when they speak of the value of the stock in the 11th section, they must intend the same value, as stated in the second section, unless a diferent value had been stated ; upon the principle that words and phrases, the meaning of which has been ascertained in a Statute, are, when used in a subsequent Statute, or in subsequent parts of the same Statute, to be understood in the same sense. We cannot say, that the stockholders are bound for the ultimate redemption of the bills of the bank, in proportion to the amount of their respective shares, according to the amount of stock 11 proved to have been paid in by them,” or according to the market value of the stock at any given time, without an interpolation of words upon the Statute, which we do not feel authorized to make. Why should we go outside of the charter, to ascertain the value of each share of the stock, when the second section declares that each share shall be one hundred dollars 9 The fair construction of the charter in regard to this question is, in our judgment, that the Legislature intended to give to the billholders, the additional security of making the stockholders liable for the ultimate redemption of the bills or notes issued by the bank, in proportion to the amount or number of shares each stockholder held therein, according to the value thereof, as specified in the second section of the charter, (to wit, one hundred dollars to each share;) that is the value, at which the Legislature estimated each share of the capital stock, for the purposes of the charter, at the time of granting it; and the stockholders are bound for the ultimate redemption of the bills of the bank, in proportion to the amount or number of shares they may respectively hold therein, and the value thereof, as recognized by the same .Act, which creates their liability. In the second section of the charter, the Legislature had estimated each share of the capital stock at one
In the construction which we give to the charter, full effect is given to the words in the 11th section, “ and the value thereof” These words were not only intended for the benefit of the billholder, but were also intended for the protection of the stockholder.
If the bank had in circulation three millions of bills and notes at the time of its failure, the stockholders could not be made personally liable for the ultimate redemption of such bills or notes beyond the amount of stock subscribed by them, estimating each share at one hundred dollars, as declared in the second section of the charter, for the reason, that is the exact measure of their personal liability, as provided in the 11th section. The words “and the value thereof,” as applicable to their personal liability, for the ultimate redemption of the bills, in proportion to the respective shares of stock held by them, are important words for their protection, in the event there should be a larger amount of bills in circulation, unredeemed, than the amount of the capital stock of the bank. The stockholders are not made personally liable for the ultimate redemption of all the bills which may have been issued by the bank, without any restriction by the 11th section of the charter, but are made personally liable only, in proportion to their respective shares of stock, “ and the value ther.e
Let the judgment of the Court below be reversed.