151 Mass. 564 | Mass. | 1890
The plaintiff had a certificate showing that he was the beneficial owner of fifty shares of stock in a corpora
It has been held in this Commonwealth, and in several other States, that shares of stock in a corporation are within the provisions of the statute of frauds in regard to sales of “goods, wares, or merchandise fot the price of fifty dollars or more.” Pub. Sts. c. 78, § 5. Tisdale v. Harris, 20 Pick. 9. Boardman v. Cutter, 128 Mass. 388. Pray v. Mitchell, 60 Maine, 430, 435. In England, although the law was formerly otherwise, and in some of the American States, such shares are not held to be “goods, wares, or merchandise,” but a different and peculiar kind of property, to which the statute does not apply. Duncuft v. Albrecht, 12 Sim. 189. Humble v. Mitchell, 11 A. & E. 205. In Somerby v. Buntin, 118 Mass. 279, it was decided that an oral agreement for the sale of an interest in an invention before letters patent are obtained may be enforced; and it was said in the opinion, that “ the words of the statute have never yet been extended by any court beyond securities which are subjects of common sale and barter, and which have a visible and palpable form.”
- In tbe present case, it is at least doubtful whether the contract, which was for the sale of stock that had not been regularly issued, can properly be brought within the statute, under the authorities in this Commonwealth. If not, the instruction was sufficiently favorable to the defendant.
But if we assume, in accordance with the defendant’s contention, that the plaintiff’s interest in the stock was “ goods, wares, or merchandise,” the only question in this case is whether the
Exceptions overruled.