Limited Partnerships, and Liability of Corporate Institutions.

viously to recording the copy of a vote for that purpose in the office of the clerk of the town in which said corporation is located, or has its place of business, such of the stockholders as vote for or receive their share of the capital stock so withdrawn or refunded, will be jointly and severally liable for the payment of said last mentioned debts.

3d. Every such company will give notice annually, in May, to the governor, of the amount of all the assessments voted by the company and actually paid in, the amount of all debts due to and from such corporation, and the value of all the property and assets of said corporation, so far as the same can be ascertained, as existing on the first day of said May, which notice must be signed by the president and a majority of the directors. If any corporation fail to do so, all the stockholders thereof will be jointly and severally liable for all the debts of the corporation then existing, and for all that shall be contracted before such notice is given.

4th. If the directors of any such corporation declare and pay any dividend when the corporation is insolvent, or any dividend the payment of which would render it insolvent, they will be jointly and severally liable for all the debts of the corporation then existing, and for all that shall be thereafter contracted, so long as they respectively continue in office; provided that the amount for which they are so liable will not exceed the amount of said dividend, and that if any director be absent when such dividend is made, or object thereto, and file his objection in writing, with the clerk of the corporation, who will record the same, he will be exempted from said liability.

5th. No loan of money may be made by any such corporation, other than banks, to stockholders therein and if any such loan shall be made to a stockholder, the officers who make it or assent thereto will be jointly and severally liable, to the extent of such loan and interest, for all the debts of the corporation contracted before the payment of the sum so loaned.

6th. The whole amount of the debts of any corporation aforesaid other than banks must not exceed the amount of one-half the stock actually paid in, and of its other property and assets and the whole amount of bills in circulation of any banking corporation must not at any one time exceed the capital stock actually

:

Limited Partnerships, and Liability of Corporate Institutions.

paid in and in case of any excess, the directors under whose administration it happens will be jointly and severally liable to the extent of such excess, for all the debts of the corporation then existing and for all those contracted while they respectively continue in office, and until the debts and circulation of said corporations respectively are reduced to the amount herein prescribed. Provided that any director who is absent at the time of contracting a debt contrary to these provisions, or who objects thereto, may exempt himself from said liability by forthwith giving notice of the fact to the stockholders, at a meeting called for that purpose.

7th. If any certificate, return or notice, made or given in pursuance of this act, be false in any material representation, all the officers who have signed the same, knowing it to be false, will be jointly and severally liable for all the debts of the corporation contracted while they were in office or stockholders therein.

The stockholders of every banking corporation hereafter incorporated, or whose charter is by law subject to amendment, alteration or repeal, will be severally liable in their individual capacity for the debts of the corporation in a sum equal to the amount of their stock in said corporation, and not otherwise and no bank may have any other or greater rights, immunities or privileges in relation to the amount of bills or notes they may issue or have in circulation, or to any matter or thing, than are enjoyed by other corporations of like nature.

Modes of proceeding against corporations, officers, &c.—Proper actions of debt and assumpsit for the collection of such debts or liabilities may be prosecuted against one or more of said stockholders, which actions will not be abated because the other stockholders are not joined as defendants in such suits.

No such suit may be commenced till legal demand for payment has been made upon the company; and if, on such demand, the officers or stockholders discharge the debt, or expose unincumbered personal property of the company, liable to attachment, sufficient to satisfy the debt and costs, so that the same may be attached in a suit against the company, no suit will be sustained against the stockholders: but if the debt is not thus satisfied, or property exposed as aforesaid, it will be the duty of the officers to call a meeting of the stockholders of the company, and of the company,

Laws of Insolvency.-Effects of Marriage on the Title to the Wife's Property.

when convened, to provide means, within sixty days from the time when the demand is made, for the payment of the debt: and if it is not discharged within said sixty days, a suit may be brought against the stockholders as above provided.

6. Laws of Insolvency.

New Hampshire has no Insolvent Laws.

For provisions as to insolvent estates of persons deceased, see title 9th.

No assignment for the benefit of creditors is held valid in this state, unless it provides for an equal distribution of all the estate, rights, and credits of the debtor among all his creditors, in equal proportions to their respective claims; nor unless the person making the same shall have made oath that he has placed and assigned, and that the true intention of his assignment is to place in the hands of his assignee all his property of every description, except such as is exempted from attachment and execution, to be divided among all his creditors in proportion to their respective claims. (a)

7. Effect of Marriage on the Title to the Wife's Property.

Contracts before marriage.-Parties before marriage may contract that after such marriage the wife may continue to hold any real or personal estate, or rights of action, of which she is seized or possessed at the time of the marriage, to her sole and separate use, free from any interference of her husband; and she may hold and enjoy the same accordingly. (b)

Conveyances and bequests to married women.-Any devise, conveyance, or bequest of property, may be made to a married woman, to be held without the intervention of a trustee, to her sole and separate use, free from any interference of her husband, and she may hold such estate accordingly; and may in like manner hold any property which she may receive under any deed of trust made before or after the marriage. Such contract or conveyance, if it relate to real estate, must be recorded in the (a) R. S. 134. (b) Laws of 1846, 327.

Limitation of Personal Actions and Saving Clauses.

registry of deeds for the county where such real estate lies. Nothing herein contained empowers any husband to convey property to his wife in any other manner, or with any other effect, than if this act had not been passed.

Married women dying intestate.-If any married woman, holding property to her separate use under this act, die intestate, all her interest in the personal property so held will vest in her husband, unless otherwise provided in the contract or conveyance, and he will have his curtesy in all lands and tenements held by his wife, as if this act had not been passed.

When marriage may not be contested after the death of one of the parties. Any persons cohabiting and acknowledging each other as husband and wife, and generally reputed to be such for three years, and until the decease of one of them, will be deemed, after such decease, to have been legally married.

8. Limitation of Personal Actions and Saving Clauses.

Actions for words and personal injuries.-Actions for words, and for assault, battery, wounding, or imprisonment, must be brought within two years after the cause of action accrues. (a) Other personal actions.—All other personal actions must be brought within six years after the cause of action accrues. Debts on judgment and contracts under seal.-Actions of debt founded on any recognizance, or upon any contract under seal, must be brought within twenty years after the cause of action

accrues.

Notes secured by mortgage.—Actions upon notes secured by mortgage may be brought so long as the plaintiff is entitled to commence any action upon the mortgage.

Writs of error.-Writs of error must be commenced within three years after judgment rendered.

Minors, &c., have two years after disability ceases.—Any infant, married woman, or insane person, may commence either of the personal actions aforesaid, within two years after such disability is removed.

Time of absence from state not computed.-If the defendant,

(a) R. S. 360.

.

Effect of Death on the Rights of Creditors.

when the cause of action accrued, or afterwards, was absent from, and residing out of, the state, the time of such absence will be excluded in the computation of the several times before limited for the commencement of personal actions.

New action in one year after judgment, if said judgment is not a bar. If judgment be rendered against the plaintiff in any action commenced within the times before limited, or upon any writ of error brought thereon, he may commence a new action thereon within one year thereafter, in case his right of action is not barred by such judgment.

9. Effect of death on the rights of Creditors.

Administration to whom granted.-Administrations will be

granted

1st. To the executor named in the will.

2d. To the widow, or any of the next of kin, or such suitable person as they may nominate.

3d. To one of the devisees or creditors.

4th. To such other person as the judge may think proper.

Administrator's bond and conditions.-No person may intermeddle with the estate of any person deceased before giving bond to the judge in such sum as he shall approve, with sufficient sureties, to return to said judge a true and perfect inventory of the estate of the deceased, on oath, within three months of the date of the bond; to administer said estate according to law; to render to said judge an account of administration, upon oath, within one year; to pay and deliver all the rest of the estate which shall be found remaining upon the account of the executor or administrator to such person or persons as said judge, by his decree according to law, shall limit and appoint; and to deliver the letters of administration into the court of probate in case any will of the deceased should be approved and allowed. (a)

Provisions in reference to insolvent estates, the appointment of a commissioner, the proof of claims before him, fc.Substantially the same as in Massachusetts.

The widow's allowance.-The widow of a person deceased (a) R. S. 158.