Weinman v. Wilkinsburg & E. L. P. Ry. Co.

Citations

• 118 Pa. 192
• 12 A. 288
• 1888 Pa. LEXIS 382

Syllabus

<p>1. The act of March 19, 1879, P. L. 9, for the incorporation, etc., of street-railways in cities of the second and third classes, etc., being special because it relates to but a certain class of street-railway corporations, and local because its operations are confined to cities of the second and third classes, is void because in violation of § 7, article III., of the constitution.</p> <p>Sutton, a partner of Weinman & Co., was a promoter of a street-railway incorporated under said act, a subscriber for shares of its stock and a director. Before paying anything upon his subscription, his firm was accepted in lieu of himself as the subscriber for his shares, and Weinman his partner was chosen at his instance and acted as a director in his stead. The firm paid the first instalment upon the stock subscription and participated in ordering calls for subsequent instalments. In a suit against the firm to recover said calls, Weinman alone served and defending: Held,</p> <p>2. That a defendant who is a stockholder in a company incorporated under said act, and as a member participated in its organization and as a direct- or exercised authority under it, cannot set up the uneonstitutionality of the statute as a defence to the payment of his stock subscription.</p> <p>3. That the defendant firm was liable, not on the ground of a sale of the stock by the original subscriber, but on the ground of a substitution of the firm as a subscriber in his place by an arrangement to which all the parties had assented.</p>