Excelsior Petroleum Co. v. Embury

By the Court, Brady, J.

The defendants in this action are charged with a violation of the provisions of the second section of the eighteenth chapter (title four) of the first part of the Revised Statutes (vol. 1, [4th ed.,] 1175,) in having paid dividends not from the surplus profits of the plaintiff, but by withdrawing and dividing a part of the capital stock without the consent of the legislature.

They were the trustees of a manufacturing corporation organized under the act of 1848 and those amendatory thereof; and the question presented in limine is, whether the statute mentioned applies to…