Delo H. Caspary v. The Louisiana Land and Exploration Company

MURNAGHAN, Circuit Judge:

At common law, a stockholder in a Maryland corporation enjoyed, regardless of the substantiality of his shareholding, a right to inspect corporate records, including a book listing all of the stockholders, simply upon the showing of a proper purpose. Parish v. Maryland and Virginia Milk Producers Ass’n, 250 Md. 24, 88, 242 A.2d 512, 547 (1968). In 1868 a general business corporation law was adopted by the Maryland General Assembly which, in Article 26 of the Annotated Code of Maryland § 5, addressed the matter of rights to inspect corporate records generally and in §…