by or against any company or shareholder in or agent of a company formed before such Act came into operation, such company, shareholder, or agent would be entitled to plead that no rights of action should be taken any notice of by the Court but such as existed either at the time when the company was formed or at the time in which such shareholder or agent contracted obligations with it. And this certainly seems consonant to justice, since it is reasonable to suppose that when persons become shareholders in or contract other obligations with companies, they do so on the faith of then existing rights and under the risk of then existing liabilities and no others. It appears to the writer that between sections 1 and 26 inclusive of the Stannaries Act, 1869, there are only three clearly retrospective provisions, viz. (1) that contained in the latter part of sec. 7, viz., "Nothing in this Act * * shall autho-, rize the making of any special rule or regulation to enable a company existing at the passing of this Act to borrow money." (2) That contained in the latter part of sec. 8, viz.'" As regards a company existing at the passing of this Act the address of a shareholder as known to the purser at the passing of this Act shall be and remain entered in the Cost-Book as his address, unless and until he gives notice in writing to the contrary." (3) That contained in the latter portion of sec. 9, viz., "All existing or future companies having any rules or regulations touching the management of the company or conduct of the business of the mine shall file a true copy of them at the office of the Registrar without payment of any fee," &c. It further appears that all the provisions between secs. 27 and 44 are retrospective except those con tained in sec. 34 relating to the new remedy of attachment, and those in sec. 36 making the law against fraudulent transfers more stringent. These two sections (though included under the heading of "Procedure of the Court"), seem to deal with rights of action and not procedure only. And possibly we must except secs. 36, 37 which create new remedies in the way of injunction, and may perhaps be said to deal with matters partaking partly of the nature of rights of action and partly of that of procedure. But it must be admitted that it is often difficult to say where, in the case of a particular section, the difference exactly lies between a provision relating to a right of action and one affecting mere procedure. It is further to be remarked that by sec. 45 of the Act the rights of creditors against companies existing at the passing of the Act are preserved, and that by sec. 46 shareholders, miners, and creditors and other customary suitors are not to be deprived of their ancient remedies except where the Act expressly abrogates them. THE STANNARIES ACT, 1869. 32 & 33 VICT. CAP. 19. An Act for Amending the Law relating to A.D. 1869. BE [24th June, 1869.] E it enacted by the Queen's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: Preliminary. 1. This Act may be cited as The Stannaries Short title. Act, 1869. 2. In this Act— means the Interpretation of The term "the Stannaries The term "the Vice-Warden" means the The term "the Court" means the Court The term "the Registrar" means the Re- terms. Extent and application of Act. Majority in value at meeting to bind. The term "Company" includes any persons or partnership body working a mine in the Stannaries: The term "purser means the purser for the time being of a company, and if there is no purser, then the secretary for the time being, or if there is no secretary, then the principal agent for the time being of a company: The term "Cost-Book" includes all books and papers relating to the business of a mine, which are for the time being kept by a purser, or which, according to the custom of the Stannaries, or the directions of the company, ought to be kept by him. 1-2. See introductory chapter on the jurisdiction of the Stannaries Court. 3. This Act extends only to mines within the Stannaries, and subject to the jurisdiction of the Court, or within the cognizance of the Vice-Warden; and nothing in this Act shall extend to companies registered under any of the Joint Stock Companies Acts, except where such companies are expressly mentioned or necessarily implied. 3. See Sec. 26 for the only reference to registered companies. It seems that the Act does not contemplate the existence of companies working under the Companies Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845. Meetings and Proceedings generally. 4. Except as otherwise provided by this Act, or by the rules or regulations of any company, a resolution passed at a meeting of the |