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Business Environment and Law-Nature Of Company And Formation

Characteristics Of A Company - Nature Of Company And Formation

   Posted On :  08.05.2018 06:31 am

The following are the characteristic features of company:

Characteristics Of A Company:
 
 
The following are the characteristic features of company:

Incorporated Association: A company must be incorporated or registered under the Companies Act. Minimum number required for the purpose is 7 in case of a public company, and 2, in case of a private company (Sec. 12). As per Section 11, an association of more than 10 persons, in case of banking business, and 20 in case of any other business, if not registered as a company under the Companies Act, or under any other law for the time being in force, becomes an illegal association.

Artificial Person: A company is created with the sanction of law and is not itself a human being, it is, therefore, called artificial; and since it is clothed with certain rights and obligations, it is called a person. A company is accordingly an artificial person.

Separate Legal Entity: Unlike partnership, company is distinct from the persons who constitute it. Section 34(2) says that on registration, the association of persons becomes a body corporate by the name contained in the Memorandum. [Saloman v. Saloman & Co.Ltd. (1877)]

Limited Liability: The company being a separate person, its members are not as such liable for its debts. Hence, in the case of a company limited by shares, the liability of members is limited to the nominal value of shares held by them. Thus, if the shares are fully paid up, their liability will be nil. However, companies may be formed with unlimited liability of members or members may guarantee a particular amount. In such cases, liability of the members shall not be limited to the nominal or face value of the shares held by them. In case of unlimited liability companies, members shall continue to be liable till each praise has been paid off. In case of companies limited by guarantee, the liability of each member shall be determined by the guarantee amount, i.e., he shall be liable to contribute upto the amount guaranteed by him.

Separate Property: Shareholders are not, in the eyes of the law, part owners of the undertaking. In India, this principle of separate property was best laid down by the Supreme Court in Bacha F.Guzdar V. The Commissioner of Income Tax, Bombay (Supara). The Supreme Court held that a shareholder is not the part owner of the company or its property, he is only given certain rights by law, e.g., to vote or attend meetings, to receive dividends.

Transferability of Shares: Since business is separate from its members in a company form of organization, it facilitates the transfer of members’ interests. The shares of a company are transferable in the manner provided in the Articles of the company (Sec. 82). However, in a private company, certain restrictions are placed on such transfer of shares but the right to transfer is not taken away absolutely.

Perpetual Existence: A company being an artificial person cannot be incapacitated by illness and it does not have an allotted span of life. The death, insolvency or retirement of its members leaves the company unaffected. Members may come and go but the company can go for ever.

Common Seal: A company being an artificial person is not bestowed with a body of natural being. Therefore, it has to work through its directors, officers and other employees. But, it can be held bound by only those documents which bear its signatures. Common seal is the official signature of a company.

Capacity to sue: Another fall-out of separate legal entity is that the company, if aggrieved by some wrong done to it may sue or be sued in its own name.

 

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