PREFACE. IN the following pages the writer has endeavoured to furnish lawyer and layman with a practical guide to the Law of Limited Liability Companies in New Zealand. It was never intended that this book should take the place, in New Zealand, of the able and exhaustive works of the English text writers on the subject. It is hoped, however, that the legal profession will find this a useful companion volume to the standard English works, and that the arrangement and matter may be of some value alike to the man of business and to the student of company law. The writer has striven to deal with every branch of the subject from a practical standpoint, but is conscious that, had space permitted, many of the topics might have been amplified with advantage. It is too much to hope that the work is free from error, and the writer will be grateful to practitioners if they will direct his attention to anything in these pages which appears to require correction. Every decision cited has been carefully examined, and, as far as possible, citations have been limited to the leading authorities. Something of apology and explanation is due to those who were good enough to subscribe for copies of this book a year ago. When the work was undertaken, The Companies Act, 1903, was not contemplated. When the greater part of the work was printed, The Companies Bill, 1903 (a consolidation of the statutes then in force), was introduced in the House of Representatives. The writer was, with Mr. H. D. Bell and others, invited by the Parliamentary Committee, to whom the Bill was referred, to give evidence as to the necessity for amendments of the existing law. The Committee eventually entrusted to the writer, in conjunction with Mr. W. Jolliffe, the Law Draftsman, the task of re-casting the Bill. The amendments mentioned in the preliminary notes infra were approved by the Committee and ultimately by Parliament. The new Table A was drafted (vii. ) by Mr. H. D. Bell, and will be found to embody an excellent set of working regulations. It is needless to add that the passing of The Companies Act, 1903, necessitated a revision of the whole work, and a reprint of the greater part of it. I desire to acknowledge the assistance I have received from the works of the English text writers, which I have freely con- C. B. MORISON. |