Name/Title
Passamaquoddy Bank | Five Dollars | Eastport, Maine | 1824Description
Commonwealth of Massachusetts
1819 Chap. 0066. An Act to incorporate the President, Directors and Company of the Bank of Passamaquoddy.
Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same. That Theodore Lincoln, Lemuel Trescot, Jabez Mowry, Seward Bucknam, Ichahod R. Chadbourne, Moses Fuller, Jonathan D. Weston, Samuel Wheeler, Worster Tuttle, Leonard Pierce, Jonathan Bartlett, Horatio G. Balch, and Samuel Tuttle, their associates, successors and assigns, shall be, and hereby are created a corporation, by the name of the President, Directors and Company of the Bank of Passamaquoddy; and shall so continue, from the first day of August next, until the first Monday of October, which will be in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty one ; and the said corporation shall always be subject to the rules, restrictions, limitations, taxes, and provisions, and be entitled to the same rights, privileges and immunities, which are contained in an act, entitled * An act to incorporate the President, Directors and Company of the State Bank," except in so far as the same are modified or altered by this act, as fully and effectually as if the several sections of said act were herein specially recited and enacted : Provided, however, the amount of bills issued from said bank, at any time, shall not exceed fifty per centum beyond the amount of their capital stock, actually paid in.
Sec. 2. Be it further enacted, That the capital stock of said corporation, shall consist of the sum of one hundred thousand dollars, in gold and silver, to be, besides such part as this Commonwealth may subscribe, in manner hereinafter mentioned, divided into shares of one hundred dollars each, which shall be paid in four equal instalments ; the first, on or before the fifteenth day of August next; the second, on or before the fifteeuth day of November next; the third, on or before the fifteenth day of June, eighteen hun-fdred and twenty ; and the fourth, on or before the fifteenth day of August, eighteen hundred and twenty ; or at such earlier time as the stockholders, at any meeting thereof, may order. And no stockholder shall be allowed to borrow at said bank, until he shall have paid in his full proportion of the whole of said capital stock, of one hundred thousand dollars ; and that no dividend shall be declared, on the capital stock of said bank, until the whole of said capital stock shall have been paid in, conformably to the provisions of this act: And the stockholders, at their first meeting, shall, by a majority of votes, determine the mode of transferring and disposing of said stock, and the profits thereof; which being entered in the books of said corporation, shall be binding on the stockholders, their successors and assigns, until they shall otherwise, determine : And the said corporation are hereby made capable inlaw, to have, hold, purchase, receive, possess, enjoy, and retain, to them, their successors and assigns, lauds, rents, tenements, and hereditaments, to the amount of ten thousand dollars, and no more, at one time ; with power to bargain, sell, dispose and convey the same by deed, under the seal of said corporation, and signed by the President, or two of the Directors, and to loan and negociate their monies and effects, by discounting on banking principles, on such security as they shall think adviseable : Provided, however, that nothing herein contained, shall restrain or prevent said corporation from taking and holding real estate, in mortgage or on execution, to any amount, as security for, or in payment of any debts due to the said corporation : And provided, further, that no monies shall be loaned, or discounts made, nor shall any bills, or promissory notes, be issued from said bank, until the capital subscribed, and actually paid in, and existing in gold and silver, in their vaults, shall amount to fifty thousand dollars.
Sec. 3. Be it further enacted, 'I hat the said bank shall be established, kept, and transact their business, at Eastport; and five of the Directors thereof, at least, shall be inhabitants of Lubec,
Skc. 4. Be it further enacted. That no more than three fourths of the Directors elected, who shall be in
office, at the time of an annual election, exclusive of the President, shall he elected for the next succeeding year; and no Director shall hold his office more than three years out of four, in succession, except the Di-1 rector that is President, at the time of an annual election, who may be reelected.
Sec. 5. Be it further enacted, That whenever the Legislature shall require it, the said corporation shall loan to the Commonwealth, any sum of money which shall be required, not exceeding ten per centum of the capital stock, actually paid in, at. any one time, reimbursable by five annual instalments, or any shorter period, at the election of the Commonwealth, with the annual payment of interest, at a rate, not exceeding five per centum per annum: Provided, however, that the Commonwealth shall never stand indebted to the corporation, without their consent, for a larger sum than twenty per centum of their capital actually paid in.
Sec. 6. Be it further enacted, That the persons herein before named, or any three of them, are authorized to call a meeting of the members and stockholders of said corporation, as soon as may be, at Eastport, by advertising the same for one week, in the Eastport Sentinel, for the purpose of making, ordaining and establishing such by laws, ordinances, and regulations, as the said stockholders shall deem necessary, an;1 for the choice of the first Board of Directors, and such other officers as they shall see fit to choose.
Sec. 7- J5e it further enacted, That the Commonwealth shall have a right, whenever the Legislature shall make provision therefor, by law, to subscribe, on account of the Commonwealth, a sum, not exceeding1 one half of the capital stock actually paid in, to be added to the capital stock of said corporation, subject to -such rules, regulations, and provisions, as to the management thereof, as shall, by the Legislature, be made aud established.
Sec. 8. Be it further enacted, That whenever the Commonwealth shall subscribe to the capital stock of said corporation, in manner herein before provided for, in addition to the Directors, by law, to be chosen by the stockholders, the Legislature shall have a right, from time to time, to appoint a number of Directors! 39
to said bank, in proportion, as the sum paid from the treasury of the Commonwealth, shall bear to the whole amount of stock actually paid into said bank, if at any time hereafter, they shall see fit to exercise that right.
Sec. 9- Be it further enacted, That the Cashier, before he enters upon the duties of fns office, shall give bond, with two sureties, to the satisfaction of the Board of Directors, in a sum, not less than twenty thousand dollars, with conditions for the faithful discharge of the duties of his office.
Sec. 10. Be it further enacted, That the said corporation, from and after the first day of October next, shall pay, by way of tax, to the Treasurer of this Commonwealth, for the use of the same, within ten days after the first Monday of April and October, annually, the half of one per centum on the amount of stock which shall have been actually paid in.
Sec. 11. .Be it further enacted, That the said corporation shall be liable to pay to any bona fide holder, the original amount of any note of said bank, counterfeited or altered in the course of its circulation, to a larger amount, notwithstanding such alteration. And that the said corporation shall not, at any place whatever, �directly or indirectly, purchase, receive, pay or exchange any bill or note of said bank, or of any other bank, incorporated within this Commonwealth, for any less sum than the nominal value expressed in such bill or note.
[Approved by the Governor, June 19th, 1819.]