ta_, in which some members are liable to an
unlimited extent and others within certain limits; (3) joint stock
companies, in which the liability is limited to the capital of the
company and no member is liable beyond the amount of his holding. None
of these companies needs authority from the government for its
constitution; all that is needed is a written agreement brought before
the public in the ways indicated in the code (Art. 90 et seq.). In joint
stock companies the trustees (directors) must give security. They are
appointed by a general meeting for a period not exceeding four years
(Art. 124). The company is not constituted until the whole of its
capital is subscribed, and until three-tenths of the capital at least
has been actually paid up. When a company's capital is diminished by
one-third, the trustees must call the members together and consult as to
what is to be done.

An ordinary meeting is held once at least every year. Shares may not be
made payable "to bearer" until fully paid up (Art. 166). A company may
issue debentures if this is agreed to by a certain majority (Art. 172).
One-twentieth, at least, of the dividends of the company must be added
to the reserve fund, until this has become equal to one-fifth of the
company's capital (Art. 182). Three or five assessors--members or
non-members--keep watch over the way in which the company is carried on.

_United States._--In the United States the right to create corporations
is a sovereign right, and as such is exercisable by the several states
of the Union. The law of private corporations must therefore be sought
in some fifty collections or groups of statutory and case-made rules.
These collections or groups of rules differ in many cases essentially
from each other. The acts regulating business corporations generally
provide that the persons proposing to form a corporation shall sign and
acknowledge an instrument called the articles of association, setting
forth the name of the corporation, the object for which it is to be
formed, the principal place of business, the amount of its capital
stock, and the number of shares into which it is to be divided, and the
duration of its corporate existence. These articles are filed in the
office of the secretary of state or in designated courts of record, and
a certificate is then issued reciting that the provisions of the act
have been complied with, and thereupon the incorporators are vested with
corporate existenc