A decision has been given in Jersey which, if it
were good law in England, would alter the position of every shareholder in an unlimited Bank ; and in the case of the Glasgow estab- lishment, ruin the creditors or the long passed share- holders, and not the shareholders of to-day. Mr. Godfrey, a shareholder in a Jersey Joint-Stock Bank which had failed, was sued for £320, the amount of the calls upon his shares. He re- sisted, pleading that he was no shareholder, inasmuch as the transaction which made him one was vitiated by fraud, the Directors having declared the Bank solvent and prosperous, when in fact it was insolvent. The Court held that fraud was proved, that the transaction was vitiated, and that Mr. Godfrey was no shareholder. He will, of course, be compelled to restore his dividends, but that is all. We fear Scotch shareholders who may t►e comforted by the case will find their plea barred by previous -decisions, but the point is a curious one.
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