vided, further, that nothing in this Act contained shall be so construed as to confer banking powers or privileges upon any such corporation. And, provided, further, that no such mortgage loan corporation shall purchase or otherwise acquire, or loan money upon, the stock of any other corporation, whether organized under the provisions of this Act, or the laws of some other state. And, provided, further, that it shall be unlawful for two or more mortgage loan corporations organized hereunder to consolidate or for the stock of any mortgage loan corporation organized hereunder to be owned, taken, or held, directly or indirectly, by any foreign or domestic corporation, or by any holding corporation, foreign or domestic. § 1a. Such mortgage loan corporations shall file with the Auditor of Public Accounts, during the month of January of each year, a statement under oath, of the condition of such company on the 31st day of December next preceding, which statement shall show the assets and liabilities of the company. The said report shall be in such form and shall contain such additional statements and information as to the affairs, business and conditions of the corporation, as said Auditor may from time to time prescribe or require. § 1b. The Auditor of Public Accounts shall have power and authority and it shall be his duty to visit and examine annually, any mortgage loan company doing business under this Act, and to compel a compliance with the provisions of law governing it as he may by law exercise in relation to trust companies. § 1c. Any violation of any of the provisions of this Act relating or pertaining to mortgage loan corporations shall subject the party violating the same to penalty of one thousand ($1,000.00) dollars for each offense. FILED June 26, 1917. This bill having remained with the Governor ten days, Sundays excepted, the General Assembly being in session, it has thereby become a law. Witness my hand this twenty-sixth day of June, A. D. 1917. LOUIS L. EMMERSON, Secretary of State. AN ACT to provide for the incorporation of associations for the purpose of owning certain classes of real estate and defining and limiting the powers of such corporations. SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly: That any number of persons, not less than ten (10), all of whom shall be citizens of the United States and residents of the county in which the principal office of the company to be incorporated is to be located, may form a corporation to own lands for the purpose of improvement by the company, by the erection of residences thereon, to be sold or leased by said company. § 2. No company organized under this Act shall own any property in any county except the one in which its principal office is located and any conveyance to or any contract by such company concerning any real estate in any other county shall be void. § 3. No company organized for the purpose of owning and improving lots therein shall hold any lot unimproved for a greater period than five years or any improved lot for a longer period than fifteen years and no lot shall be considered improved unless there is upon it a building or buildings of double the value of such a lot, nor shall any company organized under the provisions of this Act at any time own, possess or hold title to unimproved lots or lands in excess of forty acres. § 4. That in case any corporation organized under this Act and authorized by this Act to hold real estate shall hold any real estate contrary to the provisions of this Act, or for a greater period than provided by this Act, it shall be the duty of the State's attorney of the county in which said land is situated, to proceed by information in the name of the People of the State of Illinois against such corporation in the Circuit Court of the county in which such lands so held as aforesaid shall be situated and such court shall have jurisdiction to hear and determine such fact and to determine the value thereof and to order the sale of such land or real estate at such time and such place, subject to such rules as the court may establish. The court shall tax as the fees of the State's attorney such sum as shall be reasonable and the proceeds of such sale after deducting said fees and costs of proceeding shall be paid to such corporation. § 5. No person not a resident of the county in which the principal office is located shall hold stock in any company incorporated under this Act unless such stock is acquired by inheritance or bequest and no person not a resident of such county shall be a director or officer of any such corporation. § 6. Three or more of the ten or more persons authorized to form a corporation hereunder, persons desiring to form a corporation under this Act shall make a statement under their hands duly acknowledged before some officer in the manner provided for the acknowledgment of deeds, setting forth: 1st. The name of the proposed corporation. 2nd. The object for which it is formed. 3rd. Its capital stock. 4th. The number of shares. 5th. The location of its office. 6th. The duration of the corporation not exceeding 99 years. Which statement shall be filed in the office of the Secretary of State. If said statement complies with the provisions of this Act, the Secretary of State shall issue to such persons a license as commissioners to open books of subscription to the capital stock of said company. § 7. As soon as may be after the capital stock is subscribed, and within six months from the date of such license, the commissioners shall convene a meeting of the subscribers for election of a board of directors, and such other business as may come before them, ten days' notice thereof shall be given by U. S. mail unless waived in writing, stating the time, place and object of such meeting, and at such meeting every subscriber shall have the right to to vote by ballot in person or by proxy for the number of shares subscribed by him for as many persons as are to be elected directors or to accumulate such shares and give to one candidates as many votes as the number of directors multiplied by the number of shares of stock shall equal or to distribute them on the same principle among as many candidates as he may choose and such directors shall not be elected in any other manner. The directors shall be elected until the first Tuesday in February following and on all subsequent elections, for one year and until their successors are elected and qualified. All subsequent elections shall be held at the annual meeting on the first Tuesday of February each year. § 8. A majority of the commissioners shall make a complete report under oath, giving: The names and residences of and number of shares subscribed by each stockholder. The names and residences of the directors elected. The amount paid on capital stock by each subscriber, in cash. The amount paid on the capital stock by each subscriber in property, describing the property and the fair cash value thereof. Which report shall be filed with the Secretary of State. If said report shows a compliance with this Act, the Secretary of State shall thereupon issue a certificate of complete organization of said corporation, making a part thereof a copy of all papers filed in his office in and about the organization of the corporation and authenticated by his hand and the seal of State and the same shall be recorded in the office of the recorder of deeds of the county where its office is located, within ninety days of its date. Upon such copy being filed, as aforesaid, the company shall be considered fully organized and may proceed to do business. § 9. Corporations formed under this Act shall sue and be sued; may have a corporate seal. They may borrow money and pledge and mortgage their property to secure payment thereof and have and exercise all the powers necessary to carry into effect the purposes for which they were formed; provided, however, that no company organized under this Act shall incur indebtedness in excess of the capital actually paid in, and in case such indebtedness shall at any time exceed the capital stock actually paid in, the officers and directors of such company shall be personally liable to the creditors whose obligations are incurred in excess of the paid up capital stock, for such excess and such officers and directors may be sued jointly or severally therefor by any such creditor. § 10. The corporate powers of the companies shall be exercised by a board of directors, the number to be not less than three as determined by the stockholders and a majority vote of all the stock subscribed shall be required to fix and a majority of the stock issued shall be required to change the number of directors. The officers of the company shall be president, secretary and treasurer and such other officers as may be determined by the board of directors and shall be elected by the board of directors annually. The directors shall have power to pass by-laws not inconsistent with the laws of this State. § 11. Shares of stock shall not be less than $25.00 or more than $100.00 and may be transferred by written assignment and entry on the stock record of the company within thirty days after such assignment. Subscriptions for stock shall be made payable to the corporation and shall be payable at such times as shall be determined by the board of directors. The directors may by by-laws prescribe penalties for failure to pay for stock as provided by by-laws, but no penalty working a forfeiture of stock or the amount paid thereon shall be declared as against any estate before distribution shall have been made or against any stockholders before demand shall have been made in writing, in person, or by notice duly mailed to the proper address of such stockholders at least thirty days prior to the time when such forfeiture is to take effect, and in such case the stock shall be sold at public sale and the proceeds, if any, above the amount due thereon shall be paid to the delinquent stockholder. The subscribers and each subsequent holder of stock shall be liable to the company for the par value thereof until said stock is fully paid and each of such persons shall be liable for the debts of the corporation to the extent of the amount that may be unpaid on stock so subscribed or held by them, and no assignor of stock shall be released from any such obligation until the stock is fully paid. § 12. The company shall on or before the first day of March, each year, make a writen report which shall be filed with the recorder of deeds in the county in which its office is located, which report shall be signed and sworn to by the secretary of such company, giving the names and residence of each stockholder, the amount of stock owned by each and the amount paid in on such stock, a list of the officers and directors of such company and a list of all real estate owned by such company by legal description, such list to designate which is improved and which is unimproved. § 13. The General Assembly shall at all times have power to prescribe such regulations and provisions as it may deem advisable, which regulations and provisions shall be binding upon any and all corporations formed by this Act. §14. It shall be the duty of every corporation organized under this Act to keep at its office correct books of account of all its business and every stockholder of such corporation shall have the right, during business hours, by himself or his attorney, to examine the records and books of account of the corporation. § 15. Meetings of the stockholders and directors may be called as provided by by-laws or by the holders of two-thirds of the stock of such corporation, by signing a call therefor and filing the same with the secretary of such corporation and publishing the same in a newspaper of general circulation printed and published in the county where the office of said company is located, for three successive weeks prior to the time fixed for holding such meeting. FILED June 29, 1917. This bill having remained with the Governor ten days, Sundays excepted, the General Assembly being in session, it has thereby become a law. Witness my hand this twenty-ninth day of June. A. D. 1917. LOUIS L. EMMERSON, Secretary of State. AN ACT to make uniform the law of transfer of shares of stock in cor poration. SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly: Title to a certificate and to the shares represented thereby can be transferred only: (a) By delivery of the certificate indorsed either in blank or to a specified person by the person appearing by the certificate to be the owner of the shares represented thereby, or (b) By delivery of the certificatee [certificate] and a separate document containing a written assignment of the certificate or a power of attorney to sell, assign, or transfer the same or the shares represented thereby, signed by the person appearing by the certificate to be the owner of the shares represented thereby. Such assignment or power of attor ney may be either in blank or to a specified person. The provisions of this section shall be applicable although the charter or articles of incorporation or code of regulations or by-laws of the |