make a proper calculation of what was due from the withdrawing member in the shape of debt, interest, and penalties. I think that expression “withdraw” may be left out here. As I said before, the very fact that the respondent is liable to pay, as undoubtedly he is, that which was presently due, shows to me in considering the question before us that the word withdraw is immaterial; we must look at the substance of the matter, and as I said before, that I think is plain; but it is qualified in this way. It is said—True, you have paid instalments which would satisfy the claim of the society upon you to the extent of their amount, with interest upon them under that rule, were it not that the society has sustained losses, and the instalments which you have been paying must be taken to be attributable now to these losses, and consequently that you have not in reality paid so many instalments as you have nominally. Now, what is there in the rules to justify that. There is not one word in the rules about losses being borne either by the advanced or unadvanced members, and the only reason that can be given why the advanced members should bear the losses is, that they are to have profits if there are any. So they were undoubtedly, but it does not follow from that that they are to bear losses. It might have been a reasonable stipulation to put in if they had thought of it. But either they did not think of it, or if they did they did not think it reasonable to put it in. Now, this seems to me to deal with the only conceivable argument for qualifying rule 12 in the way I have suggested. It is said that the power of withdrawal is gone. As I have said, that is immaterial to my mind. But the substance of the rule cannot be lost to this man. It is manifest that if this society had lasted two, three, or four years longer, his instalments, with the interest upon them, would have discharged his obligation to the society. Well, what is the consequence? He cannot withdraw. He cannot avail himself of that mode of paying off, but inasmuch as liquidation calls upon him to pay at once, he is entitled to that benefit. It is said this is hard upon the other shareholders, the unadvanced; they cannot withdraw now. Very likely, but what is the consequence? He is only to pay, and the society can receive of him. The others have only to receive, but cannot, because the society has not wherewithal to pay.
Lord Fitzgerald—The advance made on the security of these shares was to be reimbursed to the society by instalments until they amounted to £700, and meantime they were to get interest on the advance at the rate of five per cent. per annum. The bond and disposition, with the memorandum upon it, was a security that the society should in the end be reimbursed to the full amount of the advance in the manner prescribed. When one had arrived at the conclusion that that was the character of the contract—the agreement between the parties—and further, that the monthly instalment although paid in respect of the shares was immediately to be attributed as a payment on account of the £700—when one had arrived at that conclusion, the whole appeared to be straight and clear and free from any difficulty; and all that remained to be done in order that this gentleman should be relieved from his position as a member of the society was merely a matter of computation and nothing else, to ascertain what was due upon this security. Now, this liquidation can make no difference. It may have deprived him of some advantages which he previously had, but it certainly did not increase his liability. In point of liability he remained exactly in the same position as before. And what was that liability supposing liquidation had not intervened? What were his rights, and what were his liabilities? His liability could not go beyond £700—that is, beyond the balance of it, after giving him credit for the monthly instalments which he had paid. It may have the effect of depriving him of the right to withdraw under rule 12, but that becomes very unimportant. Liquidation has taken place. The society as a trading society has ceased to exist, and can no longer make profit. It comes to an end, and I come to the liquidators and say, “I am owing you so much; I am willing to pay everything that is due upon my security, and now offer to pay it.” The liquidators, however, insist that they shall get the entire sum of £700 as if nothing had been paid. He, on the contrary, says, “According to the contract, common sense, and common justice, the sums that I have paid from time to time are to go in liquidation of the principal of this advance, and I am willing to pay the entire balance due.” That is really the contract between the parties. As I have said, it is merely a matter of computation. If I have actually paid £414, and although all claim for interest on these payments be disallowed, still no more can remain payable than £286, and that whether the society was in liquidation or otherwise, because in liquidation, and under the winding-up Act, no contributory, if the liability is limited, is bound to pay more than the full amount of his shares. This gentleman, paying the full amount of his shares, had done all which, as contributory or otherwise, he could possibly be required to do. That was determined in a similar case—the case of the
Doncaster Society—by Vice-Chancellor Wood, where he held that the advanced member was entitled to redeem by paying up the full amount due from him, and that when the full amount was paid up he ought not to be called upon to pay more for the benefit of those other contributors. They must get what they can out of the assets, including therein the contribution to them which this particular advanced shareholder makes when he pays up the full amount which is due from him.
Now, my Lords, the next question is, What is the contract here? He has £700 advanced to him. He gives to secure that a bond in ordinary form for £700, and interest, with a provision that the principal is to become due at a fixed period, and he is to pay penalties, which are of course purely nominal; and then he is to pay interest on the principal sum at the rate of 5 per cent. per annum from the date of the bond to the time of payment (that is a purely nominal time, not the time contracted by the parties), and that half-yearly, termly, and proportionally thereafter during the not-payment of the same. And then, by the back-letter, which explains the real intention of the parties, it is provided that that bond is in reality to stand as security only for performance of the obligations laid on the advanced member by these rules—“It is nevertheless understood that the same shall not be enforced
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by the directors and manager of the society as long as the said James Russell shall continue the regular payment of the instalments, interest, and other sums to become due upon his said shares in terms of the rules of the society.” That refers to the 12th rule in particular, which states how an advanced member is to make the repayment of his advances—“All advances shall be repaid by monthly instalments, with interest at the rate of 5 per cent. per annum, and which interest shall be paid monthly in advance, and at the same time as the instalments.” Now, my Lords, it is impossible to read that as meaning that there should be two instalments paid by the advanced member, one as shareholder and the other as a debtor or mortgagor, but he is to repay the advance made to him for which he has given his bond and security, by these instalments which members have to pay from time to time. It is impossible, after he has actually paid that, for the society to say that the instalments they received from time to time are not to be ascribed as payments of the advance. It is perfectly clear they must be so ascribed, and therefore this gentleman, at the time of the winding-up order, having paid instalments to the amount of £414, was entitled to have full credit for the same as a repayment, as far as it would extend, of the advance made to him, reducing, as I have said, the sum to be paid to £286. Then, my Lords, the question arises whether there is anything in the contract to vary that result to prevent him exercising his right to redeem, for he must have a right to redeem on payment of the whole amount remaining due and advanced to him. There is not one word from which it can be possibly implied that an advanced member, merely because the society has sustained losses, and because these losses may diminish the return of payments to be received by the advanced member, is to have his advance recalled, and to be turned
ex post facto into an unadvanced member, so that any repetition, as distinct from his obligation to make repayment according to his contract, can be obtained from him.
Interlocutor affirmed with a variation (being that moved by the Lord Chancellor), and appeal dismissed with costs.