Definition of Joint Stock Company
When some people voluntarily construct an organization by investing their money for the purpose of earning profit according to the rules and regulations of the respective country is called Joint Stock Company. It is a company whose stock is owned jointly by the shareholders. This business is operated by its own Name & Logo and considered as an artificial being having a separate ownership from management.
There are some .important definitions of the joint stock company given below:
Companies Act- 1944 Section 2 (1) (H): “Existing Company means a company formed and registered under any law related to companies in force at any time before the commencement of this Act, and is in operation after the commencement of this Act”.
Justice Marshall- “A corporation is artificial brings, invisible, intangible, and existing only in the eyes of the law. Being a mere creature of law, it possesses only those properties which the charter of its creation confers upon it, either expressly or as incidental to its very existence”.
H.L.Haney: “A Joint Stock Company is a voluntary association of individuals for profit, having its capital divided into transferable shares the ownership of which is the condition of membership”.
James Stephens: “A company is an association of many persons who contribute money or money’s worth to a common stock and employs it in some trade or business, and who share the profit and loss arising therefrom.”
So, Joint Stock Company is an artificial person recognized by law, with a distinctive name, a common seal, a common capital comprising transferable shares of fixed value carrying limited liability and having a perpetual succession.
Thus, a company may be defined as a voluntary association, an incorporated association, legal and invisible artificial person having an independent, separate legal entity along with perpetual succession and a common seal, whose liability is ordinarily limited, the capital divided into transferable shares, held by shareholders in order to earn a profit.
