Stock

1.

Indebtedness of states or governments is often represented by stocks, so called, shares in which are represented by scrip issued to creditors of the government, or by entries and records in official books kept in the government offices. The funded national debt of Great Britain is understood to stand wholly in the form of stocks. In this country, an issue of bonds has been ■ The term stock is also employed to denote the moneys advanced to government, which constitute a part of the national debt, whereupon a certain amount of interest is payable. Since the introduction of the system of borrowing upon interminable annuities, the meaning of the word stock has become gradually changed; and, instead of signifying the security upon which loans are advanced, it has for a long time signified the principal of the loans themselves. In this latter sense, we speak of the sale, purchase, a id transfer of stock. Mozleij ^ W. Stock-broker; stock-jobber. These are two names for persons who make dealings in stocks their business. According to English writers, the members of the stock exchange are called "jobbers" and "brokers." The jobber is the dealer, who buys and sells at the market prices, and acts as an intermediary between the broker who buys and the broker who sells. The broker, on behalf of his principal, deals with the jobber.

Stock ezcchange

An association or society in any commercial city of persons making dealings in stocks their business, organized for the better regulation of their transactions; also, the building or establishment maintained by such a society for the public sale of stocks.

2.

The property of a business corporation, kept and used to enable it to carry on its business, is called its stock, and is usually treated and dealt in as if divided into shares, represented by certificates setting forth the ownership, and transferable by entries and recorded in the books of the company, such as the transfer book, the stock ledger, &c. The owner of^ share or shares is called a stockholder, — a term not minutely accurate, for what he holds is a certificate; as to the stock, he is an owner rather than a holder. When the word stock, as used in reference to a corporation, means any thing else than the capital of the company, it cannot refer to any thing else than the interests of the shareholders or individuals. Such interests are called stock; and the sum total of tliem is appropriately enough called the stock of a corporation.

People v

Commissioners of Taxes, 23 N. Y. 192, 220.

That a statute imposing a tax upon the stock of a corporation, means upon its tangible property, and not upon its shares, see Auditor, &c. v. New Albany, &c.

R. R. Co, 11 Ind. 570; State v. Harnilton, 5 Ind. 310.

That such a statute includes both stock subscriptions, and also all the actual tan- A statute exempting the capital stock of a railroad company from taxation was held to mean the capital to be raised by subscriptions to the stock, and not to include lands granted by congress to aid the road, in St. Louis, &c.

Railway v. Loftin, 30 Ark. 693. 3.

The various things accumulated by an agriculturist, artisan, or merchant, or indeed any person in business, for use or disposal in the regular, current prosecution of his vocation, are called his stock, his stock in trade, his stock of goods, stock of his farm or shop. This is a popular use of the term rather than a legal one, and what it includes depends on the connection and circumstances. The expression live-stock belongs under this head. It seems to mean that portion of the stock of a farm or plantation, or other establishment or business, which is composed of live animals. But any distinctions as to the use of the term in this sense belong to the vernacular dictionaries.

4.

Stock also means a family, in the sense of persons connected by descent; as in the expression that a person comes from a good stock.