capital stock

The capital stock and the shares of the capital stock are distinct things. The capital stock is the money paid or authorized or required to be paid in as the basis of the business of the bank, and the means of conducting its operations. ... The capital stock and the shares may both be taxed, and it is not double taxation.

The sum, divided into shares, which is raised by mutual subscription of the members of a corporation. It is said to be the sum upon which calls may be made upon the stockholders, and dividends are to be paid. 1 Sandf. Ch. (N. Y.) 280; Walford, Rys. 252; 4 Zab. (N. J.) 195; Angell & A. Corp. §§ 151, 556. "The sums due by virtue of the subscriptions or collected from the subscribers, and invested for the benefit of the corporation." 30 Conn. 290. It is never used to indicate the value of the property of the corporation. 3 Zab. (N. J.) 195. The phrase is used as synonymous with "Capital." 23 N. Y. 222. It is to be distinguished from "stock," which is the shareholder's individual interest in the capital stock. 9 Yerg. (Tenn.) 490.

The sum, divided into shares, which is raised by mutual subscription of the members of a corporation. It is said to be the sum upon which calls may be made upon the stockholders, and dividends are to be paid; Barry v. Exchange Co., 1 Sandf. Ch. (N. Y.) 280; State, v. Fire Ass'n, 23 N. J. L. 195; Ang. & A. Corp. §§ 151, 556; Union Bank of Tennessee v. State, 9 Yerg. (Tenn.) 490; State Bank of Wisconsin v. City of Milwaukee, 18 Wis. 281. The term is used to indicate the amount of capital which the charter provides for, and not the value of the property of the corporation; State v. Fire Ass'n, 23 N. J. L. 195; or the original amount upon which a corporation commences; State Bank v. City Council, 3 Rich. (S. C.) 346. See St. Louis, I. M. & S. By. Co. v. Loftin, 30 Ark. 693 (contra, under an Illinois revenue statute; Pacific Hotel Co. v. Lieb, 83 111. 602); the entire sum agreed to be contributed to the enterprise, whether paid in or not; Reid v. Mfg. Co., 40 Ga. 98, 2 Am. Rep. 563. It has been held to mean the amount paid in, not the amount subscribed; City of Philadelphia v. Ry. Co., 52 Pa. 177; Mayeski v. His Creditors, 40 La. Ann. 98, 4 South. 9; contra, Hightower v. Thornton, 8 Ga. 486, 52 Am. Dec. 412; nor that named in the articles of association; Pratt v. Munson, 17 Hun (N. Y.) 475. See 1 Thomp. Corp. § 1060; Stock.

The common stock or fund of a corporation. The sum of money raised by the subscriptions of the stockholders, and divided into shares. It is said to be the sum upon which calls may be made upon the stockholders, and dividends are to be paid. 1 Sandf. Ch. 280; Ang. & A. Corp. §§ 151, 556. Originally "the capital stock of the bank" was all the property of every kind, everything, which the bank possessed. And this "capital stock," all of it, in reality belonged to the contributors, it being intrusted to the bank to be used and traded with for their exclusive benefit; and thus the bank became the agent of the contributors, so that the transmutation of the money originally advanced by the subscribers into property of other kinds, though it altered the form of the investment, left its beneficial ownership unaffected; and every new acquisition of property, by exchange or otherwise, was an acquisition for the original subscribers or their representatives, their respective interests in it all always continuing in the same proportion as in the aggregate capital originally advanced. So that, whether in the form of money, bills of exchange, or any other property in possession or in action into which the money originally contributed has been changed, or which it has produced, all is, as the original contribution was, the capital stock of the bank, held, as the original contribution was, for the exclusive benefit of the original contributors and those who represent them. The original contributors and those who represent them are, the stockholders. 31 Conn. 108. Capital stock, as employed in acts of incorporation, is never used to indicate the value of the property of the company. It is very generally, if not universally, used to designate the amount of capital prescribed to be contributed at the outset by the stockholders, for the purposes of the corporation. The value of the corporate assets may be greatly increased by surplus profits, or be diminished by losses, but the amount of the capital stock remains the same. The funds of the company may fluctuate; its capital stock remains invariable, unless changed by legislative authority. 23 N. J. Law, 195.