(xx) REFERENCES, ETC. References to the Law Journal are now supplied for nearly all cases cited. All cases decided by Superior Courts are also dated. The consecutive number of the volumes of the Law Journal (N.S., Chancery and Common Law Series) for a given legal year, i.e., Michaelmas term to Michaelmas term, may be found by subtracting 30 from the year of the century in which that legal year begins. To find the corresponding volume of the Weekly Reporter, subtract 51. Lindley on Partnership (6th edition, 1893) is cited by the author's name alone. The Indian Contract Act (IX. of 1872) is cited by the abbreviation I. C. A. I have sometimes referred to my own book on "Principles of Contract" (6th edition, 1894) for the fuller explanation of matters belonging to that general subject rather than to the Law of Partnership. Matters of practice and procedure which occur incidentally in the facts of the cases cited as Illustrations have been tacitly adapted to the present state of the law. A DIGEST OF THE LAW OF PARTNERSHIP. PART I. THE PARTNERSHIP ACT, 1890. (53 & 54 VICT. c. 39.) [For the Arrangement of Sections, see the general Table of Contents.] An Act to declare and amend the Law of Partnership. [14th August, 1890.] Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: Nature of Partnership. Sect. 1. 1.-(1.) Partnership is the relation which subsists between persons carrying on a business Definition of in common with a view of profit. (2.) But the relation between members of any company or association which is— P. partnership. (a) Registered as a company under the 25 & 26 Vict. B c. 89. Part I. Sect. 1. Companies Act, 1862, or any other Act of Parliament for the time being in force and relating to the registration of joint stock companies; or (b.) Formed or incorporated by or in pursuance of any other Act of Parliament or letters patent, or Royal Charter; or (c.) A company engaged in working mines within and subject to the jurisdiction of the Stannaries: is not a partnership within the meaning of this Act. Illustrations. 1. A. agrees with B. to carry the mail by horse and cart from Northampton to Brackley on the following terms: B. is to pay to A. £9 per mile per annum, and A. and B. are to share the expenses of repairing and replacing the carts, and to divide equally the money received for conveying parcels, and the loss consequent on any loss or damage thereof. A. and B. are partners.1 2. A., the owner of a vessel, employs B. for some time as skipper, and then agrees with B. that B. may take the vessel where he likes, and engage the crew and take cargoes at his discretion, paying to A. one-third of the net profits. A. and B. are probably partners in the adventure." 3. A. and B. are owners in common of a race-horse, and agree to share its winnings and the expenses of its keep, A. having the management of the horse and paying all expenses in the first instance. A. and B. are not partners as to the horse. It is doubtful whether they are partners as to the profits that may be made by its employment.3 1 Green v. Beesley (1835), 2 Bing. N. C. 108. 2 Steel v. Lester (1877), 3 C. P. D. 121, 47 L. J. C. P. 43; see judgment of Lindley, J. 3 French v. Styring (1857), 2 C. B. N. S. 357, 26 L. J. C. P. 4. A. and B., tenants in common of a house, and desiring to let it, agree that A. shall have the general management, and provide funds for putting the house in tenantable repair, and that the net rent shall be divided between them equally. A. and B. are not partners.1 5. A., the proprietor of a theatre, lets the use of it to B., who provides the acting company and takes on himself the whole management, A. paying for the general service and expenses of the theatre. The gross receipts are divided equally between A. and B. A. is not a partner with B., and is not answerable for any infringement of dramatic copyright in the performances given by B. under this arrangement.2 6. A., B., and C. agree to purchase on joint account" the X. estate, "each paying one-third of the cost and each having one-third interest in it," and to form a new company to deal with the property. This agreement does not constitute a partnership between A., B., and C.3 66 Nature of Partnership. Part I. Sect. 1. The definition now adopted by the legislature is the Definition of partnership. result of a very large number of attempts made by various writers in England, America, and elsewhere. A collection of these may be seen at the beginning of Lord Justice Lindley's book. Kent's (Comm. iii. 23) was the most business-like, and I still think it was substantially accurate, and might well have been accepted with more or less verbal condensation and amendment. The definition given by the Indian Contract Act, s. 239, is Kent's in a more concise form, and runs as follows:Partnership is the relation which subsists between per 1 Per Willes, J., 2 C. B. N. S. at p. 366. But if they furnished the house at their joint expense, and then let portions of the house as lodgings, they might well be partners. Letting a house is not a business, but letting furnished rooms is. 2 Lyon v. Knowles (1863), 3 B. & S. 556, 32 L. J. Q. B. 71. 3 London Financial Association v. Kelk (1884), 26 Ch. D. 107, 143, 53 L. J. Ch. 1025. |