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HILARY VACATION, 29 VICT.

1866.

WRIGHT V. DELEY and Others.

DECLARATION. For that whereas the defendants are trustees of the Third Poplar and Limehouse Benefit Building Society, appointed under and by virtue of certain rules enrolled pursuant to the act of parliament of 6 & 7 Wm. 4, c. 32, and as such trustees are by virtue of the said rules and the statutes in that behalf possessed of all the monies and other property of the said Society, and are entitled to sue and be sued on behalf of the said Society.

And whereas, by one of the said rules (a) it is provided: "That any member who shall be desirous of withdrawing from this Society any share or shares shall be allowed to

do so on giving two months' notice in writing, according to Form 2 at the end hereof of such his or her intention to the secretary, subject to the payment of all fines then due, and to the deduction of 5s. per share during the first five years

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a certain deduction as a proportionate share of expenses incurred. Provided always, that the deduction should not extend to widows and children of deceased members, who should always have a priority in cases of withdrawal." Another rule provided "that the board of management for the time being should determine all disputes which might arise respecting the construction of the rules, or of any of the clauses, matters or things therein contained; and also of any additions, alterations, or amendments which should or might thereafter arise between the board and any member of the Society; and in the event of their decision being unsatisfactory, then to be referred to arbitration." The plaintiff, a member of the Society, gave notice of his intention to withdraw, and claimed the amount of his shares. The board refused to pay it, on the ground that previously to the plaintiff's notice other members had given notice of withdrawal, and were therefore entitled to priority of payment, and that the Society had no funds to pay the plaintiff's claim. The plaintiff thereupon brought the present action.-Held, that the plaintiff's claim was a dispute between the board and a member of the Society respecting the construction of a rule, and therefore the action was not maintainable, but the dispute must be determined by the board or arbitrators.

(a) Rule 18.

1866.

WRIGHT

v.

DEELEY.

of the Society, and 2s. 6d. per share for the next five years, as a proportionate share of the expenses incurred (a). And the plaintiff became a member of the said Society upon the terms aforesaid, and paid certain subscriptions in respect of certain shares held by him in the said Society, amounting to a large sum (to wit) 1007.; and after such payment, and before the committing of the grievances hereinafter mentioned, the plaintiff gave to the secretary two months' notice in writing, according to the said form in the said rules mentioned, of his intention of withdrawing from the said Society; and all things had happened and conditions performed, and all times had elapsed to entitle the plaintiff to withdraw from the said Society, and to have the amount of his said shares, subject to the deductions aforesaid, repaid to him by the said trustees: Yet the plaintiff has not been allowed to withdraw from the said Society, and hath not been repaid the amount of his said shares, nor any part thereof, either by the defendants, as such trustees as aforesaid, or by the said Society.

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Plea. That the said Society was, before the accruing of the supposed causes of action, and still is, a benefit building Society, duly established under and according to the act of parliament, &c. (6 & 7 Wm. 4, c. 32), and by the rules of the said Society before then duly made, certified and enrolled, it was and is provided as follows (b):-"That_the board of management for the time being, or the major part of them, shall determine all disputes which may arise respecting the construction of these rules, or of any of the clauses, matters or things herein contained; and also of any additions, alterations or amendments which shall or

(a) This rule concludes thus: -"Provided always, that the deduction herein before mentioned shall not extend to widows and

children of deceased members,
and who shall always have a
priority in cases of withdrawal."
(b) Rule 14.

HILARY VACATION, 29 VICT.

may hereafter arise between the board and any member of this Society, or persons claiming on account of a member; and in the event of their decision being unsatisfactory, then to be referred to arbitration as set forth in the next rule” (a). “That at the first appropriation meeting of the members after the enrolment of these rules, five arbitrators shall be elected, none of the said arbitrators being beneficially interested, either directly or indirectly, in the funds of the Society; and in each case of dispute referred to them, the names of the arbitrators shall be written on pieces of paper and placed in a box or glass, and the three whose names are first drawn by the complaining party, or some one appointed by him, her or them, shall be the arbitrators to decide the matter in dispute, and their decision shall be final and binding on all parties; and each of the three arbitrators shall receive 6s. 8d. remuneration. The party requiring the arbitration shall deposit with the secretary the sum of 20s., and the costs of the reference shall be paid by the Society, or by such party demanding the same, as the arbitrators direct." And that the plaintiff became and was a member of the said Society, and as such member subject to the said rules, and that the present claim is a dispute between the board of management of the said Society and the plaintiff, as such member, respecting certain matters and things contained in the said rules, and which, by the said rules, and the statutes in such case made, ought to be decided by the said board of management, subject to an appeal to arbitration as therein mentioned. And that the defendants and the said Society have done all things necessary on their parts respectively, and all necessary conditions have been performed to entitle them to have the said dispute so decided, but the plaintiff has neglected and refused

(a) Rule 15.

1866.

WRIGHT

V.

DEELEY.

1866.

WRIGHT

v.

DEELEY.

EXCHEQUER REPORTS.

to submit the said dispute to the decision of the said board of management.

The plaintiff took issue on, and also demurred to the plea.

The cause came on for trial at the last Surrey Summer Assizes, when a verdict was taken for the plaintiff for 631., subject to a special case (so far as material) as follows:

The plaintiff is a tradesman in Poplar, in the county of Middlesex, and the defendants are the trustees of the Third Poplar and Limehouse Benefit Building Society, which was established in November, 1863, under the 6 & 7 Wm. 4, c. 32.

The rules and regulations for the government of the Society were duly made by the members thereof, and on the 12th of the said month duly certified and enrolled pursuant to the statutes in that behalf, and are to be taken as part of this case.

On the 10th of March, 1863, the plaintiff became the holder of four shares in the Society, and continued the holder thereof till the 10th of April, 1865. The plaintiff duly paid to the Society the whole amount of the subscriptions and fines and other monies which became and were due and payable from time to time in respect of the said shares up to the 10th of April, 1865. The total amount so paid by him is 637. 15s. 2d., and, after allowing for all deductions for which he is liable, such subscriptions amount to 627., and that amount it is admitted is now due to him in respect of such subscriptions, if he is entitled to recover in this action.

On the 10th of April, 1865, the plaintiff duly gave the secretary notice that he was desirous of withdrawing his subscriptions on his shares from the funds of the association,

The plaintiff's name, as member of the Society, was

thereupon erased and removed from the register of members and other books of the Society, and he thereupon ceased to act as a member thereof.

At different times between the 1st of November, 1864, and the 9th day of April, 1865, twenty-five members of the Society gave to the secretary two months' notice in writing of their intention to withdraw from the Society their respective shares and subscriptions, which subscriptions, after making all deductions to be made in that behalf under the said rules, amounted to 5947. 15s. Before the 10th of June, 1865, eight of the twenty-five members who first gave the notice were paid the amount of their respective subscriptions, 2331. These eight members were paid in rotation, according to the time when they gave their notices. On the 20th of June, 1865, another of the said twenty-five members (he having given his notice prior to the other notices given by the members who had not been paid) was paid his subscriptions, amounting to 417. 5s. Except as aforesaid, at the commencement of this action no part of the said sum of 5947. 15s. was paid.

Under the 12th of the said rules, on the 21st of December, 1864, the sum of 2001. was duly appropriated and awarded by the then directors of the Society to Mr. Deeley, then and continually since a member of the Society. On the 24th of February, 1865, the further sum of 2007. was duly appropriated and awarded by the then directors of the Society to Mr. Wood, then and continually since a member of the Society.

The said persons to whom the said appropriations were made were, continually after the making of the same, entitled to have the same paid to them in accordance with the rules of the Society, subject to the question whether the plaintiff was not first entitled to have paid to him the

1866.

WRIGHT

V.

DEELEY.

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