paid by the purchaser draw interest at twelve per cent. per annum. Land may be redeemed from a tax sale at any time within three years or prior to the execution of a treasurer's deed, by payment to the county treasurer of the amount for which it was sold, together with interest as above specified, and if not so redeemed, the purchaser may have a deed from the treasurer which is prima facie evidence of the regularity of the treasurer's acts in that behalf, but in case where the property is valued at two hundred and fifty dollars or more, he must, not more than five months nor less than three months before applying for the deed serve notice of his intention to so apply, upon the owner (or publish notice, where the owner cannot be found), and must file with the treasurer an affidavit stating that he has complied with this provision. Minors and insane persons have one year after the removal of their disability in which to redeem, and upon redemption they pay for improvements subsequent to the sale, together with the amount paid at the tax sale and subsequent taxes and interest thereon at fifteen per cent, per annum.

Parties bringing goods into the State subsequent to the first day of May for disposal here must notify the assessor and pay the tax assessed for state, county, and local expenses, but are thereby entitled to certain deductions from the assessments of the following year.

Taxes are a perpetual lien upon real estate and personal property until paid. Mortgagees may pay delinquent taxes or redeem as aforesaid, and in foreclosure suits recover judgment for the amount with interest at twenty-five per cent. per annum. Agents are liable to their principals for not listing. As between grantor and grantee, without express agreement, if land is conveyed between December 31 and July 1 the grantee shall pay the taxes assessed, but if conveyed between June 30 and January 1 the grantor shall pay them

All moneys of non-residents kept and loaned and used within the State, for the purpose of investment and profit, are subject to taxation the same as personal effects and choses in action of residents, but only for state, county, and general school purposes. The General Assembly of 1901 undertook to inaugurate a radical departure from existing methods of assessment and taxation, particularly with reference to the property of corporations both foreign and domestic. That legislation will be found at page 241 of the Session Laws of 1901, embodied in chapter 94. The entire act has been recently declared void for failure to comply with certain constitutional requirements touching the mode of passage of bills through the two houses of the legislature. An extra session of the general assembly, recently convened, undertook to cure constitutional objections to this act. It is impracticable, within the space here allotted, to summarize the provisions of the general revenue act of the extra session referred to. See Sessions Laws, 1902. For taxation of inheritances see Descent and Distribution of Property.

Testimony.

See Evidence.

Trust Deeds. They vary in terms, but all convey the property to a third party as trustee for the use of the legal holder of the note to secure which the trust deed is given, and contain a power of sale to the trustee on default of the payment of the note or interest or covenants and conditions in the deed, upon advertisement (usually thirty days) in a newspaper of the county. The cestui que trust may buy in at the sale, and the purchaser is not required to see to the application of the purchase-money. They are used almost entirely instead of mortgages. Trust deeds must be made to the public trustee, who may execute the power of sale subject to the same rights of redemption as stated under Executions and Mortgages. Trust deeds made to any other trustee operate but as mortgages and must be foreclosed in court, subject to redemption as above.

Wills.

Every person twenty-one years of age, if a male, and eighteen years of age, if a female, being of sound mind and memory, may dispose of all his or her property, real and personal, by will, and all persons of the age of seventeen years may dispose by will of all their personal estate, except that a married woman shall not without the consent of her husband in writing, bequeath away from him more than one half of her real and personal property and if the husband deprives his wife of over one half of his property by will, she shall be allowed either to accept the conditions of the will or one half the property, as she sees fit. There is no provision against devising all of one's estate away from his family, except as above, and with the exception of these rights of a husband or wife a person can devise or bequeath his entire estate to whom he pleases. But see Inheritance Tax; Descent and Distribution of Property.

All wills devising lands, tenements, hereditaments, annuities, or rents must be reduced to writing and signed by the testator or testatrix, or by some one in his or her presence, and by his or her direction, and attested by two or more credible witnesses, in the presence of such testator or testatrix. Wills are recorded in the county courts out of which letters testamentary or of administration issued, and also with the recorder of each county in which the decedent owned real estate. A nuncupative will made and declared in the last sickness of the testator, in the presence of two witnesses called by him to attest the same, and by them reduced to writing within a reasonable time, and properly proved, shall be good for the devising of personal estate. A devise or bequest made in a will to a witness thereto is void as to such witness, unless there are a sufficient number of witnesses other than the one to whom the bequest or devise is made. No will, other than a nuncupative will, shall be revoked except by burning, tearing, or obliterating the same by the testator himself, or in his presence, by his direction and consent, or by another will or codicil in writing, declaring the same, signed by the testator in the presence of two or more witnesses, and by them attested in his presence. No will executed in due form of law can be revoked or annulled by word spoken.

LAWS OF CONNECTICUT

RELATIVE TO THE

COLLECTION OF DEBTS,

TAKING OF DEPOSITIONS, ETC.

PREPARED EXPRESSLY FOR HUBBELL'S LEGAL DIRECTORY, DECEMBER 1, 1906, BY GROSS, HYDE AND SHIPMAN,

OF THE HARTFORD BAR.

Acknowledgments. · See Deeds.

Actions. Process in civil actions is by summons or attachment. Any action may be commenced by a foreign attachment. The writ describes the parties and the court; mentions the time and place of appearance; is accompanied with a declaration called a complaint, and is signed by a justice of the peace, commissioner of the superior court, or a judge or clerk of the court to which it is returnable. The action is not deemed to be commenced until service is made upon the defendant, but the initiatory steps of an attachment may be taken before such service.

Administration of Decedents' Estates. See Claims against Estates of Deceased

Persons.

Affidavits. In ex parte cases the affidavit of a person residing in another State may be used in judicial proceedings, and should be sworn to before a notary public or commissioner for Connecticut, or it may be sworn to before any magistrate authorized to administer oaths, and in the latter case a certificate of a clerk of a court of record of common law jurisdiction, with the seal of such clerk, that such magistrate is authorized to administer oaths, should be appended. Affidavits are not required on civil process to procure attachment, by arrest, garnishment, or otherwise. See Proof of Claims.

Aliens. Any alien resident in the United States, and any citizen of France, so long as France shall accord the same rights to citizens of the United States, may purchase, hold, inherit, or transmit real estate in this State in as full a manner as native-born citizens. His widow may take and hold the same, and the lineal descendants of any person capable of holding lands in this State may take and hold such lands as his heirs at law. Other nonresident aliens can hold and transmit lands for mining or quarrying purposes only.

There are no restrictions on the holding and transmission by inheritance of personal property by aliens.

Appeals. Appeals are allowed from judgments of justice courts, in all civil actions, except summary process, to next term of common pleas court, district court, or superior court, as case may be; from judgments of city court rendered at first term, and from all orders and decrees of probate court.

Arrests. -Persons may be arrested for fraud or torts committed by them, and can give bail to the officer making the arrest. Persons committed to jail on attachment or execution can be admitted to the liberties of the jail on giving a bond with surety not to escape, and may be released on taking an oath that they have no estate of the value of seventeen dollars in the whole, or sufficient to pay the demand for which they are imprisoned, except what is by law exempted from being taken on execution; and that they have not directly or indirectly disposed of any of their estate, thereby to secure the same or to receive any advantage therefrom, or to defraud their creditors. The jail liberties sometimes comprehend an entire city.

Assignments. -See Insolvent Laws and Assignments.

Attachments. - Attachment of debtor's property cannot be had before debt is due. An attachment is served by attaching the goods or lands of the defendant, or, if no goods can be found, by attaching the person, when liable to attachment. Where wages only are attached, no costs shall be taxed in favor of the plaintiff unless it shall appear that demand was made upon the defendant for the payment of the claim sued for, not more than thirty days nor less than three days prior to the bringing of such action. And in no case when wages are attached shall the taxable costs exceed one half the amount of damages recovered in such action. If the plaintiff is irresponsible, or a non-resident, a bond for costs is required from some substantial inhabitant of this State, or from a surety company authorized to do business in this State. This bond is simply to enable the defendant to collect his taxable costs in case he succeeds in the suit. If the plaintiff is recognized for costs, the subscribing magistrate must certify that he has personal knowledge of the plaintiff's pecuniary responsibility and deems it sufficient to respond to demand for costs. No bond is required to indemnify the defendant for damages which he may suffer by reason of the attachment. Goods concealed in the hands of agents, so that they cannot be attached, or

debts due from any person, are attachable by process of foreign attachment. Attachment holds until the execution is levied, provided the execution be levied within sixty days after final judgment, when personal estate is attached, and within four months, when real estate is attached. Where several attachments of the same property are made, the debt and costs of suit of the first attaching creditor must first be fully satisfied, and subsequent attaching creditors in the order of their several attachments. No assignment of future earnings (viz., wages) can prevent their attachment, when earned, unless made to secure a bona fide debt, the amount of which is therein stated with rate of interest and the term definitely limited; nor unless such assignment is duly acknowledged and recorded in the town clerk's office, and a copy thereof left with the employer. (Acts 1905, ch. 78.)

When the body or estate is attached in a suit in the superior court, court of common pleas, or district court, the plaintiff or his attorney may be cited before the court to state on oath the amount of the plaintiff's claim, and whether he verily believes the same is justly due; if the value of the property attached or the amount for which the body is attached is found to be excessive, the court will order the release of so much of the property or the reduction of so much of the amount for which the body is attached as is not required to secure the payment of the claim and costs, and the plaintiff, in the discretion of the court, may be compelled to pay the costs of the proceeding.

For effect of insolvency proceedings and appointment of receivers on attachments, see Insolvent Laws and Assignments.

Chattel Mortgages. — The owner of machinery, engines, or implements, situated and used in any manufacturing or mechanical establishment, the owner of any presses, types, cases, stereotype plates, or copper plates pertaining to a printing establishment, the owner of a dwelling-house having a family and having household furniture used by him in housekeeping, or the owner of hay deposited in a building, or tobacco in the leaf, or the owner of any piano, organ, or melodeon, or of any musical instrument used by an orchestra or band, may mortgage such machinery, engines, implements, presses, types, cases, stereotype plates or copper plates, furniture, hay, tobacco, piano, organ, melodeon, or musical instrument, any brick, burned or unburned, and being in any kiln or brick yard, provided the deed of mortgage be executed, acknowledged, and recorded in all respects as mortgages of land are required to be; and such mortgage will be good, although the mortgagor shall retain possession of the mortgaged property; and upon breach of condition may be foreclosed by sale by order of court. The above provisions extend to mortgages executed by hotel keepers, of furniture, fixtures, and other personal chattels contained and used in the hotels occupied by them or employed in connection therewith. When movable machinery is mortgaged in connection with real estate, it should be particularly described in a schedule annexed. To be good against third parties, mortgages must be recorded within a reasonable time in the town clerk's office.

Claims against Estates of Deceased Persons.

The court of probate grants administration to the husband or wife or next of kin or to both. If they refuse to act or are incapable, or objection is made by any creditor or heir to such appointment, the court may appoint any person whom it deems proper. Non-residents may act. The court upon granting administration requires a probate bond from the administrator. The amount of the bond is usually double the estimated value of the personal property. When a will directs that no bonds be required, the executor is required to furnish bond, usually in double the estimated value of the testator's debts. If there is no indebtedness, a nominal bond is required, generally about one hundred dollars.

The probate court may allow out of the estate of a deceased person such amount as it deems necessary for the support of the widow during the settlement of the estate. When there is not sufficient property exempt from execution to pay the debts, the court may at its discretion set out to the widow any property exempt from execution.

No time is fixed by statute for settlement of an administrator's account. Usually one year is limited for settlement of the estate, but this is not an absolute requirement, and is subject to variation as the necessities of any particular estate may require.

Creditors of the deceased, if the estate is solvent, must bring in their claims to the executor or administrator within such time as the court of probate shall direct, not exceeding twelve months nor less than six months, notice of which is given upon the sign-post and by publication in a newspaper, or they will be forever debarred; but creditors not inhabitants of this State may exhibit their claims against any estate which has not been represented insolvent, within one year after such order of notice, but in such case shall be entitled to payment only out of the clear estate remaining after payment of claims exhibited, within the time limited. If a right of action shall accrue after the death of the deceased, it must be exhibited within four months after it accrues. If any claim is disallowed by the executor or administrator, suit must be brought within four months after notice given of such disallowance. In the case of insolvent estates of deceased persons, commissioners are appointed to decide upon claims, and six to twelve months are allowed for the exhibition of such claims, and creditors not exhibiting their claims within the time limited are forever debarred unless they can show some estate not before discovered and not in the inventory. No suits are to be brought against the executor or administrator of an insolvent estate during its settlement, except for debts due the United States, the State, expenses of last sickness, and funeral charges, nor against the executor or administrator of a solvent estate during its settlement unless notice of the disallowance of the claim is given. Claims are

to be paid in the following order: 1. Funeral expenses and expenses of settling the estate. 2. Debts due for the last sickness of the deceased. 3. All lawful taxes and all debts due the State, or United States. 4. Other preferred claims. 5. All other debts as allowed, in proportion to their respective amounts. Husbands whose wives die intestate may have a lien for betterments on their lands.

Claims, Proof of. -See Proof of Claims.

Conditional Sales. The courts of Connecticut have recognized the validity of conditional sales, made bona fide, and have protected the interest of vendors as against attaching creditors as well as against the parties. Gen. Stat. 1902, § 834, provides as follows: "Any property sold upon condition, and put by the vendor into the visible possession of the vendee, unless otherwise exempt from execution, may be attached and levied upon and sold or set out on execution in any suit against such vendee, subject to the rights of the vendor to its possession or ownership; the party attaching or levying shall have the same rights which the vendee would otherwise have had, to tender to the vendor performance of the conditions of sale; and all parties deriving title under the execution shall succeed to all the rights of the vendee in relation to such property."

All contracts for the sale of personal property, except household furniture, musical instruments, phonographs and phonograph supplies, bicycles, and such property as is by law exempt from attachment and execution, conditioned that the title thereto shall remain in the vendor after delivery, shall be in writing describing the property and all conditions of such sale, acknowledged before some competent authority, and recorded within a reasonable time in the town clerk's office in the town where the vendee resides. All conditional sales of personal property which shall not be made in conformity with these provisions shall be held to be absolute sales, except as between the vendor and the vendee or their personal representatives, and all such property shall be liable to be taken by attachment and execution for the debts of the vendee, in the same manner as any other property not exempted by law. (§§ 4864, 4865.)

As to conditional sales of railway equipments, see § 4866.
Consignments. -
- No statute bearing upon consignments.

Corporations. -The corporation laws of this State, including the Corporation Act of 1901 (Gen. Stat. 1902, ch. 198), have been revised and entirely rewritten. The provisions of the General Statutes of 1902 have been expressly repealed, and the revised law (Laws 1903, ch. 194) substituted therefor. While the provisions of this new law are in many respects the same as in that repealed, the new law should be most carefully consulted. Corporations under the general law may be formed by any number of persons, not less than three, who, by articles of agreement in writing, shall associate under any name assumed by them for the purpose of engaging in any lawful business. Such corporation shall not have power, however, to transact in this State the business of a bank, savings bank, trust company, building and loan association, insurance company, surety or indemnity company, telegraph or telephone company, railroad, street railroad, gas, electric light, or water company, or any company which shall need to have the right to take and condemn lands or to occupy the public highways.

Corporations without capital stock may likewise be formed "to promote or carry out any lawful purpose other than that of a mercantile or manufacturing business."

The name of every private corporation which shall hereafter be organized shall indicate that it is a corporation. The name must either (1) commence with "The" and end with "company" or "corporation," or (2) have the word "incorporated" added. The capital stock of any such corporation must be fixed by the articles of association, which must specify definitely the purposes for which such corporation is established. Upon the filing and approval of its certificate of incorporation, corporate existence commences, but no such corporation shall commence business until the amount of capital specified in its certificate of incorporation as the amount of capital with which it will commence business has been paid in (in no case less than one thousand dollars), nor until its certificate of organization (the second certificate) has been filed. The par value of the shares must not be less than twenty-five dollars. There must be at least two thousand dollars of authorized capital stock. Preferred shares are allowed.

Every corporation having capital stock (except certain specified classes of corporations which are required to make more elaborate reports, e. g. banks, insurance companies, railroads, etc.) is required to file annually a certificate stating the name, residence, and postoffice address of each of its officers and directors, the amount of stock not paid for in full with the amount due thereon, the location of its principal office in this State, and the name of the agent in charge thereof upon whom process against the corporation may be served. For failure to file such report, each corporation shall forfeit one hundred dollars to the State for each failure.

Every stockholder, whether an original subscriber or not, is liable for any balance due on the stock held by him, but after the par value of his stock has been paid, he shall not be liable as such for any payment on such stock or for any debt of the corporation.

Every corporation organized under the general law shall pay to the state treasurer as a tax on its capital stock, and on any authorized increase thereof, fifty cents on each one thousand dollars until it has paid on a total capital stock of five million dollars; and ten cents on each one thousand dollars in excess thereof. This tax is in lieu of all other taxes upon the franchise of the corporation, "but shall not be in lieu of any tax imposed by law

upon the property of the corporation or upon the shares of its stock in the hands of its stockholders." See Taxes.

Its property and affairs shall be managed by three or more directors, chosen annually by the stockholders. The name and purposes for which any corporation is organized may be changed by proper proceedings under the statute. It may hold any property necessary or convenient for its business, including real estate and patent rights, and such other property as may be taken in payment of or security for debts due it. The original or duplicate stock books must be kept at its principal office or place of business in this State, and they shall be open for inspection by the stockholders at all times during the usual hours of business. A full and detailed report of its financial condition shall be made to the stockholders at least once in each year.

Every corporation organized under the general law may increase or reduce its capital in accordance with the provisions of the statute. In case the reduction of the capital stock shall render it insolvent, the stockholders voting in favor of such reduction, whose names must appear of record, are jointly and severally liable to the amount of such reduction for all debts existing at the time of such vote, after judgment against the corporation and execution thereon has been returned unsatisfied. Names of directors voting for a dividend must appear on the minutes. If such payment renders the corporation insolvent, the directors who have voted in favor thereof are jointly and severally liable to the amount of such payment to a creditor existing at the date of such vote, who shall obtain judgment against the corporation on which execution shall be returned unsatisfied. Stock is transferred only on the books of the corporation in the manner prescribed by the by-laws, and corporations have a lien upon all stock of any person for all debts due from him to them.

A corporation may be wound up by a three fourths vote of each class of stock. The act also provides for the winding up and dissolution of a corporation on complaint of one or more stockholders owning one tenth or more of the capital stock, if the court shall find that the interests of such stockholders will be best protected by such action, etc., with the further provision that any other stockholder may have the plaintiffs' stock appraised, and may then at their option purchase it at the appraisal value, and thus terminate the dissolution proceedings.

In every instance the act itself must be consulted for particulars. So, too, for the provisions of the Connecticut laws as to corporations with special charters, the statutes should be consulted, as well as the special acts.

Foreign Corporations. · Before transacting business in this State, a foreign corporation must file a certified copy of its charter, together with a statement signed and sworn to by its president, treasurer, and a majority of its directors, showing the amount of its authorized capital stock and the amount paid in, and if any part thereof has been paid otherwise than in money such statement shall set forth the particulars. It must appoint by instrument in writing the secretary of state of Connecticut its resident attorney upon whom legal process can be served. This power of attorney must be filed with the secretary of state, together with a fee of ten dollars for filing the certified copy of its charter, and five dollars for filing its statement. Every officer of a foreign corporation, and every agent thereof, transacting business as such within this State, shall be fined not more than one thousand dollars for failure to comply with the above law. Foreign corporations must also file annual statements, and certificates of increase or reduction of capital, similar to those required of domestic corporations. Certain classes of foreign corporations, e. g. insurance companies, building and loan associations, etc., must comply with various other requirements specified in the statutes before doing business in Connecticut. Foreign trust companies cannot do business in this State, except as executors or testamentary trustees under the will of a deceased resident of Connecticut, and then only after they have fulfilled similar requirements of the statutes.

Courts, Jurisdiction and Terms of. See Court Calendar for Connecticut.. Deeds. All conveyances of land must be in writing, subscribed and sealed by the grantor, and attested by two disinterested witnesses and acknowledged to be his free act and deed. Acknowledgments within this State may be made before a judge of a court of record, clerk of the superior, common pleas, or district courts, justice of the peace, commissioner of the superior court, notary public, commissioner of the school fund, town clerk or' assistant town clerk; in any other State or Territory, before a commissioner of deeds for Connecticut residing therein, or any officer authorized to take acknowledgments of deeds in such State or Territory; and "in a foreign country, before any ambassador, minister, chargé d'affaires, consul, vice-consul, deputy consul, consul-general, vice-consul-general, deputy-consul-general, consular-agent, vice-consular-agent, commercial agent, or vicecommercial agent of the United States representing or acting as agent of the United States in such foreign country, or before any notary public, or justice of the peace, in such foreign country." (Public Acts, 1905, ch. 63.) But no officer shall have power to take acknowledgments except within the territorial limits in which he may perform the proper duties of his office. It is not necessary for the consul to certify the character of the official taking the acknowledgment. A notarial seal is generally accepted as proving itself. A certificate of the county clerk should be annexed to an acknowledgment by a justice of the peace. The magistrate must be personally acquainted with the grantor. A notary public should have a notarial seal. Official character of notary is certified by the county clerk.

The omission of a notarial seal to a deed acknowledged before a notary public does not