Smith v. Maine Boys Tunnel Co.

Plaintiff and others owned and worked a mining claim from 1855 to 1858, when they formed themselves into a corporation with twenty-one shares of stock at one hundred dollars each; and from that time the claim was held as corporate property. The corporation levied assessments on the shares of stock—of which plaintiff owned one—and plaintiff failing to pay, sold his share at public auction. He now sues the corporation for an undivided one twenty-first of the mining claim: Held, that plaintiff has mistaken his remedy; that if the corporation had no power to forfeit his stock and hence it was improperly sold, he may maintain an action for its recovery, but not for a specific interest in the claim—not being in a position to question the title of the corporation, particularly as the property is a mining claim and could only be held by occupation and possession.