Chapter IX: Act 1832: There are special rules applicable to each kind of claim (3)

Of the Roman Comum little remains above ground; a portion of its S.E. wall was discovered and may be seen in the garden of the Liceo Volta, 88 ft. within the later walls: later fortifications (but previous to 1127), largely constructed with Roman inscribed sepulchral urns and other fragments, had been superimposed on it. Thermae have also been discovered (see V. Barelli in _Notizie degli scavi_, 1880, 333; 1881, 333; 1882, 285). The inscriptions, on the other hand, are numerous, and give an idea of its importance. The statements as to the tribe which originally possessed it are various. It belonged to Gallia Cisalpina, and first came into contact with Rome in 196 B.C., when M. Claudius Marcellus conquered the Insubres and the Comenses. In 89 B.C., having suffered damage from the Raetians, it was restored by Cn. Pompeius Strabo, and given Latin rights with the rest of Gallia Transpadana. Shortly after this 3000 colonists seem to have been sent there; 5000 were certainly sent by Caesar in 59 B.C., and the place received the name Novum Comum. It appears in the imperial period as a _municipium_, and is generally spoken of as Comum simply. The place was prosperous; it had an important iron industry; and the banks of the lake were, as now, dotted with villas. It was also important as the starting-point for the journey across the lake in connexion with the Splugen and Septimer passes (see CHIAVENNA). It was the birthplace of both the elder and the younger Pliny, the latter of whom founded baths and a library here and gave money for the support of orphan children. There was a _praefectus classis Comensis_ under the late empire, and it was regarded as a strong fortress. See Ch. Hulsen in Pauly-Wissowa, _Realencyclopadie_, Suppl. Heft i. (Stuttgart, 1903), 326.

Como suffered considerably from the early barbarian invasions, many of the inhabitants taking refuge on the Isola Comacina off Sala, but recovered in Lombard times. It was from that period that the _magistri Comacini_ formed a privileged corporation of architects and sculptors, who were employed in other parts of Italy also, until, at the end of the 11th century, individuals began to come more to the front (G. T. Rivoira, _Origini del l'architettura Lombarda_, Rome, 1901, i. 127 f.). Como then became subject to the archbishops of Milan, but gained its freedom towards the end of the 11th century. At the beginning of the 12th century war broke out between Como and Milan, and after a ten years' war Como was taken and its fortifications dismantled in 1127. In 1154, however, it took advantage of the arrival of Barbarossa, and remained faithful to him throughout the whole war of the Lombard League. After frequent struggles with Milan, it fell under the power of the Visconti in 1335. In 1535, like the rest of Lombardy, it fell under Spanish dominion, and in 1714 under Austrian. Thenceforth it shared the fortunes of Milan, becoming in the Napoleonic period the chief town of the department of the Lario. Its silk industry and its position at the entrance to the Alpine passes gave it some importance even then. It bore a considerable part in the national risings of 1848-1859 against Austrian rule. (T. As.)

COMO, Lake of (the _Lacus Larius_ of the Romans, and so sometimes called Lario to the present day, though in the 4th century it is already termed _Lacus Comacinus_), one of the most celebrated lakes in Lombardy, Northern Italy. It lies due N. of Milan and is formed by the Adda that flows through the Valtelline to the north end of the lake (here falls in the Maira or Mera, coming from the Val Bregaglia) and flows out of it at its south-eastern extremity, on the way to join the Po. Its area is 55-1/2 sq. m., it is about 43 m. from end to end (about 30-1/2 m. from the north end of Bellagio), it is from 1 to 2-1/2 m. in breadth, its surface is 653 ft. above the sea, and its greatest depth is 1365 ft. A railway line now runs along its eastern shore from Colico to Lecco (24-1/2 m.), while on its western shore Menaggio is reached by a steam tramway from Porlezza on the Lake of Lugano (8 m.). Colico, at the northern extremity, is by rail 17 m. from Chiavenna and 42 m. from Tirano, while at its southern end Como (on the St Gotthard line) is 32 m. from Milan, and Lecco about the same distance. The lake fills a remarkable depression which has been cut through the limestone ranges that enclose it, and once doubtless extended as far as Chiavenna, the Lake of Mezzola being a surviving witness of its ancient bed. Towards the south the promontory of Bellagio divides the lake into two arms. That to the south-east ends at Lecco and is the true outlet, for the south-western arm, ending at Como, is an enclosed bay. During the morning the _Tivano_ wind blows from the north, while in the afternoon the _Breva_ wind blows from the south. But, like other Alpine lakes, the Lake of Como is exposed to sudden violent storms. Its beauties have been sung by Virgil and Claudian, while the two Plinys are among the celebrities associated with the lake. The shores are bordered by splendid villas, while perhaps the most lovely spot on it is Bellagio, built in an unrivalled position. Among the other villages that line the lake, the best-known are Varenna (E.) and Menaggio (W.), nearly opposite one another, while Cadenabbia (W.) faces Bellagio. (W. A. B. C.)

COMONFORT, IGNACIO (1812-1863), a Mexican soldier and politician, who, after occupying a variety of civil and military posts, was in December 1855 made provisional president by Alvarez, and from December 1857 was for a few weeks constitutional president. (See MEXICO.)

COMORIN, CAPE, a headland in the state of Travancore, forming the extreme southern point of the peninsula of India. It is situated in 8 deg. 4' 20" N., 77 deg. 35' 35" E., and is the terminating point of the western Ghats. The village of Comorin, with the temple of Kanniyambal, the "virgin goddess," on the coast at the apex of the headland, is a frequented place of pilgrimage.

COMORO ISLANDS, a group of volcanic islands belonging to France, in the Indian Ocean, at the northern entrance of the Mozambique Channel midway between Madagascar and the African continent. The following table of the area and population of the four largest islands gives one of the sets of figures offered by various authorities:--

+-------------------+-------------+--------------+
| | Area sq. m. | Population. |
+-------------------+-------------+--------------+
| Great Comor | 385 | 50,000 |
| Anjuan or Johanna | 145 | 12,000 |
| Mayotte | 140 | 11,000 |
| Moheli | 90 | 9,000 |
| +-------------+--------------+
| Total | 760 | 82,000 |
+-------------------+-------------+--------------+

There are besides a large number of islets of coral formation. Particulars of the four islands named follow.

1. Great Comoro, or Angazia, the largest and most westerly, has a length of about 38 m., with a width of about 12 m. Near its southern extremity it rises into a fine dome-shaped volcanic mountain, Kartola (Karthala), which is over 8500 ft. high, and is visible for more than 100 m. Up to about 6000 ft. it is clothed with dense vegetation. Eruptions are recorded for the years 1830, 1855 and 1858; and another eruption occurred in 1904. In the north the ground rises gradually to a plateau some 2000 ft. above the sea; from this plateau many regularly shaped truncated cones rise another 2000 ft. The centre of the island consists of a desert field of lava streams, about 1600 ft. high. The chief towns are Maroni (pop. about 2000), Itzanda and Mitsamuli; the first, situated at the head of a bay in 11 deg. 40' S., being the seat of the French administrator.

2. Anjuan, or Johanna, next in size, lies E. by S. of Comoro. It is some 30 m. long by 20 at its greatest breadth. The land rises in a succession of richly wooded heights till it culminates in a central peak, upwards of 5000 ft. above the sea, in 12 deg. 14' S., 44 deg. 27' E. The former capital, Mossamondu, on the N.W. coast, is substantially built of stone, surrounded by a wall, and commanded by a dilapidated citadel; it is the residence of the sultan and of the French administrator. There is a small but safe anchorage at Pomony, on the S. side, formerly used as a coal depot by ships of the British navy.

3. Mayotte, about 21 m. long by 6 or 7 m. broad, is surrounded by an extensive and dangerous coral reef. The principal heights on its extremely irregular surface are: Mavegani Mountain, which rises in two peaks to a maximum of 2164 ft., and Uchongin, 2100 ft. The French headquarters are on the islet of Zaudzi, which lies within the reef in 12 deg. 46' S., 45 deg. 20' E. There are substantial government buildings and store-houses. On the mainland opposite Zaudzi is Msapere, the chief centre of trade. Mayotte was devastated in 1898 by a cyclone of great severity.

4. Moheli or Mohilla lies S. of and between Anjuan and Grand Comoro. It is 15 m. long and 7 or 8 m. at its maximum breadth. Unlike the other three it has no peaks, but rises gradually to a central ridge about 1900 ft. in height. Fomboni (pop. about 2000) in the N.W. and Numa Choa in the S.W. are the chief towns.

All the islands possess a very fertile soil; there are forests of coco-nut palms, and among the products are rice, maize, sweet-potatoes, yams, coffee, cotton, vanilla and various tropical fruits, the papaw tree being abundant. The fauna is allied to that of Madagascar rather than to the mainland of Africa; it includes some land birds and a species of lemur peculiar to the islands. Large numbers of cattle and sheep, the former similar to the small species at Aden, are reared as well as, in Great Comoro, the zebra. Turtles are caught in abundance along the coasts, and form an article of export. The climate is in general warm, but not torrid nor unsuitable for Europeans. The dry season lasts from May to the end of October, the rest of the year being rainy. The natives are of mixed Malagasy, Negro and Arab blood. The majority are Mahommedans. The European inhabitants, mostly French, number about 600. There are some 200 British Indians, traders, in the islands. The external trade of the islands has developed since the annexation of Madagascar to France, and is of the value of about L100,000 a year. Sugar refineries, distilleries of rum, and sawmills are worked in Mayotte by French settlers. Cane sugar and vanilla are the chief exports. The islands are regularly visited by vessels of the Messageries Maritimes fleet, and a coaling station for the French navy has been established.

The islands were first visited by Europeans in the 16th century; they are marked on the map of Diego Ribero made in 1527. At that time, and for long afterwards, the dominant influence in, and the civilization of, the islands was Arab. According to tradition the islands were first peopled by Arab voyagers driven thither by tempests. The petty sultans who exercised authority were notorious slave traders. A Sakalava chief who had been driven from Madagascar by the Hovas took refuge in Mayotte _c._ 1830, and, with the aid of the sultan of Johanna, conquered the island, which for a century had been given over to civil war. French naval officers having reported on the strategic value of Mayotte, Admiral de Hell, governor of Reunion, sent an officer there in 1841, and a treaty was negotiated ceding the island to France. Possession was taken in 1843, the sultan of Johanna renouncing his claims in the same year. In 1886 the sultans of the other three islands were placed under French protection, France fearing that otherwise the islands would be taken by Germany. The French experienced some difficulty with the natives, but by 1892 had established their position. The islands, as regulated by the decree of the 9th of April 1908, are under the supreme authority of the governor-general of Madagascar. The local administration is in the hands of an official who himself governs Mayotte but is represented in the other islands by administrators. On the council which assists the governor are two nominated native notables. In 1910 the sultan of Great Comoro ceded his sovereign rights to France. In Anjuan the native government is continued under French supervision. The budgets of the four islands in 1904 came to some L30,000, that of Mayotte being about half the total. The chief sources of revenue are poll and house taxes, and, in Mayotte, a land tax.

The _Iles Glorieuses_, three islets 160 m. N.E. of Mayotte, with a population of some 20 souls engaged in the collection of guano and the capture of turtles, were in 1892 annexed to France and placed under the control of the administrator of Mayotte.

See _Notice sur Mayotte et les Comores_, by Emile Vienne, one of the
memoirs on the French colonies prepared for the Paris Exhibition of
1900; _Le Sultanat d'Anjouan_, by Jules Repiquet (Paris, 1901), a
systematic account of the geography, ethnology and history of Johanna;
_Les colonies francaises_ (Paris, 1900), vol. ii. pp. 179-197, in
which the story of the archipelago is set forth by various writers; an
account of the islands by A. Voeltzkow in the _Zeitschrift_ of the
Berlin Geog. Soc. (No. 9, 1906), and _Carte des Iles Comores_, by A.
Meunier (Paris, 1904).

COMPANION (through the O. Fr. _compaignon_ or _compagnon_, from the Late Lat. _companio_,--_cum_, with, and _panis_, bread,--one who shares meals with another; the word has been wrongly derived from the Late Lat. _compagnus_, one of the same _pagus_ or district), a mess-mate or "comrade" (a term which itself has a similar origin, meaning one who shares the same _camera_ or room). "Companion" is particularly used of soldiers, as in the expression "companion in arms," and so is the title of the lowest rank in a military or other order of knighthood; the word is also used of a person who lives with another in a paid position for the sake of company, and is looked on rather as a friend than a servant; and of a pair or match, as of pictures and the like. Similar in ultimate origin but directly adapted from the Fr. _chambre de la compagne_, and Ital. _camera della compagna_, the storeroom for provisions on board ship, is the use of "companion" for the framed windows over a hatchway on the deck of a ship, and also for the hooded entrance-stairs to the captain's cabin.

COMPANY, one of a number of words like "partnership," "union," "gild," "society," "corporation," denoting--each with its special shade of meaning--the association of individuals in pursuit of some common object. The taking of meals together was, as the word signifies (_cum_, with, _panis_, bread,) a characteristic of the early company. Gild had a similar meaning: but this characteristic, though it survives in the Livery company (see LIVERY COMPANIES), has in modern times disappeared. The word "company" is now monopolized--in British usage--by two great classes of companies--(1) the joint stock company, constituted under the Companies (Consolidation) Act 1908, which consolidated the various acts from 1862 to 1907, and (2) the "public company," constituted under a special act to carry on some work of public utility, such as a railway, docks, gasworks or waterworks, and regulated by the Companies Clauses Acts 1845 and 1863.

1. _Joint Stock Companies._

The joint stock company may be defined as an association of persons incorporated to promote by joint contributions to a common stock the carrying on of some commercial enterprise. Associations formed not for "the acquisition of gain" but to promote art, science, religion, charity or some other useful or philanthropic object, though they may be constituted under the Companies (Consolidation) Act 1908, seldom call themselves companies, but adopt some name more appropriate to express their objects, such as society, club, institute, college or chamber. The joint stock company has had a long history which can only be briefly sketched here. The name of "joint stock company" is--or was--used to distinguish such a company from the "regulated company," which did not trade on a joint stock but was in the nature of a trade gild, the members of which had a monopoly of foreign trade with particular countries or places (see Adam Smith, _Wealth of Nations_, bk. v. ch. i. pt. iii.).

The earliest kind of joint stock company is the chartered (see CHARTERED COMPANIES). The grant of a charter is one of the exclusive privileges of the crown, and the crown has from time to time exercised it in furtherance of trading enterprise. Examples of such grants are the Merchant Adventurers of England, chartered by Richard II. (1390); the East India Co., chartered by Queen Elizabeth (1600); the Bank of England, chartered by William and Mary (1694); the Hudson's Bay Co.; the Royal African Co.; the notorious South Sea Co.; and in later times the New Zealand Co., the North Borneo Co., and the Royal Niger Co. Chartered companies had, however, several disadvantages. A charter was not easily obtainable. It was costly. The members could not be made personally liable for the debts of the company: and once created--though only for defined objects--such a company was invested with entire independence and could not be kept to the conditions imposed by the grant, which was against public policy. A new form of commercial association was wanted, free from these defects, and it was found in the common law company--the lineal ancestor of the modern trading company. The common law company was not an incorporated association: it was simply a great partnership with transferable shares. Companies of this kind multiplied rapidly towards the close of the 17th century and the beginning of the 18th century, but they were regarded with strong disfavour by the law, for reasons not very intelligible to modern notions; the chief of these reasons being that such companies purported to act as corporate bodies, raised transferable stock, used charters for purposes not warranted by the grant, and were--or were supposed to be--dangerous and mischievous, tending (in the words of the preamble of the Bubble Act) to "the common grievance, prejudice and inconvenience of His Majesty's subjects or great numbers of them in trade, commerce or other lawful affairs." They were too often--and this no doubt was the real ground of the prejudice against them--utilized by unprincipled persons to promote fantastic and often fraudulent schemes. Matthew Green, in his poem "The Spleen," notes how

"Wrecks appear each day,
And yet fresh fools are cast away."

The result was that by the act (6 Geo. I. c. 18) commonly known as the Bubble Act (1719) such companies were declared to be common nuisances and indictable as such. But the act, though it remained on the statute book for more than one hundred years and was not formally repealed till 1825, proved quite ineffectual to check the growth of joint stock enterprise, and the legislature, finding that such companies had to be tolerated, adopted the wiser course of regulating what it could not repress. One great inconvenience of these common law trading companies arose from their being unincorporated. They were formed of large fluctuating bodies of individuals, and a person dealing with them did not know with whom he was contracting or whom he was to sue. This evil the legislature sought to rectify by empowering the crown to grant to companies by letters patent without incorporation the privilege of suing and being sued by a public officer. Ten years afterwards--in 1844--a more important line of policy was adopted, and all companies with some exceptions were enabled to obtain a certificate of incorporation without applying for a charter or special act. The act of 1862 carried this policy one step farther by prohibiting all associations of more than twenty persons from carrying on business without registering under the act. These were all useful amendments, but they were amendments of form rather than substance. The real vitality of joint stock enterprise lies in the co-operative principle, and the natural growth and expansion of this fruitful principle was checked until the middle of the 19th century by the notorious risks attaching to unlimited liability. In the case of an ordinary partnership, though their liability is unlimited (or was until the Limited Partnerships Act 1907), the partners can generally tell what risks they are incurring. Not so the shareholders of a company. They delegate the management of their business to a board of directors, and they may easily find themselves committed by the fraud or folly of its members to engagements which in the days of unlimited liability meant ruin. Failures like those of Overend and Gurney, and of the Glasgow Bank, caused widespread misery and alarm. It was not until limited liability had been grafted on the stock of the co-operative system that the real potency of the principle of industrial co-operation became apparent. We owe the adoption of the limited liability principle to the clear-sightedness of Lord Sherbrooke--then Mr Robert Lowe--and to the vigorous advocacy of Lord Bramwell. We owe it to Lord Bramwell also that the principle was made a feasible one. The practical difficulty was how to bring home to persons dealing with the company notice that the liability of the shareholders was limited. Lord Bramwell solved the problem by a happy suggestion--"write it on my tombstone," he said humorously to a friend. This was that the company should add to its name the word "Limited "--paint it up on its premises, and use it on all invoices, bills, promissory notes and other documents. The proposal was adopted by the Legislature and has worked successfully. While limited companies have been multiplying at the rate of over 4000 a year, the unlimited company has become practically an extinct species. The growth of limited companies is, indeed, one of the most striking phenomena of our day. Their number may be estimated at quite 40,000. Their paid-up capital amounts to the stupendous sum of L1,850,000,000 and, what is even more significant, as the 1st Viscount Goschen remarks in his _Essays and Addresses_, is that "the number of shareholders has grown in a much greater ratio than the colossal growth of the aggregate capital. The profits and risks of nearly every kind of business have been spread from year to year over fresh thousands of individuals, and the middle class with moderate incomes are more and more participating in that accumulation of wealth from business of every description which formerly built up the fortunes of individual traders or of bankers or of single families."

It is with the limited company then--the company limited by shares--as the normal type and incomparably the most important, that this article mainly deals.

_Companies Limited by Shares._--The Companies Act 1862, was intended to constitute a comprehensive code of law applicable to joint stock trading companies for the whole of the United Kingdom. Recognizing the mischief above alluded to--of trading concerns being carried on by large and fluctuating bodies, the act begins by declaring that no company, association or partnership, consisting of more than twenty persons, or ten in the case of banking, shall be formed after the commencement of the act for the purpose of carrying on any business which has for its object the acquisition of gain by the company, association or partnership, or by the individual members thereof, unless it is registered as a company under the act, or is formed in pursuance of some other act of parliament or of letters patent, or is a company engaged in working mines within and subject to the jurisdiction of the Stannaries. Broadly speaking, the meaning of the act is that all commercial undertakings, as distinguished from literary or charitable associations, shall be registered. "Business" has a more extensive signification than "trade." Having thus cleared the ground the act goes on to provide in what manner a company may be formed under the act. The machinery is simple, and is described as follows:--

"Any seven or more persons associated for any lawful purpose may, by subscribing their names to a memorandum of association and otherwise complying with the requisitions of this act in respect of registration, form an incorporated company with or without limited liability" (S 6). It is not necessary that the subscribers should be traders nor will the fact that six of the subscribers are mere dummies, clerks or nominees of the seventh affect the validity of the company; so the House of Lords decided in _Salomon_ v. _Salomon & Co._, 1897, A. C. 22.

Memorandum of Association.

The document to be subscribed--the Memorandum of Association--corresponds, in the case of companies formed under the Companies Act 1862, to the charter or deed of settlement in the case of other companies. The form of it is given in the schedule to the act, and varies slightly according as the company is limited by shares or guarantee, or is unlimited. (See the 3rd schedule to the Consolidation