COMPANIES ACT, 1020

733

(5) If any person acts, or incites, causes or procures any person
to act, in contravention of this section, he shall be liable to imprison-
ment for a term not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding
two hundred pounds or to both such imprisonment and fine, and in
the case of a second or subsequent offence to imprisonment for a
term not exceeding twelve months or to a fine not exceeding five
hundred pounds, or to both such imprisonment and fine.

(6) Where a person convicted of an offence under this section is
a company (whether a company within the meaning of this Act or
not), every director and every officer concerned in the management
of the company shall be guilty of the like offence unless he proves
that the act constituting the offence took place without his knowledge
or consent,

(7) In this section, unless the context otherwise requires, the
expression ‘‘shares’”’ means the shares of a company, whether a
company within the meaning of this Act or not, and includes
debentures and units, and the expression “unit” means any right
or interest (by whatever name called) in a share, and for the purposes
of this section a person shall not in relation to a company be regarded
as not being a member of the public by reason only that he is a
holder of shares in the company or a purchaser of goods from the
companv.
(8) Where any person is convicted in England of having made
an offer in contravention of the provisions of this section, the court
before which he is convicted may order that any contract made as a
result of the offer shall be void, and, where it makes any such order,
may give such consequential directions as it thinks proper for the
repayment of any money or the retransfer of any shares.

Where the court makes an order under this subsection (whether
with or without consequential directions) an appeal against the order
and the consequential directions. if any. shall lie to the High Court.

Aall
TISCELLANEOUS.
Prohibition of Partnerships with more than Twenty Members

oo:

357. No company, association, or partnership consisting of more
than twenty persons shall be formed for the purpose of carrying on
any business (other than the business of banking) that 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 this 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 the stannaries and subject to the
jurisdiction of the court exercising the stannaries jurisdiction

Prohibition of
partnerships
with more than
twentv members