— Every  company  formed  or  organized  under  the  act
entitled  "  an  act  for  the  incorporation  of  companies  to
construct  plank  roads,  and  of  companies  to  construct
turnpike  roads,  passed  May  7,  1847 ;"  and  the  several
acts  amending  the  same  shall  be  deemed  to  be  a  valid
corporation,  although  such  company  may  not  have
complied  with  the  requirements  of  such  act  in  the
formation  and  organization  of  such  company,  prepara-
tory to  the  construction  of  its  road,  and  no  act  or
omission  on  the  part  of  any  such  company,  or  of  its
corporate  powers  or  franchises,  unless  the  same  was  will-
ful and  malicious  ;  but  this  section  shall  not  affect  or


PLANK  EOADS   AND   TUENPIKES.  493

impair  any  right  of  action  heretofore  accrued.     (Laws
1854,  chap.  87,  §  6.)

Liability  of  stockholders. — The  stockholders  of
every  company  incorporated  under  this  act  shall  be
liable,  in  their  individual  capacity,  for  the  payment  of
the  debts  of  such  company,  for^an  amount  equal  to  the
amount  of  the  stock  they  severally  have  subscribed  or
held  in  such  company,  over  and  above  such  stock,  to
be  recovered  of  the  stockholder  who  is  such  when  the
debt  is  contracted,  or  of  any  subsequent  stockholder ;
and  any  stockholder  who  may  have  paid  any  demand
against  such  company,  either  voluntarily  or  by  com-
pulsion, shall  have  a  right  to  resort  to  the  rest  of  the
stockholders  who  were  liable  to  contribution  ;  and  the
dissolution  of  any  company  shall  not  release  or  affect
the  iiability  of  any  stockholder  which  may  have  been
incurred  before  such  dissolution.  (Laws  1847,  chap.
