COURTS--PROCESS--RETROACTIVE OPERATION OF STATUTES PROVIDING FOR SUBSTITUTED SERVICE

Authors

Robert H. Frick S.Ed., University of Michigan Law SchoolFollow

Abstract

Plaintiff, a stockholder of a South Carolina corporation, commenced a derivative suit against former directors of the corporation by serving a summons and complaint on the Secretary of State of South Carolina. Plaintiff relied on a statute providing that nonresident directors of domestic corporations, by acceptance of election or appointment as directors, should be held to have appointed the Secretary of State their agent for service of process. The statute became effective in May, 1947. Defendants, residents of New Jersey and Maryland, had resigned as directors of the corporation in December, 1946. On appeal from a judgment vacating the service of process, held, affirmed. A statute will not be construed to have a retroactive effect unless such a construction is required by the express words of the statute or must necessarily be implied from the language used. Johnson v. Baldwin, (S.C. 1949) 53 S.E. (2d) 785.

Recommended Citation

Robert H. Frick S.Ed., COURTS--PROCESS--RETROACTIVE OPERATION OF STATUTES PROVIDING FOR SUBSTITUTED SERVICE, 48 Mich. L. Rev. 709 (1950).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol48/iss5/15