Legal Dictionary of Pakistan

joint-stock company

1. An unincorporated association of individuals possessing common capital, the capital being contributed by the members and divided into shares, of which each member possesses a number of shares proportionate to the member's investment. 2. A partnership in which the capital is divided into shares that are transferable without the express consent of the partners. - Also termed joint-stock association; stock association "The joint stock association or company developed early in English company law, the term being used to distinguish companies which operated on a joint account and with a joint stock' (in trade) of their members from companies (now obsolete) each member of whom traded on one's separate account with one's own stock in trade .... In American jurisdictions, the joint stock association is generally an unincorporated business enterprise with ownership interests represented by shares of stock." Henry G. Henn & John R. Alexander, Laws of Corporations § 50, at 109 (3d ed. 1983).