Companies (Consolidation) Act 1908

53 Liability of members in respect of reduced shares.

A member of the company, past or present, shall not be liable in respect of any share to any call or contribution exceeding in amount the difference (if any) between the amount paid, or (as the case may be) the reduced amount, if any, which is to be deemed to have been paid, on the share and the amount of the share as fixed by the minute :

Provided that if any creditor, entitled in respect of any debt or claim to object to the reduction of share capital, is, by reason of his ignorance of the proceedings for reduction, or of their nature and effect with respect to his claim, not entered on the list of creditors, and, after the reduction, the company is unable, within the meaning of the provisions of this Act with respect to winding up by the court, to pay the amount of his debt or claim, then—

(i) every person who was a member of the company at the date of the registration of the order for reduction and minute, shall be liable to contribute for the payment of that debt or claim an amount not exceeding the amount which he would have been liable to contribute if the company had commenced to he wound up on the day before that registration ; and

(ii) if the company is wound up, the court, on the application of any such creditor, and proof of his ignorance as aforesaid may, if it thinks fit, settle accordingly a list of persons so liable to contribute, and make and enforce calls and orders on the contributories settled on the list as if they were ordinary contributories in a winding up.

Nothing in this section shall affect the rights of the contributories among themselves.