JOI 



JOI 



JOINT, in general, denotes the junc- 

 ture of two or more things. The joints 

 of the human body are called by anato- 

 mists articulations. The term joint is also 

 applied to the separation between the 

 stones or bricks of a building, usually 

 filled with mortar, plaster, or cement ; 

 also by carpenters, to the several manners 

 of assembling or fitting pieces of wood 

 together ; as a dovetail joint, &c. 



JOINT, univwsal, an invention adapted 

 to all kinds of motions and flexures. This 

 was probably the origin of the gimbols 

 used in suspending the mariner's compass. 

 By means of the universal joint, the pull 

 of a bell may be carried to any part of a 

 room, and made to act as well in one place 

 as in another. 



JOINT STOCK COMPANIES. About the 

 time of the famous Mississippi scheme in 

 France, and the South Sea scheme in Eng- 

 land, there arose a sort of epidemic fever 

 ef speculation, and every one was anxious 

 to join in some partnership, for carrying 

 on speculations in foreign commerce or 

 domestic trade, by companies of persons 

 uniting several individual stocks of small 

 amount into one common fund. At the 

 best it has been observed, that trade, so 

 carried on by large companies, is not very 

 beneficial to the individuals who engage 

 in it, or if it were so, would be greatly 

 prejudicial to the public in general, and 

 to other individuals trading on their own 

 capitals. At the period above mention- 

 ed, about 1718 and 1724, many serious 

 consequences ensued from this spirit of 

 speculation, many frauds were committed 

 by adventurers taking advantage of it, and 

 the whole nation was in a manner convul- 

 sed by the injuries which the people at 

 large suffered from it, many families hav- 

 ing been reduced to utter ruin by it. To 

 prevent these evils occurring in future, 

 the following enactments were passed : 

 stat. 16 George I. c. 18, s. 18, 19, 20, 21 : 

 by which, after reciting, that whereas it 

 is notorious, that several undertakings or 

 projects of different kinds have, at some 

 time or times,since thefour-and-twentieth 

 day of June, one thousand seven hundred 

 and eighteen, been publickly contrived 

 and practised, or attempted to be practis- 

 ed within the city of London, and other 

 parts of this kingdom, as also in Ireland, 

 and other his majesty's dominions, which 

 manifestly tend to the common grievances, 

 prejudice, and inconvenience of great 

 numbers of your Majesty's subjects, in 

 their trade or commerce, and other their 

 affairs ; and the persons who contrive or 



attempt such dangerous and mischievous 

 undertakings or projects, under false pre- 

 tences of public good, do presume, ac- 

 cording to their own devices and schemes, 

 to open books, for public subscriptions, 

 and draw in many unwary persons to sub- 

 scribe therein, towards raising great sums 

 of money, whereupon the subscribers, or 

 claimants under them, do pay small pro- 

 portions thereof, and such proportions, in 

 the whole, do amount to very large sums ; 

 which dangerous and mischievous under- 

 takings, or projects, do relate to several 

 fisheries, and other affairs, wherein the 

 trade, commerce, and welfare of your Ma- 

 jesty's subjects,or great numbers of them, 

 are concerned or interested : and where- 

 as, in many cases, the said undertakers or 

 subscribers have, since the said four-and- 

 twentieth day of June, one thousand seven 

 hundred and eighteen, presumed to act 

 as if they were corporate bodies, and have 

 pretended to make their shares in stocks 

 transferrable or assignable, without any 

 legal authority, either by act of Parlia- 

 ment, or by any charter from the crown, 

 for so doing &c. it is enacted, by autho- 

 rity of this present Parliament, that from 

 and after the four-and-twentieth day of 

 June, one thousand seven hundred and 

 twenty, all and every the undertakings 

 and attempts described as aforesaid, and 

 all other public undertakings and at- 

 tenaptSjtending to the common grievance, 

 prejudice,1and inconvenience of his Ma- 

 jesty's subjects,or great numbers of them, 

 in their trade, commerce, or other lawful 

 affairs, and all public subscriptions, re- 

 ceipts, payments, assignments, transfers, 

 pretended assignments and transfers, and 

 all other matters and things whatsoever, 

 for furthering, countenancing, or pro- 

 ceeding, in any such undertaking or at- 

 tempt, and more particularly, the acting, 

 or presuming to act, as a corporate body 

 or bodies ; the raising, or pretending to 

 raise, transferable stock or stocks ; the 

 transferring, or pretending to transfer, or 

 assign, any share or shares in such stock 

 or stocks, without legal authority, either 

 by act of Parliament, or by any charter 

 from the crown, to warrant such acting as 

 a body corporate, or to raise such trans- 

 ferrable stock or stocks, or to transfer 

 shares therein, and all acting, or pretend- 

 ing to act, under any charter, formerly 

 granted from the crown, for particular or 

 special purposes therein expressed, by 

 persons who do or shall use, or endeavour 

 to use the same charters, for raising a 

 capital stock, or for making transfers or 



