PART V.] DISSOLUTION. [§ 437. result of statutes and equitable principles. 1 On the dissolu- tion of a stock corporation its assets become a trust fund for the discharge of its liabilities, including those not yet ma- tured, 2 and the surplus belongs to the shareholders. 3 Equity will alwa} r s furnish a means by which debts due a corporation can be collected after its dissolution, for the benefit of parties interested, creditors or shareholders, 4 and in equity the gen- eral assignee of a defunct corporation can collect its claims. 5 v. New Orleans, 51 La. Ann. 1. But this rule was applied in Commercial Bauk v. Lockwood, 2 Harr. (Del. ) 8. 1 See Owen v. Smith, 31 Barb. 641; Heath v. Barmore, 50 N. Y. 302; Mc- Coy v. Farmer, 65 Mo. 244. 2 People v. Nat'l Trust Co., 82 N. Y. 283. The dissolution of a corpora- tion does not terminate a lease to it. lb. Compare People v. Flint, 64 Cal. 49. 3 Heman v. Britton, 88 Mo. 549. See St. Louis, etc., Coal, etc., Co. v. Sandoval Coal, etc., Co., 116 111. 170; AVheeler v. Pullman Iron Co., 143 111. 197; Burrall v. Bushwick R. R. Co., 75 N. Y. 211; and see §§ 750, 751. When a mutual insurance com- pany, which has no shareholders, is dissolved, the assets remaining after the discharge of its liabilities, vest in the state. Titcomb v. Insurance Co., 79 Me. 315. 4 See Hightower v. Thornton, 8 Ga. 486; Currant. State of Arkansas, 15 How. 304, 311; Von Glahn v. De Rosset, 81 N. C. 467. 5 Lenox v. Roberts, 2 Wheat. 373; Lum y. Robertson, 6 Wall. 277. See Bacon u. Cohea, 12 Sm. & M. (Miss.) 516. Compare Fox v. Horah, 1 Ired. £q. (N. C.) 358; Asheville Division v. Aston, 92 N. C. 578. See, also, §504. 419
