1S2 Franchise^. — Corporations, [Ch. VIII. It is a principle of law, that the King is bound by his own and his ancestors' grants, and cannot therefore, by his mere pre- rogative, take away vested immunities and privileges [a). But a corporation may be dissolved, by surrendering its franchises into the hands of the King {b though legal dissolution is not occasi- oned thereby, and the charter operates till the surrender be in- rolled, because the King can take nothing but by matter of ^ record, and a deed is not of record without enrolment (c). A corporation may also be so far dissolved by the loss of one or more of its integral parts, or by the deficiency of the major part of members necessarily constituting an integral part of the corporation, and which the remainder are not enabled to sup* ply [d as to be incapable of renewing itself, so that the Crown may grant a new charter to the inhabitants of the same place. And yet if the Crown think proper, it may revive and conti- nue the old corporation, by a new grant to the remaining mem- bers of the old, dissolved, and dormant corporation, together with the other inhabitants of the place (e). A corporation may be dissolved by misuser or abuser [f). But by the statute 1 1 Geo. 1 . c. 4. the neglect to chuse officers on the day appointed by charter or usage, shall not create a dissolution of the corporation. When a corporation has but an integral part, or is so far reduced, that it cannot continue the succession, it is dissolved without any legal proceeding. " A scire facias is proper," says Mr. Justice Ashhurst, " where there is a legal existing body capable of acting, but who have been guilty of an abuse of the power entrusted to them ; for as a delinquency is imputed to them, they ought not to be condemned unheard ; but that does not apply to the case of a non-existing body. A qup warranto is necessary where there is a body corporate, de facto, who take upon themselves to act as a body corporate, but who, from some defect in their constitution, cannot legally exercise the powers they affect to use." If, in a prosecution against a corporation, the judgment be for th& defendants, the form of it (a) AdmiUed in the King i>. Amery, (d) 4 East, 1 7. 2 T. R. 515. post. chap. 16. s. 5. {e) Bac. Ab. Corporation, G. 3 T?urr. (*) 2 Kyd. 465, 6. 1 Bla. Com. 485. 1866. 3 T. R. 199; 241. 14 East, it) Salk. 191. 12 Mod. 247. 4 East, 357, note a. 327. (/) Bac. Ab. Corporation, G.
