Stock certificate

Stock certificate

In corporate law, a stock certificate (also known as "certificate of stock" or share certificate) is a legal document that certifies ownership of a specific number of stock shares (or fractions thereof) in a corporation. In large corporations, buying shares does not always lead to a stock certificate (in a case of a small number of shares purchased by a private individual, for instance).

Usually only shareholders with stock certificates can vote in a shareholders' general meeting. Sometimes a shareholder with a stock certificate can give a proxy to another person to allow them to vote the shares in question. Voting rights are defined by the corporation's charter and corporate law.

Stock certificates are generally divided into two forms: registered stock certificates and bearer stock certificates. A registered stock certificate is normally only evidence of title, and a record of the true holders of the shares will appear in the stockholder's register of the corporation. A bearer stock certificate, as its name implies is a bearer instrument, and physical possession of the certificate entitles the holder to exercise all legal rights associated with the stock. Bearer stock certificates are becoming uncommon: they were popular in offshore jurisdictions for their perceived confidentiality, and as a useful way to transfer beneficial title to assets (held by the corporation) without payment of stamp duty. International initiatives have curbed the use of bearer stock certificates in offshore jurisdictions, and tend to be available only in onshore financial centres, although they are rarely seen in practice.

See also

* Scripophily

External links

* [http://www.scripophily.com Scripophily is the hobby of collecting stocks & bonds]
* [http://www.norrico.com Collecting antique stocks & bonds]
* [http://www.psta.com Professional Scripophily Traders Association]


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • stock certificate — n. A document that indicates that its holder has an ownership interest in a corporation. The Essential Law Dictionary. Sphinx Publishing, An imprint of Sourcebooks, Inc. Amy Hackney Blackwell. 2008. stock certificate …   Law dictionary

  • stock certificate — n. a certificate issued as written evidence of ownership to one who buys shares of stock …   English World dictionary

  • stock certificate — noun a certificate documenting the shareholder s ownership in the corporation the value of his stocks doubled during the past year • Syn: ↑stock • Hypernyms: ↑security, ↑certificate • Hyponyms: ↑share * * * …   Useful english dictionary

  • stock certificate — A document representing the number of shares of a corporation owned by a shareholder. Bloomberg Financial Dictionary * * * stock certificate stock certificate ➔ certificate * * * stock certificate UK US noun [C] (also share certificate) FINANCE,… …   Financial and business terms

  • stock certificate — stock′ certif icate n. bus a certificate evidencing ownership of one or more shares of stock • Etymology: 1860–65 …   From formal English to slang

  • stock certificate — stock cer.tificate n AmE an official document that shows that you own ↑shares in a company …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • stock certificate —    A printed document verifying the ownership of shares in a corporation. The certificate states the name of the corporation, the state and date of its incorporation, the registered number of the certificate, the number of shares the certificate… …   Business law dictionary

  • Stock Certificate — The physical piece of paper representing ownership in a company. Stock certificates will include information such as the number of shares owned, the date, an identification number, usually a corporate seal, and signatures. They are a bit bigger… …   Investment dictionary

  • stock certificate — a certificate evidencing ownership of one or more shares of stock in a corporation. [1860 65] * * * …   Universalium

  • stock certificate — /ˈstɒk səˌtɪfəkət/ (say stok suh.tifuhkuht) noun a certificate evidencing ownership of one or more shares of a company s stock …  

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