Companies (Consolidation) Act 1908

131 Jurisdiction to wind up companies in England.

(1) The courts having jurisdiction to wind up companies registered in England shall be the High Court, the chancery courts of the counties palatine of Lancaster and' Durham, and the county courts.

(2) Where the amount of the share capital of a company paid up or credited as paid up exceeds ten thousand pounds, a petition to wind up the company shall be presented to the High Court, or, in the case of a company whose registered office is situate within the jurisdiction of either of the palatine courts aforesaid, either to the High Court or to the palatine court having jurisdiction.

(3) Where the amount of the share capital of a company paid up or credited as paid up does not exceed ten thousand pounds, and the registered office of the company is situated within the jurisdiction of a county court having jurisdiction under this Act, a petition to wind up the company shall be presented to that county court.

(4) Where a company is formed for working mines within the stannaries and is not shown to be actually working mines beyond the limits of the stannaries, or to be engaged in any other undertaking beyond those limits, or to have entered into-a contract for such working or undertaking, a petition to wind up the company shall be presented to the court exercising the stannaries jurisdiction whatever may be the amount of the capital of the company and wherever the registered office of the company is situate.

(5) The Lord Chancellor may by order exclude a county court from having jurisdiction under this Act, and for the purposes of that jurisdiction may attach its district, or any part thereof, to the High Court or any other county court, and may revoke or vary any such order or any like order made under the [53 & 54 Vict. c. 63.] Companies (Winding Up) Act, 1890.

In exercising his powers under this section the Lord Chancellor shall provide that a county court shall not have jurisdiction under this Act unless it has for the time being jurisdiction in bankruptcy.

An order made under this provision shall not affect any jurisdiction or powers vested in any county court under or by virtue of the [59 & 60 Vict. c. 45.] Stannaries Jurisdiction (Abolition) Act, 1896.

(6) Every court in England having jurisdiction under this Act to wind up a company shall for the purposes of that jurisdiction have all the powers of the High Court, and every prescribed officer of the court shall perform any duties which an officer of the High Court may discharge by order of the judge thereof or otherwise in relation to the winding up of a company.

(7) Nothing in this section shall invalidate a proceeding by reason of its being taken in a wrong court.

(8) For the purposes of this section the expression “registered office ” means the place which has longest been the registered office of the company during the six months immediately preceding the presentation of the petition for winding up.