Company Law Reform Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 114:"Page 50, line 34, leave out subsection (4)." The noble Lord said: This is a probing amendment. It concerns subsection (4) of Clause 113, on the register of members. It raises two issues. The first is to question the Minister about the meaning of the word ““member””. My understanding was that only a shareholder could be classed as a member of a company and that stockholders were not classed as members. However, Clause 113(4) seems to suggest that a stockholder is classed as a member and would, therefore, be entitled to all members’ rights. I hope that the Minister can give some guidance in this area. It may be that my precise knowledge of the definition of the word ““stock”” is faulty. The second point is to consider the implications for convertible stock, as that is a form of security—at least in my experience when the word ““stock”” is now used most frequently. We attempted to track this through the Companies Act 1985 without much success. Therefore, I hope that the huge resources available to the Minister will be able to provide us with enlightenment tonight. I beg to move.