From the date of incorporation mentioned in the certificate of incorporation, such subscribers to the memorandum and all other persons, as may, from time to time, become members of the company, shall be a body corporate by the name contained in the memorandum, capable of exercising all the functions of an incorporated company under this Act and having perpetual succession and a common seal with power to acquire, hold and dispose of property, both movable and immovable, tangible and intangible, to contract and to sue and be sued, by the said name.
Legal Commentary & Landmark Judgments: Section 9
Section 9 defines the legal effect of incorporation, vesting the company with perpetual succession, an independent legal personality, the capacity to acquire and hold property, and the power to sue and be sued in its own corporate name.
The company's assets belong to the corporate entity, not to the individual shareholders.
Section 9 is the bedrock of corporate property holding and legal standing. Shareholders, even sole or controlling owners, have no direct proprietary title over company land, bank accounts, or intellectual property. In insolvency, debt recovery, and contractual litigation, Section 9 establishes that litigation must be maintained by and against the corporate body corporate, shielding individual shareholder assets from corporate liabilities.