If shares are entered on a list, which could be called a
register, but the register does not affect the legal holding of the
security, the place where the list is situated does not affect the
locality of the security.
In Erie Beach Co Ltd v Att Gen for Ontario [1930] AC 161,
certain shares (on the view that they could, under the Ontario
Companies Act, be effectively dealt with only in Ontario) were held
to be situated in that province for the purposes of Ontario
Succession Duty, notwithstanding that they had in fact been entered
on a “register” opened elsewhere.
It was explained however, in R v Williams, that the Erie
Beach decision was based on the finding that the particular shares
in question could be dealt with effectively in Ontario only. It is
not an authority for holding that any company subject to the
Ontario Companies Act is precluded from establishing registers
outside Ontario on which effective transfers can be made, and
Ontario companies like other Canadian companies may establish
branch registers kept by “transfer agents” which are
equivalent to duplicate or multiple registers (
IHTM27125).
