17. (1) A company may be formed for any lawful purpose by any person or persons subscribing to a constitution and complying with the requirements of this Part as to registration of a company.

(2) The liability of a member of a company at any time shall be limited to the amount, if any, unpaid on the shares registered in the member’s name at that time.

(3) Subsection (2) is without prejudice to any other liability to which a member may be subject as provided by this Act.

(4) The number of members of a company shall not exceed 149 but, in reckoning that limit, there shall be disregarded any of the following persons.

(5) Those persons are—

(a) a person in the employment of the company who is a member of it;

(b) a person who, having been formerly in the employment of the company, was, while in that employment, and has continued after the termination of the employment to be, a member of it.

(6) Where 2 or more persons hold one or more shares in a company jointly, they shall, for the purposes of this section, be treated as a single member.

(7) Any registration of a person as a member of a company in excess of the limit provided by subsection (4) shall be void.