{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/companies-act-1948/section-28",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/companies-act-1948/section-28.json",
  "legislation": "ukpga/Geo6/11-12/38",
  "legislation_title": "Companies Act 1948",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/companies-act-1948",
  "path": "section/28",
  "kind": "section",
  "number": "28",
  "heading": "Meaning of “private company ”.",
  "text": "(1) For the purposes of this Act, the expression “private company ” means a company which by its articles—\n(a) restricts the right to transfer its shares; and\n(b) limits the number of its members to fifty, not including persons who are in the employment of the company and persons who, having been formerly in the employment of the company, were while in that employment, and have continued after the determination of that employment to be, members of the company; and\n(c) prohibits any invitation to the public to subscribe for any shares or debentures of the company.\n(2) Where two 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.",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo6/11-12/38/section/28",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T11:23:04.638870+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}