(1) With the exceptions and subject to the provisions mentioned and contained in this section,
(i) any company consisting of seven or more members, which was in existence on the second day of November eighteen hundred and sixty-two, including any company registered under the Joint Stock Companies Acts; and
(ii) any company formed after the date aforesaid, whether before or after the commencement of this Act, in pursuance of any Act of Parliament other than this Act, or of letters patent, or being a company within the stannaries, or being otherwise duly constituted by law, and consisting of seven or more members; may at any time register under this Act as an unlimited company, or as a company limited by shares, or as a company limited by guarantee; and the registration shall not be invalid by reason that it has taken place with a view to the company being wound up.
(2) Provided as follows:
(a) A company having the liability of its members limited by Act of Parliament or letters pat