Further Proposed Alteration in the Law of Bankruptcy and Insolvency. 461 requiring immediate payment thereof, has been entered into a bond with two sureties, to be either delivered to such trader personally, or approved of by the said court, to pay such sum left for, or sent by post to him at his last known as shall be recovered in any action which may place of business or abode; and that the deli- have been brought, or may thereafter be very of such summons shall be sufficient if brought for recovery of the same, together with either delivered personally to, or left at the last such costs as shall be given in such action. known place of business or abode of such trader; and such notice shall be in the form specified in Schedule (A.), instead of in the form specified in the said act. As to the proof of there being a good defence, the bill provides, That upon the appearance of any debtor upon such summons before such court, it shall be lawful for such court to require such trader to prove to the satisfaction of such court by other means, in addition to a deposition upon oath in writing, under his hand, that he has a good defence to such demand, or to some and what part thereof. It is then proposed to empower the court to take charge of the debtor's property, viz. : The solicitor to this voluntary fiat is thus to be appointed :— That in all cases of fiats in bankruptcy issued against any trader upon his own petition, such court shall, upon the said trader being declared bankrupt, appoint a solicitor to work such fiat, until assignees shall have been chosen, and a solicitor appointed by them. The court is then to be empowered to withdraw the debtor's protection from arrest : That it shall be lawful for the Court of Bankruptcy, acting in the matter of any bankruptcy or insolvency, from time to time, and at any time, to suspend or withdraw the protection from arrest now granted by such court to any bankrupt or insolvent debtor, and to renew the same, at the discretion of the said court. That if any trader so summoned as aforesaid shall not come before such court within four And that if any bankrupt or insolvent debtor days from the date of the said summons, to whom protection shall have been granted, (having no lawful impediment made known to shall at any time fail to satisfy the court that and proved to the satisfaction of the court, at his bankruptcy or insolvency has arisen from the said time, and allowed,) or if any such unavoidable misfortune, and not from fraud, trader, upon his appearance to such summons wilful misconduct, extravagance, or gambling; as aforesaid, or at any enlargement or adjourn- or if it shall appear that such bankrupt or inment thereof, (as the case may be,) shall not solvent has not discovered all his real or perprove to the satisfaction of the court, in manner sonal estate, and to whom, upon what consiherein before mentioned, that he has a good deration, and when he disposed of, assigned or defence to the demand of such creditor, it shall transferred any part of such estate, and all be lawful for the said court, upon the request books, papers, and writings relating thereto; of any such creditor, and upon proof being or if he shall not deliver up to the said court given to the satisfaction of such court, of the all such estate, and all books, papers, and validity of his demand, and of the delivery or writings relating thereto, as shall be in his the leaving of such summons, and that fourteen possession, custody, or power, (except the days have elapsed since the delivery of the necessary wearing apparel of himself, his wife, aforesaid account and notice, to issue a warrant and children); or if such bankrupt or insolvent in the form specified in Schedule (B.) hereunto shall have removed, concealed, or embezzled annexed, directing a person, to be named by any part of such estate, or any books of acsuch creditor, and approved by the court, and count, papers, or writings relating thereto, or such person is hereby empowered to enter the to any of his transactions; or if he shall, place of abode or business, warehouse or other within three months before the date of the fiat, premises of such trader, and to take such or the filing of his petition for protection, in charge of the goods, securities, monies, and contemplation of bankruptcy or insolvency, or property thereupon, as shall prevent the re- being in insolvent circumstances, have volunmoval thereof from the said premises, unless a tarily conveyed, assigned, transferred, charged, correct account shall be kept and rendered to delivered, or made over any estate, real or him, if required, of the person to whom and personal, security for money, bond, bill, note, the place to which the same are respectively money, goods, or effects whatsoever, to any about to be removed; and also to require a creditor, or to any person in trust for, or to or daily account to be kept of all the monies for the use, benefit, or advantage of any crediwhich shall be received and paid by such tor, or to any person who is or may be liable trader; and such person shall continue on the as surety for such bankrupt or insolvent; or if said premises until the fifteenth day from the he shall, in contemplation of bankruptcy or day of appearance named in the said summons, insolvency, have destroyed, altered, mutilated, or such enlarged time as may be granted by or falsified any of his books, papers, writings, the said court in that behalf, unless such trader or securities, or made or been privy to the shall have, before such last-mentioned day, making of any false or fraudulent entry in any paid, secured, or compounded for the demand book of accounts or other document, with of such creditor to his satisfaction, or have intent to mislead or defraud his creditors; or 462 Farther Proposed Alteration in the Law of Bankruptcy and Insolvency. if such bankrupt or insolvent shall, within | for his release to that Court of Bankruptcy by three months next preceding his bankruptcy which his protection shall have been withdrawn or insolvency as aforesaid, under the false or suspended, pursuant to and in conformity colour and pretence of carrying on business with the provisions in that behalf contained in and dealing in the ordinary course of trade, an act made and passed in the seventh and have obtained on credit from any person any eighth years of the reign of her present Majesty, goods, chattels, or property, with intent to intituled "An act to amend the Law of Insoldefraud the owner thereof, or shall, within the vency, Bankruptcy, and Execution," and the time last aforesaid, with such intent, have powers thereof. removed, concealed, or disposed of any goods, chattels, or property so obtained, knowing them to have been so obtained, then and in any or either of such cases, such court shall, and is hereby required, thereupon to withdraw its protection from such bankrupt or insolvent. That it shall be lawful for the said Court of Bankruptcy to order such portion of the pay, half-pay, salary, emolument, or pension of any bankrupt, as on communication from the said court to the Secretary-at-War, or the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, or the Commissioners of the Customs or Excise, or the Then come the following clauses, con- chief officer of the department to which such stituting as judgment creditors the assig- bankrupt may belong or have belonged, or nees and creditors who prove their debts; with power to issue execution when protection withdrawn; and preventing a discharge by the Insolvent Debtors' Court until application to the Court of Bankruptcy; and making pensions, half-pay, &c., applicable to the benefit of creditors. said Court of Directors, or of any other officer or person appointed to pay or paying any such pay, half-pay, salary, emolument or pension, as shall be specified in such order and consent, shall be paid to the said assignees until the said Court of Bankrupcy shall make order to the contrary. The costs of prosecuting a bankrupt may be paid out of the Secretary of Bankrupts' Fund. under which such pay, half-pay, salary, emolument, or pension may be enjoyed by such bankrupt, or the Court of Directors of the East India Company, they may respectively, under their hands, or under the hand of their chief secretary, or other chief officer for the time being, consent to in writing, to be paid to the assignees of such bankrupt, in order that the That the assignees of any bankrupt or insol- same may be applied in payment of the debts vent, when the accounts of any bankrupt or of such bankrupt, and, such order and consent insolvents shall have become records of the being lodged in the office of her Majesty's Court of Bankruptcy, shall from that time be Paymaster-General, or of the secretary of the deemed judgment creditors of such bankrupt or insolvent, for the total amount for which he shall thereby admit himself to be indebted to his creditors, and that every creditor of such bankrupt or insolvent shall immediately after the proof of his debt in the said court be deemed a judgment creditor for the amount of his debt so proved; and it shall be lawful for such court, upon the application of such assignees, or of any such creditor, to grant to them or him a certificate in the form specified in the schedule (C.) hereunto annexed, under That it shall be lawful for the Lord Chanthe seal of the said court, of such assignees and cellor, and he is hereby authorised and emcreditor respectively being creditors of such powered, upon the application of the assignees, bankrupt or insolvent to such respective or of a creditor of any bankrupt, who may amounts of debts; and it is hereby declared have been prosecuted by them by the direction that such certificate, when so sealed, shall have of the Court of Bankruptcy, for any offence the same force and effect as a judgment ob- specified in any act relating to bankruptcy tained in any of her Majesty's superior courts which may have been committed by such of law; and that such assignees or creditor, as bankrupt, to order payment of the expenses the case may be, shall be thereupon entitled to incurred in such prosecution, or in any manner issue the same writ of execution against the connected therewith, out of the fund placed to body of such bankrupt or insolvent, after his the credit of the accountant in bankruptcy, protection shall have been withdrawn or sus- intituled "The Secretary of Bankrupts' Acpended as aforesaid, as they or he could have count." obtained in case of the recovery of a judgment against any such bankrupt or insolvent, and the production of the said certificate to the proper officer of her Majesty's superior courts of law, shall be sufficient authority to him to seal such writs of execution. That in case of the imprisonment of any bankrupt or insolvent under any execution to be issued in pursuance of any such certificate, the said bankrupt or insolvent shall not be entitled to his release and discharge by virtue of any act of parliament for the relief of insolvent debtors, until he shall first have applied The following provisions are then made as to registering bills of sale and mortgages of goods and effects : That a memorial of all deeds, bills of sale, and mortgages and agreements for bills of sale, or mortgages of any goods, chattels, or effects, which from and after the said shall be made or executed by any person by way of security for the payment of any sum of money, whether then due or which may thereafter become due from such person, may be Farther Proposed Alteration in the Law of Bankruptcy and Insolvency. 463 registered within twenty-one days after the memorial is registered shall be entered in such execution thereof, in such manner as is herein-books and on such memorial; and that such after directed. That if at any time after the expiration of twenty-one days next after the execution of such deed, bill of sale, or mortgage, or agreement for bill of sale or mortgage, a fiat in bankruptcy shall be issued against such person, under which he shall be duly found and declared a bankrupt, or such person shall file his petition in the Court of Bankruptcy or Insolvency, praying for relief or protection under any of the statutes now in force, or which hereafter may be in force relating to bankrupt or insolvent debtors, then, unless such memorial shall have been registered within the space of twenty-one days from the execution of such deed, mortgage, bill of sale, or agreement for mortgage or bill of sale, with the senior master of the Court of Common Pleas, such bill of sale, or mortgage, or agreement for bill of sale or mortgage, shall be deemed fraudulent and void against the assignees of such bankrupt or insolvent, and such assignees shall be entitled to recover back for the use of the creditors of such bankrupt at large all such goods, chattels, and effects, or the value thereof. That every memorial to be registered as aforesaid shall be signed by one of the parties to such deed, bill of sale or mortgage, or agreement for bill of sale or mortgage, or his or their executor or administrator, and attested by the witness who shall have attested the execution of such deed, bill of sale, mortgage, or agreement; which witness shall, upon his oath before the said master, or his deputy, prove the signing of such memorial, and the execution of the bill of sale, mortgage, or agreement mentioned in such memorial, which oath the said clerk of the judgments and his deputy are hereby empowered to administer, and the said clerk, or his deputy, shall indorse and sign a certificate thereof on every such memorial. master, or his deputy, shall duly file every such memorial in order of time as the same shall be brought to him, and register the same in the order in which they shall respectively come to his hands; and that the said register-books shall be open to inspection by every person requiring to search the same. That the said master shall be allowed, for the entry of every such memorial the sum of seven shillings, and no more, and for every search of such registers, the sum of one shilling. The following clauses relate to the distribution of the effects of a deceased trader, to whom no personal representative appears within one month :— That in case of the decease of any trader or other person subject to the laws relating to bankruptcy, and that no executor or administrator, or legal personal representative of such deceased trader, shall have been appointed within one calendar month after the death of such trader, it shall be lawful for the said Court of Bankruptcy, and it is hereby authorised, upon the request of any creditor of such trader whose debt shall amount to fifty pounds, or of any two creditors whose debts shall together amount to seventy-five pounds, or of any three or more creditors whose debts shall together amount to one hundred pounds, and upon proof being given to the satisfaction of such court of the validity of the demand of such creditor, and that a demand in writing of payment of the same has been left on the premises of the said deceased trader, to issue a warrant in the form specified in schedule (D.) hereunto annexed, directing a person, to be therein named, and such person is hereby empowered to enter the house or other premises of such deceased trader, and to take charge of the goods and property of the said trader as aforesaid, and to continue in the custody and possession of the same until a legal personal representative of such deceased trader shall have been appointed. That every such memorial shall contain the date of such deed, bill of sale, mortgage, or agreement, and the names and additions of all the parties and witnesses to the same, and the places of their abode, and shall specify the That in case no probate, letters of adminisgoods, chattels, and effects contained therein, tration, or other legal personal representation and the place where the same shall be, as the to such deceased trader shall be obtained, or same are specified in such deed, bill of sale, sufficient security to the satisfaction of such mortgage, or agreement; and that every such court shall be given for taking out, or procudeed, bill of sale, mortgage, or agreement shall ring to be taken out, the same, within one year be produced to the said master, or his deputy, after possession shall have been so taken, it at the time of registering such memorial, who shall be lawful for the said court, and the same shall indorse and sign a certificate upon every is hereby empowered, (provided such court such deed, bill of sale, mortgage, or agreement, shall in its discretion deem it expedient,) to of the day and time on which such memorial appoint an official assignee of the estate and is so registered, expressing also in what book, effects of such deceased trader, and to order page, and number the same is registered; the distribution of his property and effects in which certificate shall be taken as evidence of the same manner as if a fiat in bankruptcy had such registry in all courts of record what-issued against him, and the same were dissoever; and that every page of such register- tributed under and by virtue thereof: Provided books, and every memorial that shall be en- always, that the same duties shall be paid to tered therein shall be mentioned, and the year, her Majesty by such official assignee, as would month, and time of the day when every such have been payable in case an executor or ad 464 Farther Proposed Alteration in the Law of Bankruptcy and Insolvency.-Law Reform. ministrator of such deceased trader had been appointed. SCHEDULE (A.) Account of Particulars of Demand and Notice requiring payment. [Here copy the account.] Mr. A. B. [insert trader's name and place of business or residence.] The above account being due, you are requested immediately to pay the same to, &c. C. D. [Insert the name of the creditor, or of the firm under which he is trading, and his place of business or residence.] SCHEDULE (B.) Warrant to enter Debtor's Premises. In the Court of Bankruptcy. Whereas upon application to this court by [name, place of business, and occupation of creditor,] a creditor of [name, place of business, and occupation of debtor,] the said [debtor] was summoned to attend this court [state the date of appearance named in the summons, or the enlarged day]; and whereas the said [debtor] did not attend or send any satisfactory excuse for non-attendance [or, as the case may be,] did not satisfy this court that he had a good defence to the demand of the said [creditor]: These are, therefore, by virtue of an act made in the year of [the assignees or creditor] are creditors of the said C. D. for the sum of [Seal of the court.] pounds. Commissioner. SCHEDULE (D.) Warrant to enter the Premises of a deceased In the Court of Bankruptcy. Whereas upon application to this court by [naine, place of business, and occupation of [creditor,] a creditor of [debtor,] late of [late These are, by virtue of an act made in the place of business and occupation,] deceased: year of the reign of Queen Victoria, intituled "An act to amend the Laws relating to Bankruptcy and Insolvency," to require, authorise, and empower you and every one of you to whom this warrant is directed, forthwith to enter the house and other premises late of the said [debtor,] deceased, and to take charge of the goods and property late of the said [debtor,] and to continue in the custody and possession thereof until you shall receive other orders for the disposal thereof from the said court. Given under my hand and seal, this To one thousand eight hun FORM. Commissioner. the reign of Queen Victoria, intituled "An act ANCIENT AND MODERN LAW REto amend the Laws relating to Bankruptcy and Insolvency," to require, authorise, and empower you and every one of you to whom this warrant is directed, forthwith to enter into and upon the place of abode or business, warehouse, and other premises of the said [debtor,] and to take such charge of the goods, securities, monies, and property thereupon, as shall prevent the removal thereof from the said premises, unless a correct account shall be kept and rendered to you, if required, of the person to whom, and the place to which, the same are respectively about to be removed; and you are also to require a daily account to be kept of all the monies which shall be received and paid by the said [debtor]; and you are to continue on the said premises until you shall be recalled by this court. MORE than a century ago it was said, by a keen observer of the times, that the greater part of mankind were either weak or dishonest; and whatever might then have been thought of so sweeping an assertion, it is not improbable that there is some truth in it at the present day; for, notwithstanding the smooth gloss which pervades the surface of our highly civilized and artificial state of society, there is undoubtedly much of those amplified vices in the world, even supposing that there are not stray particles of them clinging to the legal profession. In thus writing, I am reluctantly alluding to the want of sincere, honest endeavour in the necessary work of law reform, upon which in the year of our Lord much of the public as well as professional Given under my hand and seal, this day of one thousand eight hundred and forty To Commissioner. disappointment is founded. The respectability and prosperity of the profession have always been the object of the Legal Observer for now more than fourteen years, but it has never separated from that object the rights and inbeing terests of the public; on the contrary, it has been always contended that both are, or ought to be, inseparably connected, and therefore I still venture to affirm that until both are so ' regarded, there is but little hope of an improvement of the present unsettled state of the law. I, however, now contemplate, at least hope Law Reform.-List of Private Acts. for, the developement of a new principle, and the introduction of a new practice, in law re form. I look for something better than the sacrifice of the great interests of the public and of the profession to the selfish purposes of party, the success of a rival or competing scheme, or the gratification of mere personal ambition or selfishness; in a word, discarding these hindrances to a just and laudable purpose, I imagine that law reformers will cease blundering in speculation and transgressing in practice; that the legislative sages of the law, with all those who lend a helping hand in its improvement, will bring into full and active operation the calm deliberation and the singleness of purpose which characterised the worthies of the olden time, to whom the making of the law "the creature of positive institution" was entrusted. A LIST OF PRIVATE ACTS. 465 Foulmire in the county of Cambridge. Henry Duke of Argyll to charge the dukedom Nor is there anything Utopian in this; for we believe that there is a superabounding ability for the amplest, the completest reform, although, among other causes of 4. An act for amending an act of parliament failure, there appears to have been too much passed in the 4 & 5 Wm. 4, intituled "An act of a grasping after and a love of cumbrous, if tition and division of the real and personal for confirming and carrying into effect a parnot useless details, which has been productive estate of William Molyneux, Esq., deceased and of unnecessary though anxious discussion for other purposes therein mentioned. about matters totally foreign to the objects of legal propriety or necessity. The public is now wise enough to see this; hence, law and lawyers are condemned-the former with some show, but the latter without reason; odium of doubtful and vacillating decisions, and of formally and expensively arguing petty questions which ought to have been avoided, being invariably their portion, although they in reality are not in the slightest degree an swerable for them. 66 - the The complex and endless variety of dealings and transactions which have sprung into existence during the present century, I am aware, are sometimes urged in support of things as they are;" but I deny the sufficiency of the plea, from the conviction that the supposed difficulty has been largely overrated; and so far from admitting it as a defence, I am disposed to contend that it is an argument in favour of a comprehensive reform, inasmuch as it tends to show that so much the more remains to be accomplished. Barrington, second son of the Right Honour 5. An act for enabling the Honourable Percy able William Keppel Viscount Barrington, a minor, and Louisa Higgins, spinster, also a the said Louisa Higgins, prior to and in conminor, to execute settlements of the fortune of templation of the marriage between the said Percy Barrington and the said Louisa Higgins. inclosing lands in the parish of St. Mary in or 6. An act to repeal so much of an act for regulation and management of the freemen's near the borough of Leicester as relates to the allotments; and to make other provisions in lieu thereof. St. Mary in the town and county of the town 7. An act for inclosing lands in the parish of of Nottingham. ships of Spoad, Treverward, Purlogue, Me- Vict., intituled "An act for the Division of the A former, but somewhat irritable, Chief Justice, some twenty years ago, greatly astonished the suitors then present in his court, by emphatically declaring, in his own inimitable that 66 10. An act for authorizing building leases way, what was good sense was good to be granted of parts of the estate devised by law;" and it is to this test, with as much of the will of William Turner, Esq., deceased, the fixity of principle and certainty in practice as investment of moneys bequeathed by the same can reasonably be obtained, that I would fear-will in the purchase or on mortgage of real lessly bring every scheme of law reform, estates, and for other purposes. although I am aware that the so doing would almost amount to a remodelling of the profession, by discarding very many of its modern improvements, and reducing the knowledge of its principles and its practice within the range of its educated and properly prepared members. S. 11 Geo. 4, for inclosing lands in the parishes of 11. An act to alter and amend an act of the Kidwelly, St. Mary in Kidwelly, St. Ishmael, and Pembrey, in the county of Carmarthen. of the 11 Geo. 3, c. 10, relating to Morden 12. An act to extend the provisions of an act College. 13. An act to authorize grants in fee and leases for long terms of years for building pur |