shall take into consideration the report and any objection which may be urged by any creditor or interested person against the release of the trustee, and shall either grant or withhold the release accordingly, subject, nevertheless to an appeal to the High Court.

An order of the Board releasing the trustee will discharge him from all liability in connection with the administration of the affairs of the bankrupt, and in relation to his conduct as trustee; but if such order is obtained by fraud, or by the suppression or concealment of any material fact, it may be revoked.

Where the release of a trustee is withheld, the Court may, on the application of any creditor or person interested, make such order as it thinks just, charging the trustee with the consequences of any act or default he may have done or made contrary to his duty (sect. 82).

H

M.

CHAPTER IV.

BANKRUPTCY OF PARTNERS.

Ir has already been said (ante, p. 12) that although a receiving order will not be made against any corporation, or against any partnership or association or company registered under the Companies Act, 1862, other partnerships are nevertheless liable to bankruptcy. There are certain special provisions in the Act, however, in relation to the bankruptcy of partners to which a short reference should be made.

As to the administration of the estates of partners who have become bankrupt, it has before been shown (ante, p. 65) that "the joint estate shall be applicable in the first instance in payment of their joint debts, and the separate estate of each partner shall be applicable in the first instance in payment of his separate debts. If there is a surplus of the separate estates, it shall be dealt with as part of the joint estate. If there is a surplus of the joint estate, it shall be dealt with as part of the respective separate estates, in proportion to the right and interest of each partner in the joint estate" (sect. 40, sub-s. 3).

Any creditor whose debt is sufficient to entitle him to present a bankruptcy petition against all the partners of a firm, may present such petition against any one or more partners of such firm without including the others (sect. 110).

When there are more respondents than one to a petition, the Court may dismisss the petition as to one or more of them, without prejudice to the effect of the petition as against the other or others of them (sect. 111).

Where a receiving order has been made on a bankruptcy petition against or by one member of a partnership, any other bankruptcy petition against or by a member of the same partnership shall be filed in and transferred to the Court in which the first mentioned petition is in course of prosecution, and, unless the Court otherwise directs, the same trustee or receiver shall be appointed as may have been appointed in respect of the property of the first mentioned member of the partnership, and the Court may give such directions for consolidating the proceedings under the petitions as it thinks just (sect. 112).

If one partner of a firm is adjudged bankrupt, a creditor to whom the bankrupt is indebted jointly with the other partners of the firm, or any of them, shall not receive any dividend out of the separate property of the bankrupt until all the separate creditors have received the full amount of their respective debts. And where joint and separate properties are being administered, dividends of the joint and separate properties shall, subject to any order to the contrary that the Court may make on the application of any person interested, be declared together, and the expenses incident to such dividends shall be fairly apportioned by the trustee between the joint and separate properties, regard being had to the work done for and the benefit received by each property (sect. 59, and see ante, p. 84).

A solvent partner or joint contractor may sue and be sued in respect of a contract without the joinder of the

bankrupt (sect. 114); and where a member of a partnership is adjudged bankrupt, the Court may authorize the trustee to commence and prosecute any action in the names of such trustee and the bankrupt's partner; and any release by such partner of the debt or demand shall be void, but notice of the application for authority to commence the action shall be given to him, and he may show cause against it, and on his application the Court may, if it thinks fit, direct that he shall receive his proper share of the proceeds of the action, and if he does not claim any benefit therefrom, he shall be indemnified against costs in respect thereof as the Court directs (sect. 113).

Proceedings may be taken either by or against partners under the Act in the name of the firm, but on application of any person interested the Court may direct the names of the partners to be disclosed (sect.. 115).

CHAPTER V.

SMALL BANKRUPTCIES.

SECTION 1.

Summary Administration where Estate of Debtor does not exceed £300.

PAGE

102

SECTION 2.

Power for County Court to make Administration Order

instead of Order for Payment by Instalments

. 103

. 103

. 103

. 104

104

. 105

. 105

In addition to what has been stated in the preceding pages with regard to the ordinary cases in which a debtor is unable to pay his debts, the present Act, as already mentioned in the Introductory Chapter, also deals with what are called "Small Bankruptcies."

Estates not exceeding 3007. may be wound up summarily by a particular procedure, in which cases the official receiver will act as trustee, unless the creditors specially resolve to appoint a trustee of their own, and will proceed to get in the assets and wind up the estate as quickly as possible.

And where judgment has been obtained against a debtor, owing less than 50%., in a County Court, he is