beginning to keep house-were then only acts of bankruptcy in case the debtor was a trader; and that he must in fact have been at the time when the act of bankruptcy was committed. Under the present law this unnecessary distinction is entirely done away with. In every case the acts above mentioned must be done with intent to defeat or delay the creditors, and therefore this intent must always be proved, or clearly inferred, from the attendant circumstances.

(5) If execution issued against him has been levied by seizure and sale of his goods under process in an action in any Court, or in any civil proceeding in the High Court.

Under the Bankruptcy Act, 1869, an act of bankruptcy was committed when "execution issued against the debtor on any legal process for the purpose of obtaining payment of not less than 507. has in the case of a trader been levied by seizure and sale of his goods." The provision of the new Act is much more simple. The distinction between traders and non-traders as in other places has been abolished; and there is no limit to the amount of the debt.

In connection with this sub-section, a reference may also be made to sect. 46 of the Act (see post, p. 75). It is provided that where the goods of a debtor are taken in execution, and before sale notice is served on the sheriff that a receiving order has been made against the debtor (see post, p. 24), the sheriff shall, on request, deliver the goods to the official receiver or the trustee, but the costs of the execution shall be a charge on such goods. And where the goods of a debtor are sold under an execution in respect of a judgment for a sum exceeding 207., the sheriff, after deducting the costs,

M.

shall retain the balance for fourteen days, and if within that time notice of a bankruptcy petition by or against the debtor is served on him, and the debtor is adjudged bankrupt, the sheriff shall pay the balance to the trustee in the bankruptcy: but otherwise he shall deal with it as if no notice had been served on him (see also post, p. 76).

(6) If he files in the Court a declaration of his inability to pay his debts or presents a bankruptcy petition against himself (sect. 4, sub-s. 1 (f)).

(7) If a creditor has obtained a final judgment against him for any amount, and execution thereon not having been stayed, has served on him in England, or by leave of the Court elsewhere, a bankruptcy notice under this Act requiring him to pay the judgment debt in accordance with the terms of the judgment, or to secure or compound for it to the satisfaction of the creditor or the Court, and he does not within seven days after service of the notice, in case the service is effected in England, and in case the service is effected elsewhere, then within the time limited in that behalf by the order giving leave to effect the service, either comply with the requirements of the notice, or satisfy the Court that he has a counter-claim, set-off, or cross demand, which equals or exceeds the amount of the judgment debt, and which he could not set up in the action in which the judgment was obtained (sect. 4, sub-s. 1 (g)).

By the Bankruptcy Act, 1869, an act of bankruptcy was committed if "the creditor presenting the petition served in the prescribed manner on the debtor a debtor's summons requiring the debtor to pay a sum due, of an amount of not less than 507.; and the debtor being a trader for the space of seven days, or not being a trader

for the space of three weeks, succeeding the service of such summons neglected to pay such sum or to secure or compound for the same." This debtor's summons might be granted by the Court on a creditor proving to its satisfaction that a debt sufficient to support a petition in bankruptcy—that is, 507.—was due to him from the person against whom the summons was sought, and that the creditor had failed to obtain payment of his debt after using reasonable efforts to do so. Such summons was in the prescribed form, resembling, as nearly as possible, a writ issued by the High Court of Justice. Several persons whose individual debts were under 507. might, nevertheless, join in one debtor's summons. The chief difficulty originally felt under the Bankruptcy Act, 1869, was, that the debtor, if the summons were disregarded, could not, in the case of a trader, be made to commit an act of bankruptcy available for adjudication in less than eight days, and in the case of a non-trader in less than twenty-two days-these intervals being found in practice sufficient to enable dishonest debtors to escape beyond the jurisdiction, so as to render a bankruptcy petition nugatory. To remedy the evil, by 33 & 34 Vict. c. 76, commonly known as the Absconding Debtors' Act, 1870, power to arrest an absconding debtor was extended to the service of the debtor's summons. This was found to be sufficient to meet all the requirements of the case, but unfortunately the power thus given has been so frequently abused by unscrupulous creditors that the whole system of debtor's summons has been justly the subject of much complaint.

The provision of the new Act above set out will prevent this unfair treatment of the debtor in the future, and was much needed.

As in the other portions of the Act the old distinction between traders and non-traders has been swept away. And now if a creditor has obtained a final judgment against a debtor for any amount, and execution thereon not having been stayed, has served on him a bankruptcy notice under the Act requiring him to pay or compound or secure the judgment debt, and the debtor does not within seven days after service of the notice, or some other time limited by the order, either comply with the requirements of the notice or satisfy the Court that he has a claim which may be set off against the judgment debt, an act of bankruptcy will be committed. And see as to arrest of debtor after issue of notice, post, p. 35.

(8) If the debtor gives notice to any of his creditors that he has suspended, or that he is about to suspend payment of his debts (sect. 4, sub-s. 1 (h)).

SECTION 2.

OF THE PETITION, RECEIVING ORDER, AND APPOINTMENT OF OFFICIAL RECEIVER.

The Petition. When an act of bankruptcy is committed by a debtor, a bankruptcy petition may at once be presented by the creditor or creditors of such

debtor: and, as has been already shown, a debtor may, under the Act, present a bankruptcy petition against himself.

Creditor's Petition. But a creditor shall not be entitled to present a bankruptcy petition against a debtor, unless

(a) The debt owing by the debtor to the petitioning creditor amounts to the sum of 50%. Two or more creditors may, however, join in a petition, in which case the aggregate amount of the debts owing to the several petitioning creditors must amount to 507.

(b) The debt is a liquidated sum payable either immediately or at some certain future time.

(c) The act of bankruptcy on which the petition is grounded has occurred within three months before the presentation of the petition.

(d) The debtor is domiciled in England, or within a year before the date of the presentation of the petition has ordinarily resided or had a dwelling-house or place of business in England (sect. 6).

A very material alteration in the law is effected by sub-s. (b) above set out: "Unless the debt is a liquidated sum payable either immediately or at some certain future time." Under these terms current negotiable securities, whether bills of exchange or promissory notes, will naturally fall; and it has been said that the change thus made in the old law, under which a creditor's debt, whereon to found a petition for adjudication in bankruptcy, must have been a debt due and presently payable, is of such a nature as to revolutionize the practice of English merchants in the conduct of business. The essence of the present system is that a buyer, as not being liable to be sued during the currency of his bill