conditioned for the due and faithful discharge of all his duties, and his compliance with the orders and directions of the court; which bond shall be taken in the name of the United States, and shall, if there be any breach thereof, be sued and suable, under the order of such court, for the benefit of the creditors and other persons in interest. § 10. And be it further enacted, That in order to ensure a speedy settlement and close of the proceedings in each case in bankruptcy, it shall be the duty of the court to order and direct a collection of the assets and a reduction of the same to money, and a distribution thereof at as early periods as practicable, consistently with a due regard to the interests of the creditors; and a dividend and distribution of such assets as shall be collected and reduced to money, or so much thereof as can be safely disposed of, consistently with the rights and interests of third persons having adverse claims thereto, shall be made among the creditors who have proved their debts, as often as once in six months from the time of the decree declaring the bankruptcy; notice of such dividends and distribution to be given in some newspaper or newspapers in the district, designated by the court, ten days at least before the order therefor is passed; and the pendency of any suit at law or in equity, by or against such third persons, shall not postpone such division and distribution, except so far as the assets may be necessary to satisfy the same; and in all the proceedings in bankruptcy in each case shall, if practicable, be finally adjusted, settled and brought to a close by the court, within two years after the decree declaring the bankruptcy. And where any creditor shall not have proved his debt until a dividend or distribution shall have been made and declared, he shall be entitled to be paid the same amount, pro rata, out of the remaining dividends or distributions thereafter made, as the other creditors have already received, before the latter shall be entitled to any portion thereof. § 11. And be it further enacted, That the assignee shall have full authority, by and under the order and direction of the proper court in bankruptcy, to redeem and discharge any mortgage or other pledge, or deposit, or lien upon any property, real or personal, whether payable in presenti or at a future day, and to tender a due performance of the conditions thereof. And such assignee shall also have authority, by and under the order and direction of the proper court in bankruptcy, to compound any debts or other claims, or securities due or belonging to the estate of the bankrupt; but no such order or direction shall be made until notice of the application is given in some public newspaper in the district, to be designated by the court, ten days at least before the hearing, so that all creditors and other persons in interest may appear and show cause, if any they have, at the hearing, why the order or direction should not be passed. § 12. And be it further enacted, That if any person who shall have been discharged under this act, shall afterward become bankrupt, he shall not again be entitled to a discharge under this act, unless his estate shall produce (after all charges) sufficient to pay every cred itor seventy-five per cent. on the amount of the debt which shall have been allowed to each creditor. § 13. And be it further enacted, That the proceedings in all cases in bankruptcy shall be deemed matters of record; but the same shall not be required to be recorded at large, but shall be carefully filed, kept and numbered in the office of the said court, and a docket only, or short memorandum thereof, with the numbers, kept in a book by the clerk of the court; and the clerk of the court, for affixing his name and the seal of the court to any form, or certifying a copy thereof, when required thereto, shall be entitled to receive, as compensation, the sum of twenty-five cents, and no more. And no officer of the court, or commissioner, shall be allowed by the court more than one dollar for taking the proof of any debt or other claim of any creditor or other person against the estate of the bankrupt; but he may be allowed, in addition, his actual travel expenses for. that purpose. 14. And be it further enacted, That where two or more persons, who are partners in trade, become insolvent, an order may be made in the manner provided in this act, either on the petition of such partners, or any one of them, or on the petition of any creditor of the partners, upon which order all the joint stock and property of the company, and also all the separate estate of each of the partners, shall be taken, excepting such parts thereof as are herein exempted; and all the creditors of the company, and the separate creditors of each partner, shall be allowed to prove their respective debts; and the assignees shall also keep separate accounts of the joint stock or property of the company, and of the separate estate of each member thereof; and after deducting out of the whole amount received by such assignees the whole of the expenses and disbursements paid by them, the net proceeds of the joint stock shall be appropriated to pay the creditors of the company, and the net proceeds of the separate estate of each partner shall be appropriated to pay his separate creditors; and if there shall be any balance of the separate estate of any partner, after the payment of his separate debts, such balance shall be added to the joint stock, for the payment of the joint creditors; and if there shall be any balance of the joint stock, after payment of the joint debts, such balance shall be divided and appropriated to and among the separate estates of the several partners, according to their respective rights and interests therein, and as it would have been if the partnership had been dissolved without any bankruptcy; and the sum so appropriated to the separate estate of each partner shall be applied to the payment of his separate debts; and the certificate of discharge shall be granted or refused to each partner, as the same would or ought to be if the proceedings had been against him alone under this act; and in all other respects the proceedings against partners shall be conducted in the like manner as if they had been commenced and prosecuted against one person alone. § 15. And be it further enacted, That a copy of any decree of bankruptcy, and the appointment of assignees, as directed by the third section of this act, shall be recited in every deed of lands belonging to the bankrupt, sold and conveyed by any assignees under and by virtue of this act; and that such recital, together with certified copy of such order, shall be full and complete evidence both of the bankruptcy and assignment therein recited, and supersede the necessity of any other proof of such bankruptcy and assignment to validate the said deed; and all deeds containing such recital, and supported by such proof, shall be as effectual to pass the title of the bankrupt, of, in and to, the lands therein mentioned and described, to the purchaser, as fully to all intents and purposes, as if made by such bankrupt himself immediately before such order. 16. And be it further enacted, That all jurisdiction, power and authority, conferred upon and vested in the district court of the United States by this act, in cases in bankruptcy, are hereby conferred upon and vested in the circuit court of the United States for the District of Columbia, and in and upon the supreme or superior courts of any of the Territories of the United States, in cases in bankruptcy, where the bankrupt resides in the said District of Columbia, or in either of the said Territories. § 17. And be it further enacted, That this act shall take effect from and after the first day of February next. Approved, August 19, 1841. ACT OF MARCH 3, 1843. An Act to Repeal the Bankrupt Act. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That the act entitled "An act to establish a uniform system of bankruptcy throughout the United States," approved on the nineteenth day of August, eighteen hundred and forty-one, be, and the same is hereby repealed: Provided, That this act shall not affect any case or proceeding in bankruptcy commenced before the passage of this act, or any pains, penalties or forfeitures incurred under the said act; but every such proceeding may be continued to its final consummation in like manner as if this act had not been passed. Approved, March 3, 1843. TITLE III. THE LAW AND PRACTICE IN BANKRUPTCY. BANKRUPTCY ACT OF JULY 1, 1898. (For index, see General Index, "Law of 1898," post.) (Marginal figures refer to pages of this work on which pertinent decisions are noted.) An Act To establish a uniform system of bankruptcy throughout the United States. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, CHAPTER I. DEFINITIONS. Bankruptcy. Definitions. -"A person against whom petition has been filed." courts. SECTION 1. MEANING OF WORDS AND PHRASES.- a The words and phrases used in this Act and in proceedings pursuant hereto 184, 205 shall, unless the same be inconsistent with the context, be construed as follows: (1) "A person against whom a petition has a been filed" shall include a person who has filed a voluntary petition; (2) "adjudication" shall mean the date of the entry "adjudicaof a decree that the defendant, in a bankruptcy proceeding, is tion." a bankrupt, or if such decree is appealed from, then the date 225 when such decree is finally confirmed; (3) "appellate courts -"appellate shall include the circuit courts of appeals of the United States, the supreme courts of the Territories, and the Supreme Court 103 of the United States; (4) "bankrupt " shall include a person -"bankrupt." against whom an involuntary petition or an application to set 184 a composition aside or to revoke a discharge has been filed, or who has filed a voluntary petition, or who has been adjudged a bankrupt; (5) clerk" shall mean the clerk of a court of bank--" clerk." ruptey; (6) "corporations" shall mean all bodies having any of 206 corporathe powers and privileges of private corporations not possessed tions.' by individuals or partnerships, and shall include limited or other 94, 205, 755 partnership associations organized under laws making the capital subscribed alone responsible for the debts of the association; (7) "court" shall mean the court of bankruptcy in which the proceedings are pending, and may include the referee; (8) courts of courts of bankruptcy "shall include the district courts of bankruptcy." the United States and of the Territories, the supreme court of 94 the District of Columbia, and the United States court of the 66 94 court. 205, 316 -"date of bankruptcy:" etc. 185 -"document." 207 205 -when deemed "insol- -“judge." 118 -" oath." 295 -"officer." -"creditor." Indian Territory, and of Alaska; (9) "creditor" shall include anyone who owns a demand or claim provable in bankruptcy, and may include his duly authorized agent, attorney, or proxy; (10) "date of bankruptcy," or "time of bankruptcy," or "com"bankruptcy," mencement of proceedings," or "bankruptcy," with reference to time, shall mean the date when the petition was filed; (11) -"debt." debt" shall include any debt, demand, or claim provable in -"discharge." bankruptcy; (12) "discharge" shall mean the release of a bank225, 454 rupt from all of his debts which are provable in bankruptcy, except such as are excepted by this Act; (13) " document" shall holiday." include any book, deed, or instrument in writing; (14) "holiday shall include Christmas, the Fourth of July, the Twenty-second of February, and any day appointed by the President of the United States or the Congress of the United States as a holiday or as a day of public fasting or thanksgiving; (15) a person shall be deemed insolvent within the provisions of this Act whenever the aggregate of his property, exclusive of any property which he may have conveyed, transferred, concealed, or removed, or permitted to be concealed or removed, with intent to defraud, hinder or delay his creditors, shall not, at a fair valuation, be sufficient in amount to pay his debts; (16) " judge" shall mean a judge of a court of bankruptcy, not including the referee; (17) "oath" shall include affirmation; (13) "officer" shall include clerk, marshal, receiver, referee, and trustee, and the imposing of a duty upon or the forbidding of an act by any officer shall include his successor and any person authorized by law to perform the duties of such officer; (19) "persons shall include corporations, except where otherwise specified, and officers, partnerships, and women, and when used with reference to the commission of acts which are herein forbidden shall include persons who are participants in the forbidden acts, and the agents, officers, and members of the board of directors or truspetition." tees, or other similar controlling bodies of corporations; (20) "petition" shall mean a paper filed in a court of bankruptcy or with a clerk or deputy clerk by a debtor praying for the benefits of this Act, or by creditors alleging the commission of an -"referee." act of bankruptcy by a debtor therein named; (21) "referee " shall mean the referee who has jurisdiction of the case or to whom the case has been referred, or anyone acting in his stead; -"conceal." (22)" conceal" shall include secrete, falsify, and mutilate; (23) "secured creditor" shall include a creditor who has security for his debt upon the property of the bankrupt of a nature to be assignable under this Act, or who owns such a debt for which some indorser, surety, or other persons secondarily liable for the bankrupt has such security upon the bankrupt's assets; (24) "States" shall include the Territories, the Indian Territory, Alaska, and the District of Columbia; (25) "transfer" shall in 205 11 persons." 206-211 " 207 -"secured -"States." -"transfer." 780 329 |