Page. No. 43. Petition and order for redemption of property from lien.... 44. Petition and order for sale subject to lien 468 469 BANKRUPTCY ACTS. 1800-1841. BANKRUPTCY ACT OF APRIL 4, 1800. An Act to establish an uniform System of Bankruptcy throughout the United States. Section 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That from and after the first day of June next, if any merchant or other person residing within the United States, actually using the trade of merchandise, by buying and selling in gross, or by retail, or dealing in exchange, or as a banker, broker, factor, underwriter or marine insurer, shall, with intent unlawfully to delay or defraud his or her creditors, depart from the State in which such person usually resides, or remain absent therefrom, or conceal him or herself therein, or keep his or her house, so that he or she cannot be taken, or served with process, or willingly or fraudulently procure him or herself to be arrested, or his or her lands, goods, money or chattels to be attached, sequestered or taken in execution, or make or cause to be made any fraudulent conveyance of his or her lands, or chattels, or make or admit any false or fraudulent security or evidence of debt, or being arrested for debt, or having surrendered him or herself in discharge of bail, shall remain in prison two months or more, or escape therefrom, or whose lands or effects being attached by process issuing out of, or returnable to, any court of common law, shall not, within two months after written notice thereof, enter special bail and dissolve the same, or in districts in which attachments are not dissolved by the entry of special bail, being arrested for debt after his or her lands and effects, or any part thereof, have been attached for a debt or debts amounting to one thousand dollars or upwards, shall not, upon notice of such attachment, give sufficient security for the payment of what may be recovered in the suit in which he or she shall be arrested, at or before the return-day of the same, to be approved by the judge of the district, or some judge of the court out of which the process issued upon which he is arrested, or to which the same shall be returnable, every such person shall be deemed and adjudged a bankrupt: Provided, that no person shall be liable to a commission of bankruptcy if the petition be not preferred, in manner hereinafter directed, within six months after the act of bankruptcy committed. § 2. And be it further enacted, That the judge of the district court of the United States, for the district where the debtor resides, or usually resided at the time of committing the act of bankruptcy, upon petition in writing against such person or persons being bankrupt, to him to be exhibited by any one creditor; or by a greater number, being partners, whose single debt shall amount to one thousand dollars, or by two creditors whose debts shall amount to one thousand, five hundred dollars, or by more than two creditors whose debts shall amount to two thousand dollars, shall have power, by commission under his hand and seal, to appoint such good and substantial persons, being citizens of the United States, and resident in such district, as such judge shall deem proper, not exceeding three, to be commissioners of the said bankrupt, and in case of vacancy or refusal to act, to appoint others from time to time as occasion may require: Provided always, that before any commission shall issue, the creditor or creditors petitioning shall make affidavit or solemn affirmation before the said judge of the truth of his, her or their debts, and give bond, to be taken by the said judge, in the name and for the benefit of the said party so charged as a bankrupt, and in such penalty, and with such surety, as he shall require, to be conditioned for the proving of his, her or their debts, as well before the commissioners as upon a trial at law, in case the due issuing forth of the said commission shall be contested, and also for proving the party a bankrupt, and to proceed on such commission in the manner herein prescribed. And if such debt shall not be really due, or after such commission taken out it cannot be proved that the party was a bankrupt, then the said judge shall upon the petition of the party aggrieved, in case there be occasion, deliver such bond to the said party, who may sue thereon, and recover such damages under the penalty of the same, as, upon trial at law, he shall make appear he has sustained, by reason of any breach of the condition thereof. § 3. And be it further enacted, That before the commissioners shall be capable of acting, they shall respectively take and subscribe the following oath or affirmation, which shall be administered by the judge issuing the commission, or by any of the judges of the Supreme Court of the United States, or any judge, justice or chancellor of any State court, and filed in the office of the clerk of the district court: "I, A. B., do swear, or affirm, that I will faithfully, impar tially and honestly, according to the best of my skill and knowledge, execute the several powers and trusts reposed in me, as a commissioner, in a commission of bankruptcy against and that without favor or affection, prejudice or malice." And the commissioners, who shall be sworn as aforesaid, shall proceed, as soon as may be, to execute the same; and upon due examination, and sufficient cause appearing against the party charged, shall and may declare him or her to be a bankrupt: Provided, that before such examination be had, reasonable notice thereof, in writing, shall be delivered to the person charged as a bankrupt; or if he or she be not found at his or her usual place of abode, to some person of the family above the age of twelve years, or if no such person appear, shall be fixed at the front or other public door of the house in which he or she usually resides, and thereupon it shall be in the power of such person, so charged as aforesaid, to demand before, or at the time appointed for such examination, that a jury be empanelled to inquire into the fact or facts alleged as the causes for issuing the commission, and on such demand being made the inquiry shall be had before the judge granting the commission, at such time as he may direct, and in that case such person shall not be declared bankrupt, unless, by the verdict of the jury, he or she shall be found to be within the description of this act, and shall be convicted of some one of the acts described in the first section of this act: Provided also, that any commission which shall be taken out as aforesaid, and which shall not be proceeded in as aforesaid, within thirty days thereafter, may be superseded by the said judge who shall have granted the same, upon the application of the party thereby charged as a bankrupt, or of any creditor of such person, unless the delay shall have been unavoidable, or upon a just occasion. § 4. And be it further enacted, That the commissioners so to be appointed shall have power forthwith, after they have declared such person a bankrupt, to cause to be apprehended, by warrant under their hands and seals, the body of such bankrupt, wheresoever to be found within the United States: Provided, they shall think that there is reason to apprehend that the said bankrupt intends to abscond or conceal him or herself, and in case it be necessary in order to take the body of said bankrupt, shall have power to cause the doors of the dwelling-house of such bankrupt to be broken, or the doors of any other house in which he or she shall be found. § 5. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the commissioners so to be appointed, forthwith, after they have declared such person a bankrupt, and they shall have power to take into their possession all the estate, real and personal, of every nature and description, to which the said bankrupt may be entitled, either in law or equity, in any manner whatsoever, and cause the same to be inventoried and appraised to the best value, (his or her necessary wearing apparel, and the necessary wearing apparel of the wife and children, and necessary beds and bedding of such bankrupt only excepted) and also to take into their possession, and secure, all deeds and books of account, papers and writings belonging to such bankrupt; and shall cause the same to be safely kept, until assignees shall be chosen or appointed, in manner hereafter provided. § 6. And be it further enacted, That the said commissioners shall forthwith, after they have declared such person a bankrupt, cause due and sufficient public notice thereof to be given, and in such notice shall appoint some convenient time and place for the creditors to meet, in order to choose an assignee or assignees of the said bankrupt's estate and effects; at which meeting the said commissioners shall admit the creditors of such bankrupt to prove their debts; and where any creditor shall reside at a distance from the place of such meeting, shall allow the debt of such creditor to be proved by oath or affirmation, made before some competent authority, and duly certified, and shall permit any person duly authorized by letter of attorney from such creditor, due proof of the execution of such letter of attorney being first made, to vote in the choice of an assignee or assignees of such bankrupt's estate and effects in the place and stead of such creditor: and the said commissioners shall assign, transfer or deliver over, all and singular, the said bankrupt's estate and effects, aforesaid, with all muniments and evidences thereof, to such person or persons as the major part in value of such creditors, according to the several debts then proved, shall choose as aforesaid: Provided always, That in such choice, no vote shall be given by, or in behalf of, any creditor whose debt shall not amount to two hundred dollars. § 7. Provided always, and be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful for the said commissioners, as often as they shall see cause, for the better preserving and securing of the bankrupt's estate, before assignees shall be chosen as aforesaid, immediately to appoint one or more assignee or assignees of the estate and effects aforesaid, or any part thereof; which assignee or assignees aforesaid, or any of them, may be removed at the meeting of the creditors, so to be appointed as aforesaid, for the choice of assignees, is such creditors, entitled to vote as aforesaid, or the major part in value of them, shall think fit; and such assignee or assignees as shall be so removed, shall deliver up all the estate and effects of such bankrupt which shall have come to his or their hands or possession, unto such other assignee or assignees as shall be chosen by the creditors as aforesaid; and all such estate and effects shall be, to all intents and purposes, as effectually and legally vested in such new assignee or assignees as if the first assignment had been made to him or them by the said commissioners; and if such first assignee or assignees shall refuse or neglect, for the space of ten days next after notice, in writing, from such new assignee or assignees of their appointment, as aforesaid, to deliver over as aforesaid, all the estate and effects as aforesaid, every such assignee. or assignees shall, respectively, forfeit a sum not exceeding five thou |