of a committee of the creditors, it shall be lawful for the creditors to cer tify and report such resolution to the court, and to nominate one or more trustees to take and hold and distribute the estate, under the direction of such committee. If it shall appear to the court, after hearing the bankrupt and such creditors as may desire to be heard, that the resolution was duly passed and that the interests of the creditors will be promoted thereby it shall confirm the same; and upon the execution and filing, by or on behalf of three-fourths in value of all the creditors whose claims have been proved, of a consent that the estate of the bankrupt be wound up and settled by said trustees, according to the terms of such resolution, the bankrupt, or his assignee in bankruptcy, if appointed, as the case may be, shall, under the direction of the court, and under oath, convey, transfer, and deliver all the property and estate of the bankrupt to the said trustee or trustees, who shall, upon such conveyance and transfer, have and hold the same in the same manner, and with the same powers and rights, in all respects, as the bankrupt would have had or held the same if no proceedings in bankruptcy had been taken; or as the assignee in bankruptcy would have done had such resolution not been passed; and such consent and the proceedings thereunder shall be as binding in all respects on any creditor whose debt is provable, who has not signed the same, as if he had signed it, and on any creditor whose debt, if provable, is not proved, as if he had proved it; and the court, by order, shall direct all acts and things needful to be done to carry into effect such resolution of the creditors; and the said trustees shall proceed to wind up and settle the estate under the direction and inspection of such committee of the creditors, for the equal benefit of all such creditors, and the winding up and settlement of any estate under the provisions of this section shall be deemed to be proceedings in bankruptcy under this act; and the said trustees shall have all the rights and powers of assignees in bankruptcy. The court, on the application of such trustees, shall have power to summon and examine, on oath or otherwise, the bankrupt, and any creditor, and any person indebted to the estate, or known or suspected of having any of the estate in his possession, or any other person whose examination may be material or necessary to aid the trustees in the execution of their trust, and to compel the attendance of such persons and the production of books and papers in the same manner as in other proceedings in bankruptcy under this act; and the bankrupt shall have the like right to apply for and obtain a discharge after the passage of such resolution and the appointment of such trustees as if such resolution had not been passed, and as if all the proceedings had continued in the manner provided in the preceding sections of this act. If the resolution shall not be duly reported, or the consent of the creditors shall not be duly filed, or if, upon its filing, the court shall not think fit to approve thereof, the bankruptcy shall proceed as though no resolution had been passed, and the court may make all necessary orders for resuming the proceedings. And the period of time which shall have elapsed between the date of the resolution and the date of the order for resuming the proceedings shall not be reckoned in calculating periods of time prescribed by this act.

COMPOSITION WITH CREDITORS.

That in all cases of bankruptcy now pending, or to be hereafter pending, by or against any person, whether an adjudication in bankruptcy shall have been had or not, the creditors of such alleged bankrupt may, at a meeting called under the direction of the court, and upon not less than ten days' notice to each known creditor of the time, place, and purpose of such meeting, such notice to be personal or otherwise, as the court may direct, resolve that a composition proposed by the debtor shall be accepted in satisfaction of the debts due to them from the debtor. And such resolution shall, to be operative, have been passed by a majority in number and three-fourths in value of the creditors of the debtor, assembled at such meeting either in person or by proxy, and shall be confirmed by the signatures thereto of the debtor and two-thirds in number and one-half in value of all the creditors of the debtor. And in calculating a majority for the purposes of a composition under this section, creditors whose debts amount to sums not exceeding fifty dollars shall be reckoned in the majority in value, but not in the majority in number; and the value of the debts of secured creditors above the amount of such security, to be determined by the court, shall, as nearly as circumstances admit, be estimated in the same way. And creditors whose debts are fully secured shall not be entitled to vote upon or to sign such resolution without first relinquishing such security for the benefit of the estate.

The debtor, unless prevented by sickness or other cause satisfactory to such meeting, shall be present at the same, and shall answer any inquiries made of him; and he, or, if he is so prevented from being at such meeting, some one in his behalf, shall produce to the meeting a statement showing the whole of his assets and debts, and the names and addresses of the creditors to whom such debts respectively are due.

Such resolution, together with the statement of the debtor as to his assets and debts, shall be presented to the court; and the court shall, upon notice to all the creditors of the debtor of not less than five days, and upon hearing, inquire whether such resolution has been passed in the manner directed by this section; and if satisfied that it has been so passed, it shall, subject to the provisions hereinafter contained, and upon being satisfied that the same is for the best interest of all concerned, cause such resolution to be recorded, and statement of assets and debts to be filed; and until such record and filing shall have taken place, such resolution shall be of no validity. And any creditor of the debtor may inspect such record and statement at all reasonable times.

The creditors may, by resolution passed in the manner and under the circumstances aforesaid, add to or vary the provisions of any composition previously accepted by them, without prejudice to any persons taking interests under such provisions, who do not assent to such addition or variation. And any such additional resolution shall be presented to the court in the same manner, and proceeded with in the same way, and with the saine consequences, as the resolution by which the composition was accepted in the first instance. The provisions of a composition accepted by such resolu

tion in pursuance of this section, shall be binding on all the creditors whose names and addresses, and the amounts of the debts due to whom, are shown in the statement of the debtor produced at the meeting at which the resolution shall have been passed, but shall not affect or prejudice the rights of any other creditors.

Where a debt arises on a bill of exchange or promissory note, if the debtor shall be ignorant of the holder of any such bill of exchange or promissory note, he shall be required to state the amount of such bill or note, the date on which it falls due, the name of the acceptor and of the person to whom it is payable, and any other particulars within his knowledge respecting the same; and the insertion of such particulars shall be deemed a sufficient description by the debtor in respect to such debt.

Any mistake made inadvertently by a debtor in the statement of his debts may be corrected upon reasonable notice, and with the consent of a general meeting of his creditors.

Every such composition shall, subject to priorities declared in said act, provide for a pro rata payment or satisfaction, in money, to the creditors of such debtor, in proportion to the amount of their unsecured debts, or their debts in respect to which any such security shall have been duly surrendered and given up.

The provisions of any composition made in pursuance of this section may be enforced by the court, on motion made in a summary manner by any person interested, and on reasonable notice; and any disobedience of the order of the court made on such motion shall be deemed to be a con

tempt of court. Rules and regulations of court may be made in relation to proceedings of composition herein provided for, in the same manner and to the same extent as now provided by law in relation to proceedings in bankruptcy.

If it shall at any time appear to the court, on notice, satisfactory evidence, and hearing, that a composition under this section cannot, in consequence of legal difficulties, or for any sufficient cause, proceed without injustice or undue delay to the creditors or to the debtor, the court may refuse to accept and confirm such composition, or may set the same aside; and, in either case, the debtor shall be proceeded with as a bankrupt, in conformity with the provisions of law, and proceedings may be had accordingly; and the time during which such composition shall have been in force shall not, in such case, be computed in calculating periods of time prescribed by said act.

Sect. 44. Provides that debtors, who, after the commencement of proceedings in bankruptcy (which means the filing of the petition), fraudulently conceal any property, or hinder the assignee from getting hold of it, or spend any part of it in gaming, or, within three months next before the petition, dispose of any property otherwise than by honest transactions in his trade, which property was bought on credit and is unpaid for, shall be punished by imprisonment not exceeding three years.

Sect. 45. Provides that defaulting officers shall be punished by a fine not less than three hundred nor more than five hundred dollars, and imprisonment not more than three years.

Sect. 46. Provides that forgery or counterfeiting of any court seal, any court paper, or the tendering for use of any document so forged or counterfeited, shall be punished by a fine not less than five hundred nor more than five thousand dollars, and imprisonment not exceeding five years.

Sect. 47. Relates to fees and costs of proceedings; and the act of 22 June, 1874, provided that the fees, commissions, charges, &c., shall be reduced to one-half of those heretofore allowed, until the Supreme Court of the United States shall make new orders and regulations about them.

Sect. 48. Gives the meaning and definition of sundry words used in the act.

Sect. 49. Gives jurisdiction in cases of bankruptcy to the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia and of the several Territories, when the bankrupt resides therein.

Sect. 50. Declares that the act goes into force when approved.

The various forms required are not given here, because they have been issued on the authority of the Supreme Court of the United States, and are uniform throughout the States, and are supplied by the registers of bankruptcy to every applicant; and to one of them every person proposing to become a bankrupt, and every person desiring to bring another person into bankruptcy, must apply.

CHAPTER XXVI.

LIMITATIONS.

SECTION I.

THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS.

All of our States have what is called a statute of limitations. It is not exactly the same everywhere; but generally it enacts that all actions of account, and all which are brought for indebtedness or damages, and all actions of debt grounded upon any lending, or contract without seal, and all actions for arrearages of rent, shall

be commenced and sued within six years next after the cause of such actions or suit arises, and not after. In few words, all claims which do not rest on a seal or a judgment must be sued within six years from the time when they arise. If they rest on a seal or a judgment, they can usually be sued at any time within twenty years.

In some States, a statute provides, in substance, that if a debt or promise be once barred by the statute of limitations, no acknowl edgment of the debt or new promise shall renew the debt and take away the effect of the statute, unless the new promise is in writing, and is signed by the party who makes the promise. But this statute expressly permits a part-payment either of principal or interest of the old debt to have the same effect as a new promise. And this statute also provides that if there be joint contractors or debtors, and a plaintiff is barred by the statute against both, but the bar of the statute is removed as to one by a new promise or otherwise, the plaintiff may have judgment against this one, but not against the other.

Such statutes have been passed in Maine, Massachusetts, Ver. mont, New York, Indiana, Michigan, Arkansas, and California.

SECTION II.

CONSTRUCTION OF THE STATUTE.

For the law of limitation there is a twofold foundation: in the first place, the actual probability that a debt which has not been claimed for a long time was paid, and that this is the reason of the silence of the creditor. But, besides this reason, there is the inexpediency and injustice of permitting a stale and neglected claim or debt, even if it has not been paid, to be set up and enforced after a long silence and acquiescence.

Before inquiring into the rules of law which now apply to the case of an acknowledgment or new promise, it should be remarked that a prescription, or limitation, of common law, much more ancient than the statutes above quoted, is still in full force. This is the presumption of payment after twenty years, which is applicable to all debts: not only the simple contracts to which the statutes-of limitation refer, that is, contracts which are merely oral, or which if written have no seal, but to specialties, or contracts or debts under seal or by judgment of court. Of these it will not be necessary to speak here, excepting to remark that in a few of our States the statute of limitation excepts a promissory note which is signed in the presence of an attesting witness, and is put in suit by the original payee, or his executor or administrator; such a note in