conform to the law, or to deliver to his assignees all his assets are sufficient reasons for refusing the certificate.1 The most usual omission which is made a bar is the failure by merchants and traders to keep proper books of account.2 The latest English law, more stringent than its predecessors, adds several acts, such as that the bankrupt has contracted provable debts without reasonable or probable ground of expectation of being able to pay them; rash and hazardous speculations and extravagance in living causing his bankruptcy; that he has continued his trade after knowing himself to be insolvent.3 § 462. Who may Oppose. It is no part of the duty of assignees to oppose the discharge, but any creditor whose claim has been proved may do so; and by some statutes expressly, and by the better practice generally, any creditor whose debt will be barred may object upon showing that he has a provable claim, though he may not have found it expedient to ask for a dividend. In such case the creditor is to be considered as having submitted to the jurisdiction, if that point should be of importance.1 It is hardly necessary to say that proof of a debt does not estop the proving creditor from disputing the discharge in any court upon any ground upon which it is by law disputable, except want of jurisdiction of the creditor in respect of the debt proved, and that not proving gives no advantage in such dispute.5 § 463. Form of Discharge. The form of the discharge (or certificate of the fact of discharge) is often given in the statute. 1 [As to the acts which prevent a discharge under the Act of 1898, see infra, $ 477.] Fed. Cas. No. 1705; In re Book, 3 Mc- 2 [The Act of 1898 contains no such No. 8297; In re Hill, 1 N. B. R. 16, disqualification] 8 B. A. 1890, § 8. 4 In re Shepard, 1 N. B. R. 439, Fed. Cas. No. 12,753; In re Smith, 8 Blatch. 461, Fed. Cas. No. 12,977; In re Murdock, 3 N. B. R. 146, Fed. Cas. No. 9939; Re Boutelle, 2 N. B. R. 129 Fed. Cas. No. 6481; In re Burk, 3 N. B. R. 296, Fed. Cas. No. 2156; In re Palmer, N. B. R. 301, Fed. Cas. No. 10,682; In re King, Fed. Cas. No. 7784. 5 Morse v. Reed, 13 Met. 62; Wil liams v. Coggeshall, 8 Cush. 377; Wetherbee v. Martin, 16 Gray, 518. This form may be varied to meet particular cases, as where one who had been an insolvent debtor and became bankrupt could only be discharged as to his person and not as to his future property, or where only the separate debts of a partner were held to be discharged, certificates were ordered to be issued in conformity with the facts.1 1 Ex parte Green, 1 Atk. 257; v. Boulnois, L. R. 10 Ch. 479; Meggy Baker's Case, 8 Cush. 109. See Ebbs v. Imp. Disc. Co. 3 Q. B. D. 711. PART II. THE BANKRUPTCY ACT OF 1898. CHAPTER I. DEFINITIONS. § 464. Act of 1898. SEC. 1. MEANING OF WORDS AND PHRASES.-a. The words and phrases used in this Act, and in proceedings pursuant hereto shall, unless the same be inconsistent with the context, be construed as follows: (1) "A person against whom a petition has been filed" shall include a person who has filed a voluntary petition; (2) "adjudication" shall mean the date of the entry of a decree that the defendant, in a bankruptcy proceeding, is a bankrupt, or if such decree is appealed from, then the date when such decree is finally confirmed; (3) "appellate courts" shall include the circuit courts of appeals of the United States, the supreme courts of the Territories, and the Supreme Court of the United States; (4) "bankrupt" shall include a person against whom an involuntary petition or an application to set 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 bankruptcy; (6) "corporations" shall mean all bodies having any of the powers and privileges of private corporations not possessed by individuals or partnerships, and shall include limited or other 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 bankruptcy" shall include the district courts of the United States and of the Territories, the supreme court of the District of Columbia, and the United States court of the Indian Territory, and of Alaska; (9) "creditor" shall include any one 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 "commencement of proceedings," or "bankruptcy," with reference to time, shall mean the date when the petition was filed; (11) "debt" shall include any debt, demand, or claim provable in bankruptcy; (12) "discharge" shall mean the release of a bankrupt from all of his debts which are provable in bankruptcy, except such as are expected by this act; (13) "document" shall include any book, deed, or instrument in writing; (14) "holiday" shall include Christmas, the Fourth of July, the Twentysecond 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; (18) "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 trustees, 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 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 any one acting in his stead: (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 include the sale and every other and different mode of disposing of |