or parting with property, or the possession of property, absolutely or conditionally, as a payment, pledge, mortgage, gift, or security; (26) "trustee " shall include all of the trustees of an estate; (27) "wage-earner" shall mean an individual who works for wages, salary, or hire, at a rate of compensation not exceeding one thousand five hundred dollars per year; (28) words importing the masculine gender may be applied to and include corporations, partnerships, and women; (29) words importing the plural number may be applied to and mean. only a single person or thing; (30) words importing the singular number may be applied to and mean several persons or things. The definitions are important, because it will be found that when taken in connection with the later sections of the act to which they severally apply they have affected the law of bankruptcy in many particulars. The definition of adjudication has a controlling effect on the question of the trustee's title which will be treated of in § 532. The respective duties of the judge and referee, who are both included in the "court," are indicated partly by later sections of the act and partly by the rules of the Supreme Court. The Forms also show certain cases where the Supreme Court has pointed out their duties. See § 500. The question may arise, Who is a duly authorized agent, attorney, or proxy under clause 9? Forms 20 and 21 show two kinds of letter of attorney to one not an attorney-at-law to represent a creditor in matters relating to bankruptcy. Form 20 gives power to represent the creditor generally in all proceedings in bankruptcy, while Form 21 gives power to represent the creditor only at the first meeting and in the choice of trustee. These forms are expressly restricted to persons who are not attorneys-at-law, and there is no form for a power to an attorney-at-law. It was evidently the intention of the Supreme Court that it should not be necessary for an attorney at-law to have a written power of attorney. This conclusion is emphasized by the fact that Form 26 under the act of 1867, from which the present Form 20 was taken, applied to attorneys-at-law as well as attorneys-in-fact. This is an important matter, since a stamp is required under the Revenue Act on all powers of attorney.2 Creditors may be represented by an attorney-at-law without being subject to the tax, but must pay twenty-five cents for the privilege of employing an attorney-in-fact. The power of attorney must be executed before a referee, United States commissioner, or notary public,3 or a United States consul abroad.4 The Forms provide for an acknowledgment of the letter of attorney, and this should be procured if possible; but as there is no requirement of this sort in the act of 1898 itself, or in the rules of the Supreme Court, it would seem that an unacknowledged power of attorney would be valid. An omission of it would save the revenue tax of ten cents. Rule IV. has prescribed that a creditor may appear before the court of bankruptcy and conduct his case, but he can represent only his own interest. The rule also deals with the question of the authority of attorneys-at-law to represent creditors in court. There seems to be a discrepancy between this rule and Form 20, which authorizes an attorney-in-fact to appear in court. Perhaps a way to reconcile the two provisions may be to say that an attorney-in-fact may attend to all routine matters which do not require the services of a person having a knowledge of law, while all matters involving such knowledge must be entrusted to attorneys authorized to practise in the circuit or district court. In case of a conflict between the Rule and the Form, the provisions of the Rule must prevail. "Debt" is used as a synonymous term with demand and claim. This has a bearing on the question of what debts are provable against the bankrupt's estate, and will be considered in connection with § 525. 1 Bump, Bankruptcy, 10th ed. 930. 2 Gould & Savary, War Revenue Law of 1898, 66. 3 Rule XXI. 5. Re Sugenheimer, 91 Fed. Rep. 744, 1 N. B. N. 59. 5 Re Barnes, 1 Lowell, 560, Fed. Cas. No. 1012. • Rule IV. Clause 15 has made a great change in the definition of insolvency when applied to a bankrupt trader. It used to mean an inability to pay debts as they accrued in the course of business.1 It has now the meaning which has sometimes been applied in the case of a non-trader,2 or of a trader under the insolvent laws of some of the States.2 The obvious result of this change is, that a person who owns real estate will not be found insolvent if the land, at a fair valuation, will pay his debts. We are not told how the valuation shall be made, and if a business is not to be valued as a continuing one, but the aggregate of the property is to be appraised as if the bankrupt's affairs were being wound up, the sum total will be much less. So that the result of such a rule would be, that many persons who do not own real estate will be insolvent who were not so under the former definition. The chief difficulty with the rule, however construed, will be found in its working. Under the old law, fellow-traders with a bankrupt could easily find out whether he was paying his debts as they matured. Under this act, it will often be a matter of some trouble to discover what the property of a person, including his real estate, is worth. As to what persons are subject to bankruptcy proceedings, see supra, §§ 15 et seq., and infra, § 467. The word "conceal" is given an extended meaning which will enlarge the scope of the first act of bankruptcy mentioned in § 3 of the act, and the offence contained in § 29 of the act. See §§ 466, 491. The definition of a secured creditor raises some points which will be considered in § 519. The extended meaning of "transfer" will affect the second act of bankruptcy prescribed by § 3 of the act. See § 466. 1 See § 41. 2 See Re Scott (1896), 1 Q. B. 619; Toof . Martin, 13 Wall. 40, 47; Re Bennett, 2 Lowell, 400, Fed. Cas. No. 1314; Adler Clothing Co. v. Hellman, 75 N. W. Rep. (Neb.) 877; Sabin v. Columbia Fuel Co., 25 Ore. 15; Mueller v. Fire Clay Co., 183 Pa. St. 450. CHAPTER II. CREATION OF COURTS OF BANKRUPTCY AND THEIR JURISDICTION. § 465. Act of 1898.-SEC. 2. That the courts of bankruptcy as hereinbefore defined, viz., the district courts of the United States in the several States, the supreme court of the District of Columbia, the district courts of the several Territories, and the United States courts in the Indian Territory and the District of Alaska, are hereby made courts of bankruptcy, and are hereby invested, within their respective territorial limits as now established, or as they may be hereafter changed, with such jurisdiction at law and in equity as will enable them to exercise original jurisdiction in bankruptcy proceedings, in vacation in chambers and during their respective terms, as they are now or may be hereafter held, to (1) adjudge persons bankrupt who have had their principal place of business, resided or had their domicile within their respective territorial jurisdictions for the preceding six months, or the greater portion thereof, or who do not have their principal place of business, reside or have their domicile within the United States, but have property within their jurisdictions, or who have been adjudged bankrupts by courts of competent jurisdiction without the United States and have property within their jurisdictions; (2) allow claims, disallow claims, reconsider allowed or disallowed claims, and allow or disallow them against bankrupt estates; (3) appoint receivers or the marshals, upon application of parties in interest, in case the courts shall find it absolutely necessary, for the preservation of estates, to take charge of the property of bankrupts after the filing of the petition and until it is dismissed or the trustee is qualified; (4) arraign, try, and punish bankrupts, officers, and other persons, and the agents, officers, members of the board of directors or trustees, or other similar controlling bodies, of corporations, for violations of this Act, in accordance with the laws of procedure of the United States now in force, or such as may be hereafter enacted, regulating trials for the alleged violation of laws of the United States; (5) authorize the business of bankrupts to be conducted for limited periods by receivers, the marshals, or trustees, if necessary in the best interests of the estates; (6) bring in and substitute additional persons or parties in proceedings in bankruptcy when necessary for the complete determination of a matter in controversy; (7) cause the estates of bankrupts to be collected, reduced to money, and distributed, and determine controversies in relation thereto, except as herein otherwise provided; (8) close estates, whenever it appears that they have been fully administered, by approving the final accounts and discharging the trustees, and reopen them whenever it appears they were closed before being fully administered; (9) confirm or reject compositions between debtors and their creditors, and set aside compositions and reinstate the cases; (10) consider and confirm, modify or overrule, or return, with instructions. for further proceedings, records and findings certified to them by referees; (11) determine all claims of bankrupts to their exemptions; (12) discharge or refuse to |