THE BILLS OF SALE ACTS, 1878 AND 1882. (41 & 42 VICT. CAP. 31, AND 45 & 46 VICT. CAP. 43.) An Act to consolidate and amend the Law for preventing Frauds upon Creditors by secret Bills of Sale of Personal Chattels. [22nd July, 1878.] AND An Act to amend the Bills of Sale Act, 1878. [18th August, 1882.] WHEREAS it is expedient to consolidate and amend the law relating to bills of sale of personal chattels : Be it enacted by the Queen's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords spiritual and temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows. Whereas it is expedient to amend the Bills of Sale Act, 1878: Be it enacted by the Queen's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords spiritual and temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows. (1878.) (1882.) Preamble (1878). Preamble (1882). 1878. 1882. Preamble. Act 1878. § 1. Short Title. § 1. Short Title. Act 1878. § 2. Commencement. Act 1882. §.2. Commencement, Extent of repeal. On account of the ease and facility which the secret transfer of personal chattels by bill of sale, afforded traders to dispose of their effects by way of security for their debts, whilst they continued, as before, the use and possession of them, and seemed to the outside world to be the owners of, and entitled to such effects, successive Acts, by prescribing modes of registration and other formalities, and by formulating definitions of what transfers should for the purposes of such Acts be deemed bills of sale, have sought to give publicity to all such assurances, and so to prevent the appearance of false stability on the part of the grantors of such chattels. Inasmuch as the principal Act (1878) and the Amendment Act (1882) are to be construed as one Act (a), henceforth the solution of all questions as to the scope, effect, object, and intention of the Act of 1882, where it is not otherwise clearly declared by the Amendment Act itself, must be sought in the Act of 1878 and the cases decided under it, notwithstanding the language and provisions of that Act have been materially modified and altered. This Act may be cited for all purposes as the Bills of Sale Act, 1878. This Act may be cited for all purposes as the Bills of Sale Act (1878) Amendment Act, 1882, and this Act and the Bills of Sale Act, 1878, may be cited together as the Bills of Sale Acts, 1878 and 1882. This Act shall come into operation on the 1st January, 1879, which day is in this Act referred to as the commencement of this Act: This Act shall come into operation on the first day of November, 1882, which date is hereinafter referred to as the commencement of this Act. The old Acts of 1854 and 1866 were repealed by the 23rd section of the Act of 1878 as to all bills of sale executed after the 1st January, 1879. It must be borne in mind that the repealed Acts are still applicable to all bills of sale executed prior to 1st January, 1879, and also that the rules of construction laid down as to the assignment of fixtures, and (a) See sects. 1 & 3, 45 & 46 Vict. c. 43. likewise the provisions made as to renewing registration, in the Act of 1878 are retrospective, and are to be applied to all bills of sale executed prior to 1st January, 1879, in all questions arising after the same date (b). The cases decided under the Acts of 1854 and 1866 will be cited hereafter where still applicable under the Bills of Sale Act, 1878, and the Amendment Act of 1882. 66 " 66 Act 1878. § 2. Act 1882. § 2. The following are some of the chief provisions of the repealed Comparison of successive Acts. By the 1854 Act, Sect. 1, it was provided that—“ Every Acts. "bill of sale of personal chattels made after the passing of this "Act (either absolutely or conditionally or subject or not sub"ject to any trusts, and whereby the grantee or holder shall "have power either with or without notice, and either immediately after the making of such bill of sale or at any future time, to seize or take possession of any property and effects comprised in or made subject to such bill of sale, and every "schedule or inventory which shall be thereto annexed or "therein referred to, or a true copy thereof, and of every "attestation of the execution thereof, shall, together with an "affidavit of the time of such bill of sale being made or given, "and a description of the residence and occupation of the person making or giving the same, or in case the same shall "be made or given by any person under or in the execution of any process, then a description of the residence and occupa"tion of the person against whom such process shall have "issued, and of every attesting witness to such bill of sale, be "filed with the officer acting as clerk of the docquets and judg"ments in the Court of Queen's Bench, within twenty-one days "after the making or giving of such bill of sale (in like manner as a warrant of attorney in any personal action given by a "trader is now by law required to be filed), otherwise such bill "of sale shall, as against all assignees of the estate and effects "of the person whose goods or any of them are comprised in "such bill of sale under the laws relating to bankruptcy or insolvency, or under any assignment for the benefit of the "creditors of such person, and as against all sheriffs' officers " and other persons seizing any property or effects comprised in "such bill of sale in the execution of any process of any court "of law or equity authorising the seizure of the goods of the person by whom or of whose goods such bill of sale shall 66 (b) Sects. 7, 11-23, 41 & 42 Vict. c. 31; and see Ex parte Moore, re Armytage, 14 Ch. D. 379; 49 L. J. 66 "have been made, and against every person on whose behalf 66 By Sect. 2, the defeasance or condition of every bill of sale was to be written on the same paper or parchment as the bill before it was filed. By Sects. 3, 4, 5, and 6, various regulations were made as to the method of registration to be adopted, and as to the discharge of bills of sale. Sect. 7 contained the definitions respectively of the expressions Bill of Sale," " Personal Chattels," and " Apparent Possession,” in respect of which it will be seen on a comparison of the full text of the Act (c), and the Act of 1878, that there have been material and important changes, the chief of which are, 1st, the enlargement of the term "Bill of Sale" by the Act of 1878; the term now includes "Inventories of goods with receipt thereto attached, or receipts for purchase-moneys of goods," and includes also "Any agreement, whether intended or not to be followed by the execution of any other instrument by which a right in equity to any personal chattels, or to any charge or security thereon, shall be conferred." Likewise the Act of 1878 enlarges the definition "Personal Chattels," by including (when separately assigned or charged), fixtures and growing crops, but excluding fixtures (except trade machinery as therein defined), when assigned together with a freehold or leasehold interest in any land or building to which they are affixed, and growing crops when assigned with any interest in the land on which they grow. Upon reference to the Bills of Sale Act, 1866, it will be found (c) See 17 & 18 Vict. c. 36. § 2. Act 1882. § 2. Act 1878. that the Act of 1854 and the Act of 1866 were to be construed Act 1878. together as one Act (d); that the filing of a bill of sale or a copy thereof with the affidavit required by the principal Act, was to be deemed registration (e), and that during "the subsistence of the security the registration of the bill of sale was to be renewed once in every period of five years, commencing from See sect. 11, the day of the registration, and if not so renewed such registration should cease to be of any effect at the expiration of any period of five years, during which a renewal had not been made as thereby required, subject to this provision that where a period of five years from the original registration of any bill of sale under the principal Act had expired before the first day of January, 1867, such bill of sale should be as valid to all intents and purposes as if that Act had not been passed, if such registration was renewed in manner provided (ƒ). The mode of renewing bills of sale (g), and of filing the affidavit of such renewal (h), were also provided for, as well as other provisions as to the registry itself, and the supply of copies of affidavits (i), all of which latter provisions are now superseded by those of the Act of 1878, both as to old bills registered under the Acts of 1854 and 1866, as well as to those under the Act of 1878 (j). Acts. This Act shall apply to every bill of sale executed on Act 1878. or after the first day of January, 1879, (whether the § 3. same be absolute or subject or not subject to any trust,) Application of whereby the holder or grantee has power either with or without notice, and either immediately or at any future time, to seize or take possession of any personal chattels comprised in or made subject to such bill of sale. Act 1882. § 3. Construction The Bills of Sale Act, 1878, is hereinafter referred to as "the principal Act," and this Act shall, so far as is consistent with the tenor thereof, be construed as one with of Act. the principal Act; but unless the context otherwise re- 41 & 42 Vict. quires shall not apply to any bill of sale duly registered (d) Sect. 1. (e) Sect. 1. (f) Sect. 4. (g) Sect. 5. (i) See sects. 7, 8, 9, & 10. c. 31. (h) Sect. 6. |