Board shall inquire into the matter and take such action thercon as may be deemed expedient.

(2.) The Board may at any time require any trustee to answer any inquiry made by them in relation to any bankruptcy in which the trustee is engaged, and may, if the Board think fit, apply to the Court to examine on oath the trustee or any other person concerning the bankruptcy.

(3.) The Board may also direct a local investigation to be made of the books and vouchers of the trustee.

PART VI.

CONSTITUTION, PROCEDURE, AND POWERS OF COURT.

Jurisdiction.

92. Jurisdiction to be exercised by High Court and County Courts.-(1.) The Courts having jurisdiction in bankruptcy shall be the High Court and the county courts.*

It was provided by the Supreme Court of Judicature Act, 1873, that the London Court of Bankruptcy should be united with the Supreme Court of Judicature established by that act, and that its jurisdiction should be transferred to the High Court of Justice. This provision was, however, repealed by the Supreme Court of Judicature Act, 1875. The effect of the present and the next clause is to restore and re-enact the provisions of the Judicature Act of 1873. The result of this consolidation, together with the repeal of the Bankruptcy Act of 1869, will be that section 24 of the Judicature Act of 1873 will in future apply to the Bankruptcy Court. As to stay of actions or process, see ante, clauses 9 and 10, which not only give the Bankruptcy Court power to stay any execution or legal process against the person or property of a debtor, but enact that any court in which proceedings are pending against a debtor may stay them, &c., on proof

(2.) But the Lord Chancellor may from time to time, by order under his hand, exclude any county court from having jurisdiction in bankruptcy, and for the purposes of bankruptcy jurisdiction may attach its district or any part thereof to the High Court, or to any other county court or courts, and may from time to time revoke or vary any order so made.* The Lord Chancellor may, in like manner and subject to the like conditions, detach the district of any county court or any part thereof from the district and jurisdiction of the High Court.

(3.) The term "district," when used in this Act with reference to a county court, means the district of the court for the purposes of bankruptcy jurisdiction.

(4.) A county court which, at the commencement of this Act, is excluded from having bankruptcy jurisdiction, shall continue to be so excluded until the Lord Chancellor otherwise orders.

(5.) Periodical sittings for the transaction of bankruptcy business by county courts having jurisdiction in bankruptcy shall be holden at such times and at such intervals as the Lord Chancellor shall prescribe for each such court.†

of the presentation of a bankruptcy petition. See also clause 102, sub-sections 4 and 5, giving power to the judge of the High Court who makes a receiving order to direct the transfer to himself of any actions by or against the bankrupt pending in any other division of the High Court.

*The power to attach a district, or any part thereof, to the High Court, or to detach it therefrom, is new. It will enable the Lord Chancellor to enlarge or curtail the boundaries of the London bankruptcy district, and the jurisdiction of the London Bankruptcy Court, which is by the next clause consolidated with the Supreme Court of Judicature. It is presumed that that is the principal, if not the only, object of the proviso.

This last sub-section is a new, and will probably be found a very useful provision.

N

93. Consolidation of London Bankruptcy Court with Supreme Court of Judicature.*-(1.) From and after the commencement of this Act the London Bankruptcy Court shall be united and consolidated with and form part of the Supreme Court of Judicature, and the jurisdiction of the London Bankruptcy Court shall be transferred to the High Court.

(2.) For the purposes of this union, consolidation, and transfer, and of all matters incidental thereto and consequential thereon, the Supreme Court of Judicature Act, 1873, as amended by subsequent Acts, shall, subject to the provisions of this Act, have effect as if the union, consolidation, and transfer had been effected by that Act, except that all expressions referring to the time appointed for the commencement of that Act shall be construed as referring to the commencement of this Act, and, subject as aforesaid, this Act and the said above-mentioned Acts shall be read and construed together.

94. Transaction of Bankruptcy Business by Special Judge of High Court.-(1.) Subject to general rules, and to orders of transfer made under the authority of the Supreme Court of Judicature Act, 1873, and Acts amending it,

(a.) All matters pending in the London Bankruptcy Court at the commencement of this Act; and

(b.) All matters which would have been within the exclusive jurisdiction of the London Bankruptey Court, if this Act had not passed; and

(c.) All matters in respect of which jurisdiction is given to the High Court by this Act,

* See as to this clause the first note to the preceding clause,

shall be assigned to such Division of the High Court as the Lord Chancellor may from time to time direct.

(2.) All such matters shall, subject as aforesaid, be ordinarily transacted and disposed of by or under the direction of one of the judges of the High Court, and the Lord Chancellor shall from time to time assign a judge for that purpose.

(3.) Provided that during vacation, or during the illness of the judge so assigned, or during his absence or for any other reasonable cause such matters, or any part thereof, may be transacted and disposed of by or under the directions of any judge of the High Court named for that purpose by the Lord Chancellor.

(4.) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the officers, clerks, and subordinate persons who are, at the commencement of this Act, attached to the London Bankruptcy Court, and their successors, shall be officers of the Supreme Court of Judicature, and shall be attached to the High Court.

(5.) Subject to general rules, all bankruptcy matters shall be entitled, "In bankruptcy."

95. Petition, where to be presented.—(1.) If the debtor against or by whom a bankruptcy petition is presented has resided or carried on business within the London bankruptcy district as defined by this Act for the greater part of the six months immediately preceding the presentation of the petition, or for a longer period during those six months than in the district of any county court, or is not resident in England, or if the petitioning creditor is unable to ascertain the residence of the debtor, the petition shall be presented to the High Court..

(2.) In any other case the petition shall be pre

sented to the county court for the district in which the debtor has resided or carried on business for the longest period during the six months immediately preceding the presentation of the petition.

(3.) Nothing in this section shall invalidate a proceeding by reason of its being taken in a wrong court.*

96. Definition of the London Bankruptcy District. -The London Bankruptcy District shall, for the purposes of this Act, comprise the City of London and

* This clause differs rather materially from the corresponding clause (59) of the Act of 1869, which was as follows:-"If the person sought to be adjudged a bankrupt reside or carry on business within the London bankruptcy district, as hereinafter defined, or be not resident in England, then the court' shall mean for the purposes of this act the Court of Bankruptcy in London as constituted by this act, and hereinafter referred to as the London Bankruptcy Court. If the person sought to be adjudged a bankrupt being resident in England do not reside or carry on business within the London bankruptcy district, then the court' shall, subject to the provisions hereinafter contained for removing the proceedings, mean the County Court of the district in which the person resides or carries on business, hereinafter referred to as the Local Bankruptcy Court." It will be seen that under the clause we have just cited a debtor must be made bankrupt in the district where he was actually residing or carrying on business at the moment of bankruptcy. The effect of this was that debtors when on the point of insolvency frequently removed out of the districts where they had resided or carried on business, and went to reside or ostensibly carry on business in another district, both with the effect and intention of defeating or delaying creditors who might find it inconvenient to follow them. This practice will be defeated by the present clause, which requires the petition to be presented not in the district where a debtor happens to be casually residing, or which he has chosen for purposes of his own, but in that where he has actually resided during the time when it may be presumed that most of his debts were contracted.