the liberties thereof, and all such parts of the metropolis and other places as are situated within the district of any county court described as a metropolitan county court in the list contained in the Third Schedule.*

97. Transfer of Proceedings from Court to Court.(1.) Subject to the provision of this Act, every court having original jurisdiction in bankruptcy shall have jurisdiction throughout England.

(2.) Any proceedings in bankruptcy may at any time, and at any stage thereof, and either with or without application from any of the parties thereto, be transferred by any prescribed authority and in the prescribed manner from one court to another court, or may by the like authority be retained in the court in which the proceedings were commenced, although it may not be the court in which the proceedings ought to have been commenced.

(3.) If any question of law arises in any bankruptcy proceeding in a county court which all the parties to the proceeding desire, or which one of them and the judge of the county court may desire, to have determined in the first instance in the High Court, the judge shall state the facts, in the form of a special case, for the opinion of the High Court. The special case and the proceedings, or such of them as may be required, shall be transmitted to the High Court for the purposes of the determination.†

*This clause re-enacts clause 60 of the Bankruptcy Act of 1869. See the third schedule, post, p. 242.

The first two sub-sections of this clause are based upon the third and sixth sub-sections of clause 80 of the Act of 1869, and clause 36 of the Judicature Act of 1873. The third sub-section confers an entirely new power upon the parties to an action in a County Court, or upon the judge, and one of such parties.

98. Exercise in Chambers of High Court Jurisdiction.-Subject to the provisions of this Act and to general rules, the judge of the High Court exercising jurisdiction in bankruptcy may exercise in chambers the whole or any part of his jurisdiction.*

99. Jurisdiction in Bankruptcy of Registrar.†—(1.) The registrars in bankruptcy of the High Court, and the registrars of a county court having jurisdiction in bankruptcy, shall have the powers and jurisdiction in this section mentioned, and any order made or act done by such registrars in the exercise of the said powers and jurisdiction shall be deemed the order or act of the Court.

(2.) Subject to general rules limiting the powers conferred by this section, a registrar shall have power(a.) To hear bankruptcy petitions, and to make receiving orders and adjudications thereon: (b.) To hold the public examination of debtors: (c.) To grant orders of discharge where the application is not opposed:

* A similar power was conferred upon the chief judge in bankruptcy by clause 65 of the Bankruptcy Act of 1869.

Under clause 67 of the Act of 1869, and general rules 3 and 4, the chief judge in bankruptcy, or the judge of a local court of bankruptcy, was empowered to delegate to a registrar all the powers he thought fit to delegate, except the power to make an order to commit a person for contempt. For these large and vague powers the present clause substitutes a detailed and precise enumeration of the orders which may be made or acts which may be done by the registrars; of course with the effect of excluding all others. It will be seen, that under the third sub-section the registrars of the High Court will (unless the Lord Chancellor otherwise orders in any particular case) have powers somewhat larger than those possessed by the registrars of the County Courts.

(d.) To approve compositions or schemes of arrangement when they are not opposed:

(e.) To make interim orders in any case of urgency:

(f.) To make any order or exercise any jurisdiction which by any rule in that behalf is pre

scribed as proper to be made or exercised in chambers:

(g.) To hear and determine any unopposed or ex parte application:

(h.) To summon and examine any person known or suspected to have in his possession effects of the debtor or to be indebted to him, or capable of giving information respecting the debtor, his dealings or property.

(3.) The Registrars in bankruptcy of the High Court shall also have power to grant orders of discharge and certificates of removal of disqualifications, and to approve compositions and schemes of arrange

ment.

(4.) The registrar shall not have power to commit for contempt of court.

(5.) The Lord Chancellor may from time to time by order direct that any specified registrar of a county court shall have and exercise all the powers of a bankruptcy registrar of the High Court.

100. Powers of County Court.*-A county court shall, for the purposes of its bankruptcy jurisdiction, in addition to the ordinary powers of the Court, have all the powers and jurisdiction of the High Court, and the orders of the Court may be enforced accordingly in manner prescribed.

*This is a re-enactment, with verbal modifications, of clause 66 of the Bankruptcy Act of 1869.

101. Board of Trade to make Payments in accordance with Directions of Court.*-Where any moneys or funds have been received by an official receiver or by the Board of Trade, and the Court makes an order declaring that any person is entitled to such moneys or funds the Board of Trade shall make an order for the payment thereof to the person so entitled as aforesaid.

*

102. General Power of Bankruptcy Courts.†—(1.)

This, being one of the clauses conferring power or jurisdiction upon the Board of Trade, is, of course, a new enactment.

The first paragraph of the first sub-section of this clause and sub-sections 2 and 3 re-enact section 72 of the Bankruptcy Act of 1869, with the substitution in the third sub-section of the words "the High Court" for "the London Court of Bankruptcy." The second paragraph of the first sub-section and the last two sub-sections are new. "The effect of section 72 of the Bankruptcy Act of 1879," says one of the latest writers on the law of bankruptcy, "has been much discussed, and some of the earlier decisions at all events are somewhat difficult to reconcile; but the general rule as laid down in the later cases appears to be this: The Court of Bankruptcy has the fullest jurisdiction to decide all questions arising in bankruptcy, which affect the bankruptcy estate, and are necessary to be determined for the purpose of effecting a complete distribution of such estate, both as against creditors, or even as against third parties; and this jurisdiction it is peculiarly competent to exercise (though even here the court may decline jurisdiction) where the trustee has a higher title than the bankrupt himself had, as, for instance, when it is sought to impeach a transaction as a fraudulent preference or act of bankruptcy. In cases, however, where he bas only the same right as the bankrupt, as, for instance, in the case of a mere money demand against an entire stranger to the proceedings, the Court of Bankruptcy ought not to assume jurisdiction, but should leave the determination of the question to be dealt with by the ordinary tribunals, unless the stranger be himself willing to accept the decision of the Court of Bankruptcy upon the point. Any objection to the discretionary exercise by the court of this jurisdiction should be taken at the earliest opportunity; and it is too late for one

Subject to the provisions of this Act, every court having jurisdiction in bankruptcy under this Act shall have full power to decide all questions of priorities, and all other questions whatsoever, whether of law or fact, which may arise in any case of bankruptcy coming within the cognizance of the Court, or which the Court may deem it expedient or necessary to decide for the purpose of doing complete justice or making a complete distribution of property in any such case.

Provided that the jurisdiction hereby given shall not be exercised by the county court for the purpose of adjudicating upon any claim, not arising out of the bankruptcy, which might heretofore have been enforced by action in the High Court, unless all parties to the proceedings consent thereto, or the money, money's worth, or right in dispute, does not, in the opinion of the judge, exceed in value two hundred pounds.

(2.) A court having jurisdiction in bankruptcy under this Act shall not be subject to be restrained in the execution of its powers under this Act by the order of any other court, nor shall any appeal lie from its decisions, except in manner directed by this Act.

(3.) If in any proceeding in bankruptcy there arises any question of fact which either of the parties desire

of the parties to take this objection for the first time on appeal after he has run the chance of a decision in his favour on the merits, though the court itself may decline jurisdiction at any time. An objection may, however, be taken subsequently when it is quite clear that the court below had no jurisdiction at all; in such a case, however, no costs will be allowed."-The Law of Bankruptcy, by Baldwin, p. 10. Most of these observations will still hold good with respect to the present clause; but the force of some will be materially affected. Sub-section (4) of the present clause would seem to contemplate the exercise of a more extended jurisdiction than heretofore on the part of the High Court.