The following sections came into operation on the passing of the Act :— Sections 66, 127, 128, 129, 153, 162 and 170. A Concise Statement OF THE BANKRUPTCY ACT, 1883. INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. SECTION 1. A GENERAL SKETCH OF THE NEW LAW. Ir is generally admitted that the two main, and at the same time distinct, objects of any good bankruptcy law are (1) An economical and honest administration of bankrupt estates, with a view to a fair and speedy distribution of such estates among the creditors whose property they are; and (2) the improvement of the general tone of commercial morality, by promoting honest trading and lessening the number of failures. Such being the case, it may be freely confessed that the Bankruptcy Act of 1869 has proved utterly unsatisfactory. The causes for the defects of the Act of 1869 seem to be almost as much upon the surface of the Act as were the defects themselves. It favoured debtors at the expense of creditors. By the Act no sufficient provision was made for anything in the nature of an impartial or M. B |