in any real or personal property which is part of the estate of any bankrupt, and which after the execution of the deed, conveyance, assignment, surrender, admission, or other assurance, either at law or in equity, is or remains the estate of the bankrupt or of the trustee under the bankruptcy, and every power of attorney, proxy paper, writ, order, certificate, affidavit, bond, or other instrument or writing relating solely to the property of any bankrupt, or to any proceedings under any bankruptcy, shall be exempt from stamp duty, except in respect of fees under this Act (sect. 144). Corporations, &c. It is also provided that for all or any of the purposes of the Act a corporation may act by any of its officers authorized in that behalf under the seal of such corporation; a firm may act by any of its members; and a lunatic may act by his committee or curator bonis (sect. 148). By sects. 149-151, the construction of former Acts of Parliament and other instruments is regulated, and the existing rights of audience are preserved. Transitory Provisions. And by certain provisions at the end of the Act, called therein Transitory Provisions, rules are laid down with regard to the position of the existing comptroller in bankruptcy and other officers; the power is given to abolish certain existing offices where it is deemed necessary; and for the performance of any new duties by the persons whose offices are so abolished (see sects. 153-161). NOTE. As before stated, although the Act does not in general commence until the 1st of January next, it should be noted that sections 66, 127 to 129, 153, 162, and 170, came into operation on the passing of the Act. APPENDIX. THE BANKRUPTCY ACT, 1883. (46 & 47 VICT. c. 52.) An Act to amend and consolidate the Law of Bank[25th August, 1883. ruptcy. 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: Preliminary. 1. This Act may be cited as the Bankruptcy Act, Short title. 1883. 2. This Act shall not, except so far as is expressly Extent of provided, extend to Scotland or Ireland. act. of act. 3. This Act shall, except as by this Act otherwise Comprovided, commence and come into operation from mencement and immediately after the thirty-first day of December one thousand eight hundred and eighty-three. PART I. PROCEEDINGS FROM ACT OF BANKRUPTCY TO Acts of Bankruptcy. 4. (1.) A debtor commits an act of bankruptcy in each of the following cases : (a) If in England or elsewhere he makes a conveyance or assignment of his property to a trustee or trustees for the benefit of his creditors generally: M. K Acts of bankruptcy. (b) If in England or elsewhere he makes a fraudulent conveyance, gift, delivery, or transfer of his property, or of any part thereof: (c) If in England or elsewhere he makes any conveyance or transfer of his property or any part thereof, or creates any charge thereon which would under this or any other Act be void as a fraudulent preference if he were adjudged bankrupt : (d) If with intent to defeat or delay his creditors he does any of the following things, namely, departs out of England, or being out of England remains out of England, or departs from his dwelling-house, or otherwise absents himself, or begins to keep house: (e) If execution issued against him has been levied by seizure and sale of his goods under process in an action in any Court, or in any civil proceeding in the High Court: (f) If he files in the Court a declaration of his inability to pay his debts or presents a bankruptcy petition against himself: (g) If a creditor has obtained a final judgment against him for any amount, and execution thereon not having been stayed, has served on him in England, or, by leave of the Court, elsewhere, a bankruptcy notice under this Act, requiring him to pay the judgment debt in accordance with the terms of the judgment, or to secure or compound for it to the satisfaction of the creditor or the Court, and he does not, within seven days after service of the notice, in case the service is effected in England, and in case the service is effected elsewhere, then within the time limited in that behalf by the order giving leave to effect the service, either comply with the requirements of the notice, or satisfy the Court that he has a counterclaim, set-off or cross demand which equals or exceeds the amount of the judgment debt, and which he could not set up in the action in which the judgment was obtained: (h) If the debtor gives notice to any of his creditors that he has suspended, or that he is about to suspend, payment of his debts. (2.) A bankruptcy notice under this Act shall be in the prescribed form, and shall state the consequences of non-compliance therewith, and shall be served in the prescribed manner. Receiving Order. make re 5. Subject to the conditions hereinafter specified, Jurisdicif a debtor commits an act of bankruptcy the Court tion to may, on a bankruptcy petition being presented ceiving either by a creditor or by the debtor, make an order, order. in this Act called a receiving order, for the protection of the estate. 6. (1.) A creditor shall not be entitled to present Conditions a bankruptcy petition against a debtor unless on which creditor tion. (a) The debt owing by the debtor to the petition- may peti- (b) The debt is a liquidated sum, payable either (2.) If the petitioning creditor is a secured creditor, he must, in his petition, either state that he is willing to give up his security for the benefit of the creditors in the event of the debtor being adjudged bankrupt, or give an estimate of the value of his security. In the latter case he may be admitted as a petitioning creditor to the extent of the balance of the debt due to him, after deducting the value so estimated in the same manner as if he were an unsecured creditor. |