Various other statutes in the next twenty years made unimportant changes in the constitution of the court. In 1847 jurisdiction in bankruptcy was again restored to the Court of Chancery by the appeal being transferred to that court. The Bankrupt Law Consolidation Act, 1849, effected several important alterations in the system. Proceedings were to begin by a petition to the Court of Bankruptcy instead of a fiat out of Chancery. The commissioners were authorized to award certificates, classified according to the merit of the bankruptcy. In the first class the insolvency was declared to be due to misfortune; in the second, not entirely to misfortune; and in the third, not at all to misfortune. Certain specified offences deprived, the bankrupt of all right to a certificate, and made him.

liable to a criminal prosecution. The object of this arrangement was, of course, to meet fraudulent, or not entirely honest, attempts to obtain the benefit of a discharge of debts under the bankruptcy laws It was not entirely successful, inasmuch as there was no settled principle observed in classifying the certificates, and the lowest class was, for all practical purposes, as good as the highest. The Act of 1849 also encouraged private arrangements by making a composition, accepted by nine-tenths of a bankrupt’s creditors, binding upon the rest"; but it was decided subsequently by the courts that, to make such a composition binding, it must be accompanied by a complete cessio bonorum. The next statute, the Bankruptcy Act, 1861, made non-traders subject to the law of bankruptcy, and empowered a majority in number, and three-fourths in value, of the creditors to bind the minority without a cessio bonorum. This arrangement was found to lead to private and fraudulent compositions, and in consequence by an Amendment Act in 1868 enlarged powers were given to non-assenting creditors. All this legislation still failed to give complete satisfaction. The complete exoneration of after-acquired property was denounced as unfair and likely to invite fraudulent bankruptcies, the system of arrangements with creditors was disliked, and the control of creditore over the property of the debtor and proceedings in bankruptcy was felt to be too small. The Bankruptcy Act, 1869, was passed after many unsuccessful attempts to deal with these complaints. It established a new Court of Bankruptcy, consisting of a chief judge, registrars, and other officers. The commissionerships were abolished, and the subordinate staff was to be transferred to the new court. The chief judge in bankruptcy is to be a judge of one of the Superior Courts of Law and Equity; and hitherto the office has been held by one of the acting vice-chancellors. Appeals from the county courts in bankruptcy go to the chief judge, and appeals from the chief judge to the Court of Appeal in Chancery, and thence occasionally to the House of Lords. Official assignees were abolished; and trustees, who should be creditors, are to be appointed to distribute the bankrupt’s estate, while the creditors may appoint a committee of inspection to superintend the opera tions of the trustees. A comptroller in bankruptcy will receive the trustees’ accounts after they have been audited by the committee, and take notice of any irregularity in the proceedings of the trustees. The law of reputed ownership was restricted to traders. Voluntary settlements by a trader, except in the case of property accrued in right of his wife, are void as against the trustee if the settler becomes bankrupt within two years after the settlement; and if he becomes bankrupt within ten years, it must be shown that, at the time of the settlement, he had sufficient property besides to pay his then existing debts, otherwise the settlement becomes void. A covenant by a trader, although made in consideration of marriage, for future settlement of property not then in any way belonging to him, is void as against the trustee, unless the property has been transferred or paid before the bankruptcy. The Act also introduces important alterations as to the discharge of the bankrupt. A bankrupt will not be discharged unless his estate has paid ten shillings in the pound, or a majority of the creditors (three fourths in value) declare that the bankrupt is not responsible for the deficiency, and that they desire his discharge. If within three years the bankrupt makes up the dividend of ten shillings in the pound, he may have his discharge; and in the meantime his property will be protected from the creditors of the bankruptcy. If he fails to make up this dividend within three years, any debt remaining unpaid will become enforceable against his after-acquired property,—subject, of course, to the rights of creditors subsequent to the bankruptcy. There are provisions for compromising the bankruptcy by composition or liquidation by arrangement. The usual criminal clauses have been separated from the new statute of bankruptcy and appear in a separate enactment,—the Debtors’ Act, 1869,—and the Court of Bankruptcy has no longer any criminal jurisdiction whatever. The Debtors’ Act abolishes imprisonment for debt (except in certain cases in which the debt is mostly of the nature of a penalty), and provides for the punishment of certain misdemeanours of fraudulent debtors, whose affairs have come into bankruptcy. The prosecution takes place before the ordinary criminal tribunals. The Bankruptcy Act and the Debtors’ Act become—by the repeal of previous statutes relating to insolvency, bankruptcy, and imprisonment for debt—a complete record of the legislation now in force on this subject.

Under the new statute all the county courts are constituted local courts of bankruptcy, while for the London district, as defined in the Act, there is the London Bankruptcy Court. All these courts are presumed to be the same court, and cases may be transferred from one to the other if necessary. Subject to this power of transfer, proceedings are to be taken against a debtor in the court of the district in which he resides; and if he does not reside in England and Wales, in the London court. By order of that court, or by resolution of the creditors, or by certificate of the local judge, cases may be transferred to the London court from any of the local courts. The chief judge, or a local judge, may delegate the powers (except the power of committing for contempt) to the registrar. All the courts of bankruptcy and their officers in England are to act in conjunction with bankruptcy courts in Scotland and Ireland, and with British courts having jurisdiction in bankruptcy elsewhere, the orders of one court being enforceable within the jurisdiction of the others. Section 72 of the Act gives to the new Court of Bankruptcy the important power “to decide all questions of priority, and all other questions of law or fact arising in any case of bankruptcy coming within the cognizance of such court, or which the court may deem it expedient or necessary tβ decide, for the purpose of doing complete justice or making a complete distribution of property in any such case.” By this enlarged jurisdiction the court has power to decide, even as against strangers, questions arising in the bankruptcy; and it has been held that it may restrain proceedings in Chancery or at Common Law, and even out of the jurisdiction. The judge may, at the reqnest of parties, or of his own discretion, direct issues of fact to be tried by a jury.

By the Bankruptcy Act, 1861, the special legislation relating to insolvent debtors was abolished. Up to that time traders only had been allowed the relief of bankruptcy, and all other insolvent debtors remained liable to their creditors for the unpaid portion of their debts. They might be kept in prison during the creditor’s pleasure, and any property they might acquire was available for the satisfaction of the creditors’ claims. From time to time special Acts were passed for the liberation of insolvent debtors confined in prison, a general Act (53 Geo. III. c. 102) was tried for a limited period and repeated, and finally, by 1 and 2 Vict. c. 110, a court was established for the “relief of insolvent debtors,” their discharge, of course, being conditional on the surrender of their property for the benefit of their creditors. The principle of the distinction thus maintained between the trader and the non-trader was, that the creditors of the former were to be regarded as to some extent partners in his speculations, while the latter was alone responsible for his insolvency; and it was feared that the discharge of bankruptcy, if allowed as a means of satisfying private debts, might give great encouragement to extravagance and fraud. On the abolition of thθ Insolvents’ Court in 1861, all insolvent debtors were admitted to the relief of bankrupt’s discharge, but a distinction is still made on several important points between traders and non-traders. A schedule to the Act of 1860 gives a list of the different occupations which are to be considered as “trades,” and the exception is expressly stated that “a farmer, grazier, common labourer, or workman for him, shall not, nor shall a member of any partnership, association, or company, which cannot be adjudged bankrupt under this Act, be deemed as such a trader for the purposes of this Act.” The liability to bankruptcy may therefore be said to be now almost co-extensive with the capacity to make a contract. Persons who cannot make a binding contract, e.g., married women, minors, lunatics, &c., cannot be made bankrupts. But where this incapacity is removed (as for example in the city of London, where by custom a married woman may trade as a femme sole), the liability to bankruptcy will arise.

Proceedings in bankruptcy are now begun by a petition from one or more creditors (claiming not less than £50), alleging that the debtor in question has committed an act of bankruptcy, and praying that he may be adjudged a bankrupt. The following are “acts of bankruptcy: ”— (1.) If the debtor has assigned his property to trustees for the benefit of his creditors; or (2), has made a fraudulent conveyance of any of his property; or (3), with intent to defeat his creditors, has departed from or remained out of England; or, being a trader, has left his dwelling-house, or begun to keep house, or suffered himself to be outlawed; or (4), has filed a declaration of inability to pay his debts; (5.) If execution for not less than £50 has been levied by seizure of goods (in the case of a trader); (6.) If the creditor has served a “debtors’summons” for not less than £50, and the debtor has for three weeks (or if a trader,'for seven days) neglected to pay or compound for the same. The adjudication must be asked for within six months of the act of bankruptcy, and the petitioning creditor’s debt must be for a liquidated (i.e., ascertained) sum due at law or in equity, and must not be a secured debt unless the security is given up for the benefit of the creditors. Should the alleged debtor deny his indebtedness, the court may dismiss the summons or direct the issue to be tried by itself or some other competent court; and similar proceedings take place when the debtor appears to the creditors’ petition and repudiates his indebtedness.

The consequence of adjudication is that all the bankI upt’s property vests in the registrar of the court, until the appointment by the creditors of a trustee, and thereafter in the trustee. The word property has been expressly defined to include money, goods, things in action, land, and every description of property, whether real or personal, also obligations, ornaments, and “every description of estate, interest, and profit, present or future, vested or contingent, arising out of, or incident to, property as above defined.” The adjudication “relates back” to the time of the “act of bankruptcy.” The bankrupt may retain the tools of his trade and the necessary clothing and bedding of his family to the extent in all of £20. It is the duty of the trustee to discover, take possession of, realize, and distribute the bankrupt’s property; and, subject to the provisions of the Bankruptcy Act, he must follow the directions of the committee of inspection or the creditors. The bankrupt is required to aid in the administration. He must procure a statement of his affairs, and submit to a public examination thereon. A bankrupt under examination is not, like a witness in other courts, protected from questions tending to inculpate himself, although he cannot be compelled to answer a question whether he has done some specific act clearly of a criminal nature. His answers may afterwards be used as evidence against him on a criminal charge. The bankrupt cannot now be arrested or imprisoned except for attempts to leave the country, avoid appearance, remove or conceal his goods, &c., or, after adjudication, for removing goods above the value of £5, or failing to attend examination, or committing contempt of court. If a member of the House of Commons is adjudged bankrupt, he becomes incapable of sitting or voting for one year after the adjudication, unless within that time the bankruptcy is annulled or the creditors satisfied. If on the expiration of a year neither of these events has taken place, the court certifies the fact to the speaker, and the seat of the bankrupt member thereupon becomes vacant. A bankrupt peer is disqualified from sitting or voting in the House of Lords, unless and until his bankruptcy is annulled on the ground that the order of adjudication ought not to have been made, or the bankrupt is discharged by actual payment or satisfaction in the prescribed mode from all debts and liabilities due at the date of his bankruptcy. The conditions on which a bankrupt may obtain his discharge have been already stated. The discharge releases the bankrupt for all debts provable under the bankruptcy, except debts due to the Crown, or for offences against the revenue, and debts incurred by means of fraud or breach of trust. The court has power to annul the bankruptcy on various grounds, but in that case all acts properly done by the trustee in reference to the property of the bankrupt will now remain valid. A partnership may be adjudged bankrupt, and the general rule of distribution is that the joint creditors have priority of payment out of the joint or partnership property, and the separate creditors out of the separate estate.

A less public form of bankruptcy is also sanctioned by the Act of 1869. By § 125 it is provided that the creditors of a debtor may declare (by a majority in number and three-fourths in value) that his affairs are to be liquidated by arrangement and not in bankruptcy. By § 126 the creditors may, by a resolution under the same conditions, resolve that a composition shall be accepted in satisfaction of the debts due to them by the debtor. If liquidation is resolved on, every creditor, whether having notice of the meeting or not, is absolutely restrained from taking any proceedings for recovering his debt, unless it appears to the court that his debt is prejudicially affected by the resolution; otherwise under liquidation or composition, the court may restrain or permit other legal processes on respect of provable debts as it thinks fit.

In Scotland, as in England, the law of bankruptcy arose as a remedy against the frauds of insolvent debtors. It was declared by an Act of the Scottish Parliament (1621, c. 18) that no debtor after insolvency should fraudulently diminish the fund belonging to his creditors, and if a deed of assignment was gratuitously executed after the contracting of debt in favour of a near relation or a confidential friend, fraudulent dealing was to be presumed. The Act 1696, c. 5, settled the definition of a notour or notorious bankrupt, a question which had previously engaged the attention of the judges of the Court of Session. The statute defines a “a notour bankrupt” to be any debtor who, being under diligence by horning or caption, at the instance of his creditors, shall be either imprisoned, or retire to the abbey or any other privileged place, or flee or abscond for his personal security, or defend his person by force, and who shall afterwards be found, by sentence of the Lords of Session, to be insolvent. Bankruptcy as thus defined was, it is said, intended to afford a remedy against fraudulent preference by debtors, and not as the ground-work of a general process of distribution, although by later statutes it became a necessary requisite of every such process. The exceptions recognized in the Act of 1696, of persons absent from Scotland, and therefore not liable to imprisonment, or of persons exempted therefrom by special privileges, were removed by later legislation. The English distinction between traders and non-traders, it will be observed, is not recognized in Scotch law. The statute made null and void all voluntary dispositions, assignations, and other deeds at or after or within sixty days before bankruptcy. The principal Bankruptcy Act now in force is the 19 and 20 Vict. c. 79 (amended by 20 and 21 Vict. c. 19, and 23 and 24 Vict. c. 33).

By section 9 of the principal Act, notour bankruptcy is now constituted—

1. By sequestration (or adjudication in England and Ireland); and

2. By insolvency concurring either—(a), with a duly executed charge for payment followed by imprisonment or apprehension, or flight or retreat to sanctuary, by execution of arrestment of debtor’s effects, not discharged within fifteen days, by execution of poinding of any...