IV. LIABILITIES OF MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT.

Privilege of parliament does not protect from bankruptcy, and persons acting under the bankruptcy may proceed thereupon, in the same manner as against any other bankrupt; but members cannot be arrested or imprisoned during the time of such privilege. Members of parliament not paying conformably to the order or decree of a court of equity are guilty of an act of bankruptcy.

The 52 G. 3, c. 144, makes some important provisions for depriving members of the House of Commons of their seats, who become bankrupt, and do not, within a limited period, pay their debts in full. Under this act a member is declared utterly incapable of sitting and voting in the House of Commons, during twelve calendar months from the issuing of the commission, unless, within the said period, such commission be superseded, or the creditors of such member, proving under the commission, be paid, or satisfied to the full amount of their debts under the commission.

By s. 2, if within twelve calendar months the commission be not superseded, nor the debts satisfied, in the aforesaid manner, the commissioners certify the same to the Speaker of the House of Commons, and thereupon the election is declared void; and, fourteen days' notice having been previously inserted in the Gazette, the Speaker may issue his warrant to the clerk of the crown to make out a new writ, for electing another member, in the room of such member who has so vacated his seat.

This act is now repealed, but similar provisions are contained in the Bankruptcy Act, 1869, ss. 121–124.

Another disqualification arising out of bankruptcy may be mentioned under this head. By the 1 G. 4, c. 100, s. 5, no person who has been a bankrupt, or taken the benefit of any insolvent act, or compounded with his creditors, and not paid twenty shillings in the pound, is eligible to be a commissioned officer in the London militia. Penalty for serving under such disqualification, £100.

V. BANKRUPTCY OF JOINT-STOCK COMPANIES.

Joint-stock companies, whether with or without limited liability, are not liable to be adjudged bankrupt under the Bankruptcy Act, 1869, but provision has been made by the Companies Act, 1862, for winding up such companies when unable to meet their engagements, and generally whenever the Court of Chancery is of opinion that it is just and equitable that the company should be Wound up. The winding up may either be voluntary on the part of the company, or compulsory by order of the Court of Chancery. The persons appointed to conduct the winding up are called liquidators, and they raise money to meet claims on the company by means of calls on the present or past members of the company who

are made liable under the act to contribute thereunto. Section 38 of the act declares the liability of such members in the following terms: In the event of a company formed under this act being wound up, every present and past member of such company shall be liable to contribute to the assets of the company to an amount sufficient for payment of the debts and liabilities of the company, and the costs, charges, and expenses of the winding up, and for the payment of such sums as may be required for the adjustment of the rights of the contributories amongst themselves with the qualifications following (that is to say):-(1.) No past member shall be liable to contribute to the assets of the company if he has ceased to be a member for a period of one year or upwards prior to the commencement of the winding up. (2.) No past member shall be liable to contribute in respect of any debt or liability of the company contracted after the time at which he ceased to be a member. (3.) No past member shall be liable to contribute to the assets of the company, unless it appears to the court that the existing members are unable to satisfy the contributions required to be made by them in pursuance of this act. (4.) In the case of a company limited by shares, no contribution shall be required from any member exceeding the amount, if any, unpaid on the shares in respect of which he is liable as a present or past member. (5.) In the case of a company limited by guarantee, no contribution shall be required by any member exceeding the amount of the undertaking entered into on his behalf by the memorandum of association. (6.) Nothing in this act contained shall invalidate any provision contained in any policy of insurance or other contract whereby the liability of individual members upon any such policy or contract is restricted, or whereby the funds of the company are alone made liable in respect of such policy or contract. (7.) No sum due to any member of a company in his character of a member by way of dividends, profits, or otherwise, shall be deemed to be a debt of the company payable to such member in a case of competition between himself and any other creditor not being a member of the company; but any such sum may be taken into account for the purposes of the final adjustment of the rights of the contributories amongst themselves.

VI. THE BANKRUPTCY ACT 1869.

We now come to consider the provisions of this important statute, by which the law on the subject was consolidated, the former acts having been repealed by another act of the same session. The Bankruptcy Act 1869 is unusually terse and clear in its language, and it seems better, therefore, to give the more important sections and parts of sections at length than merely to express their meaning in other words. These sections are as

follows:

GQ

ADJUDICATION.

6. A single creditor, or two or more creditors if the debt due to such single creditor, or the aggregate amount of debts due to such several creditors, from any debtor, amount to a sum of not less than £50, may present a petition to the court, praying that the debtor be adjudged a bankrupt, and alleging as the ground for such adjudication any one or more of the following acts or defaults, included under the expression "acts of bankruptcy:"-(1.) That the debtor has. in England or elsewhere, made a conveyance or assignment of his property to a trustee or trustees for the benefit of his creditors generally. (2.) That the debtor has, in England or elsewhere, made a fraudulent conveyance, gift, delivery, or transfer of his property or of any part thereof. (3.) That the debtor has, with intent to defeat or delay his creditors, done any of the following things, namely, departed out of England, or being out of England remained out of England; or being a trader, departed from his dwelling house, or otherwise absented himself; or begun to keep house; or suffered himself to be outlawed. (4.) That the debtor has filed in the prescribed manner in the court a declaration admitting his inability to pay his debts. (5.) That execution issued against the debtor on any legal process, for the purpose of obtaining payment of not less than £50, has in the case of a trader been levied by seizure and sale of his goods. (6.) That the creditor presenting the petition has served in the prescribed manner on the debtor a debtor's summons requiring the debtor to pay a sum due, of an amount of not less than £50, and the debtor being a trader has for the space of seven days, or not being a trader has for the space of three weeks, succeeding the service of such summons, neglected to pay such sum or to secure or compound for the same. But no person shall be adjudged a bankrupt on any of the above grounds unless the act of bankruptcy on which the adjudication is grounded has occurred within six months before the presentation of the petition for adju lication; moreover, the debt of the petitioning creditor must be a liquidated sum due at law or in equity, and must not be a secured debt, unless the petitioner state in his petition that he will be ready to give up such security for the benefit of the creditors in the event of the debtor being adjudicat-d a bankrupt, or unless the petitioner is willing to give an estimate of the value of his security, in which 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, but he shall, on an application being made by the trustee within the prescribed time after the date of adjudication, give up his security to such trustee for the benefit of the creditors upon payment of such estimated value.

7. A debtor's summons may be granted by the court on a creditor ving to its satisfaction that a debt sufficient to support a petition

in bankruptcy is due to him from the person against whom the summons is sought, and that the creditor has failed to obtain payment of his debt, after using reasonable efforts to do so. The summons shall be in the prescribed form, resembling, as nearly as circumstances admit, a writ issued by one of her Majesty's superior courts. It shall state that in the event of the debtor failing to pay the sum specified in the summons, or to compound for the same to the satisfaction of the creditor, a petition may be presented against him, praying that he may be adjudged a bankrupt. The summons shall have an endorsement thereon to the like effect, or such other prescribed endorsement as may be best calculated to indicate to the debtor the nature of the document served upon him, and the consequences of inattention to the requisitions therein made. Any debtor served with a debtor's summons may apply to the court, in the prescribed manner and within the prescribed time, to dismiss such summons, on the ground that he is not indebted to the creditor serving such summons, or that he is not indebted to such amount as will justify such creditor in presenting a bankruptcy petition against him; and the court may dismiss the summons, with or without costs, if satisfied with the allegations made by the debtor, or it may, upon such security (if any) being given as the court may require for payment to the creditor of the debt alleged by him to be due, and the costs of establishing such debt, stay all proceedings on the summons for such time as will be required for the trial of the question relating to such debt: Provided that, when the summons shall have issued from the London Court of Bankruptcy, such trial shall be had either before such court or before any other court of competent jurisdiction, and when the summons shall have issued from a county court, before such court in all cases in which it has now jurisdiction, and in all other cases before some com. petent tribunal.

8. A petition praying that a debtor may be adjudged a bankrupt, in this act referred to as a bankruptcy petition, shall be served in the prescribed manner. At the hearing the court shall require proof of the debt of the petitioning creditor, and of the trading, if necessary, and of the act of bankruptcy, or, if more than one act of bankruptcy is alleged in the petition, of some one of the alleged acts of bankruptcy, and, if satisfied with such proof, shall adjudge the debtor to be bankrupt. The court may adjourn the petition, either conditionally or unconditionally, for the procurement of further evidence, or for any other just cause, or may dismiss the petition, with or without costs, as the court thinks just.

9. Where the debtor appears on the petition, and denies that he is indebted to the petitioner, or that he is indebted to such amount as would justify the petitioner in presenting a bankruptcy petition against him, the court, upon such security (if any) being given as the court may require, for payment to the petitioner of any debt which may be established against him in due course of

law, and of the costs of establishing such debt, may stay all proceedings on the petition for such time as may be required for trial of the question relating to such debt, and such trial shall be had in manner herein before provided with respect to disputed debts under debtors' summonses. Where proceedings are stayed the court may, if by reason of the delay caused by such stay of proceedings, or for any other cause it thinks just, adjudge the debtor a bankrupt on the petition of some other creditor, and shall thereupon dismiss, upon such terms as it thinks just, the petition proceedings in which have been stayed as aforesaid.

12. Where a debtor shall be adjudicated a bankrupt, no creditor to whom the bankrupt is indebted in respect of any debt provable in the bankruptcy, shall have any remedy against the property or person of the bankrupt, in respect of such debt, except in manner directed by the act. But this section shall not affect the power of any creditor holding a security upon the property of the bankrupt to realize or otherwise deal with such security, in the same manner as he would have been entitled to realize or deal with the same if this section had not been passed.

13. The court may, at any time after the presentation of a bankruptcy petition against the debtor, restrain further proceedings in any action, suit, execution, or other legal process against the debtor in respect of any debt provable in bankruptcy, or it may allow such proceedings, whether in progress at the commencement of the bankruptcy or commenced during its continuance, to proceed upon such terms as the court may think just. The court may also, at any time after the presentation of such petition, appoint a receiver or manager of the property or business of the debtor against whom the petition is presented, or of any part thereof, and may direct immediate possession to be taken of such property or business, or any part thereof.

APPOINTMENT OF TRUSTEE.

14. When an order has been made adjudging a debtor bankrupt, called an order of adjudication, the property of the bankrupt becomes divisible amongst his creditors in proportion to the debts proved by them in the bankruptcy; and for the purpose of effecting such division the court shall, as soon as may be, summon a general meeting of his creditors, and the creditors assembled at such meeting shall and may do as follows:-1. They shall, by resolution, appoint some fit person, whether a creditor or not, to fill the office of trustee of the property of the bankrupt, at such remuneration as they may from time to time determine, if any; or they may resolve to leave his appointment to the committee of etion hereinafter mentioned. 2. They shall, when they

a trustee, by resolution declare what security is to be

to whom, by the person so appointed, before he enters