Discharge of the bankrupt who shall be sued, &c. on any debt contracted before

the Commis

sion, provided

for.

Promise to

from which

firmation of the certificate of such bankrupt, every creditor so offending shall forfeit and lose for every such offence the treble value or amount of such money, goods, chattels or security, so obtained, as the case may be.

LXIV. And be it enacted, that any bankrupt who shall, after his certificate shall have been confirmed, be arrested, or have any action brought against him for any debt, claim or demand, proveable under the commission against such bankrupt, shall be discharged on entering common bail or common appearance, and may plead in general that the cause of action accrued before he became bankrupt, and may give this Act and the special matter in evidence; and such bankrupt's certificate, and the confirmation thereof, shall be sufficient evidence of the trading, bankruptcy, commission, and other proceedings precedent.to the obtaining such certificate; and if any such bankrupt shall be taken in execution, or detained in prison for such debt, claim or demand, when judgment has been obtained before the confirmation of his certificate, it shall be lawful for any Judge of the Court, wherein judgment has been so obtained, on such bankrupt's producing his certificate, to order any officer who shall have such bankrupt in custody by virtue of such execution, to discharge such bankrupt without exacting any fee, and such officer shall be hereby indemnified for so doing.

LXV. And be it enacted, that no bankrupt, after his certificate shall have been pay any debt confirmed under any commission of bankruptcy, shall be liable to pay or satisfy the bankrupt any debt, claim or demand from which he shall have been discharged by virtue of is discharged his certificate, or any part of such debt, claim or demand, upon any contract, proinvalid, unless mise or agreement, made or to be made after the date of the commission, unless such promise, contract or agreement, be made in writing, signed by the bankrupt, or by some person thereto lawfully authorized in writing by such bankrupt.

by certificate,

in writing.

Meeting of

assignees.

LXVI. And be it enacted, that the assignees shall, at such time as shall be apcreditors to be pointed by the Judge or Commissioner, within six months from their appointment, call a meeting of all the creditors of the bankrupt, by a notice to be published in such manner as the Judge or Commissioner shall direct, at which meeting the creditors, who have not before proved their debts, shall be allowed to prove the same; and the assignees shall produce to the Judge or Commissioner and the creditors Account of then present, fair and just accounts of all their receipts and payments, touching the estate of the bankrupt, and shall, if required by the Judge or Commissioner, be examined on oath as to the truth of such accounts, and the Judge or Commissioner shall thereupon make an order in writing under his hand for a dividend of the said estate and effects, or of such parts thereof as he shall think fit, among such of the creditors of the said bankrupt as shall have proved their debts, in proportion to their respective debts, which order shall be recorded with the other

assignees.

Dividend.

proceedings

proceedings in the case: Provided always, that all debts due by the bankrupt to Her Majesty, or to any person who, by the laws of any part of this Province, are, or may be entitled to a priority or preference with respect to such debts out of the estate of the bankrupt, shall have the benefit of such priority or preference in like manner as if this Act had not been passed: and if, at the time of ordering such dividend, it shall appear to the Judge or Commissioner probable that there are just claims against the estate, which, by reason of the distant residence of the creditors, or for other sufficient reasons, have not been proved, but, nevertheless may be, the Judge or Commissioner shall, in ordering such dividend, leave in the hands of the assignees a sum sufficient to pay to every such creditor a proportion equal to what shall be then paid to other creditors, which sum shall remain thus unappropriated in the hands of the assignees until the final dividend shall be declared, or until the Judge or Commissioner shall order its distribution.

Second divi

dend.

LXVII. And be it enacted, that the said assignees shall, at such time as shall be appointed by the Judge or Commissioner, within eighteen months after the appointment of the assignees, make a second dividend of the said estate, in case the same was not wholly distributed upon the first dividend, and shall give notice of a meeting for that purpose of all the creditors of the bankrupt, in such manner as the Judge or Commissioner shall direct; at which meeting the creditors, who have not before proved their debts, shall be allowed to prove the same, and the accounts of the assignees shall then be produced and examined, as provided in the preceding section, and shall be settled by the Judge or Commissioner, and what, upon the balance thereof, shall appear to be in their hands, shall, by a like order of the Judge or Commissioner, be divided among all the creditors who shall then have proved their debts, in proportion to their respective debts, subject to the provision hereinafter contained respecting any allowance to bankrupts: Provided, that no creditor, whose debt shall be proved at the second, or any after dividend, shall be allowed to disturb any prior dividend, but he shall be paid so far only as the funds remaining unappropriated in the hands of the assignees shall be sufficient mer ones. therefor; and if, at the time of appointing the meeting for the said second dividend, there shall remain in the hands of the assignees any outstanding debts, or other property, due or belonging to the estate, which cannot, in the opinion of the Judge or Commissioner, be collected and received by the assignees without unreasonable or inconvenient delay, the assignees may, under the direction of the Judge or Commissioner, sell and assign such debts or other property in such manner as the Judge or Commissioner shall direct; and such second dividend dend to be filshall be final, unless any suit relating to the estate be then depending, or any part nal. of the estate be outstanding, or unless some other estate or effects of the said bankrupt shall afterwards come to the hands of the assignees, in which cases another dividend shall be made, by order of the Judge or Commissioner, in man

H

ner

Proviso'Subsequent dividends not to disturb for

Second divi

Exception.

Debts may be proved at any

regular meet

ing.

Courts of Re

ted.

ner hereinbefore provided, and further dividends shall be made in like manner as often as occasion shall require; and at every regular meeting of the creditors those who have not before proved their debts shall be allowed to prove the same, and if, after payment of all debts proved as aforesaid, any surplus shall remain in the hands of the assignees, the same shall be paid or re-conveyed to, or revest in the bankrupt or his legal representatives.

LXVIII. And be it enacted, that the Court of Chancery in and for that part of view constitu- the Province formerly Upper Canada, and the several Courts of King's Bench in and for the Districts of Quebec, Montreal, Three Rivers and Saint Francis, shall be, each within their respective jurisdictions, Courts of Review in cases and matters of bankruptcy, and may, from time to time, and at all times within such Their powers. their jurisdictions, make general rules and orders for regulating the forms of proceedings and the practice to be observed and the costs to be allowed when not otherwise provided for by this Act in all cases of bankruptcy, and shall also have full power and authority to entertain, hear and determine, and make all necessary orders in all appeals from the several Judges of the District Courts, and from the Commissioners aforesaid, in matters of bankruptcy, in cases arising, pending or determined within the respective jurisdictions of the said Court of Chancery, and the said several Courts of King's Bench, and to allow such costs of appeal as to them shall seem fit, and that appeals as aforesaid shall respectively lie from the said Judges and Commissioners, and their judgments, adjudications and orders, at the instance of any creditor or of the assignees of any bankrupt, and the shall be final. decision of such Court of Review shall be final.

"Decision of such Courts

Before whom affidavits re

be sworn.

LXIX. And be it enacted, that all affidavits to be made or used in matters of quired under bankruptcy or under this Act, shall and may be sworn before any Judge of a Court this Act may of Record in this Province, or any Clerk or Officer of such Court otherwise authorized to administer oaths, or before any Commissioner appointed for taking affidavits in any of such Courts, or before any Master or Master Extraordinary in Chancery, or before any Commissioner of Bankrupts, if such affidavits be sworn by a creditor or other person residing within this Province, or if elsewhere then before any Judge of a Superior Court of Record, or Notary, and attested by the Mayor, or other Chief Magistrate of any City, Town or Place, or a British Minister, Consul or Vice-Consul.

Matters may be sworn to,

either viva vo

LXX. And be it enacted, that the said several Judges of the District Courts, and the Commissioners of Bankruptcy, and the said several Courts of Review, ce or by affida- may, in all matters within their respective jurisdiction, have power to take the whole or any part of the evidence in any matter of bankruptcy before them, either vivâ voce on oath, or upon affidavits or depositions to be sworn as aforesaid.

vit in writing.

What costs

may be allow

LXXI. And be it enacted, that the said several Judges and the Commissioners aforesaid, may award in all matters before such Courts, respectively, such costs ed, and how as to them shall seem fit and just, subject to the power of the Courts of Review recovered. hereinbefore contained; and in all cases in which costs shall be so awarded against any person, it shall and may be lawful for such Judge or Commissioner to cause such costs to be recovered from such person, in the same manner as costs awarded by a rule of any of the Superior Courts in this Province may be recovered; and that the like remedies may be had upon an order of such Court for costs, as upon a rule of any of the said Superior Courts for costs.

LXXII. And be it enacted, that every commission of bankruptcy issued under this Act, and the proceedings thereunder, or any part of such proceedings, or copies, or minutes of every such commission and proceedings, or part thereof, as and in such form and at such time as the Court of Review, having jurisdiction in the particular case, shall by any order from time to time direct, shall be transmitted by the Judge or Commissioner who issued such commission to such Court of Review, to be there filed and kept among the records of that Court.

Commissions of bankruptcy,

&c. to be filed of Record in

the Courts of Review.

Ordinance L. C. 2 Vict.

Proviso.

LXXIII. And be it enacted, that a certain Ordinance of the Legislature of Lower Canada concerning bankrupts, passed in the second year of Her Majesty's (3) c. 36, roreign, intituled, An Ordinance concerning bankrupts, and the administration and pealed. distribution of their estates and effects, shall be, and the same is hereby repealed, upon, from and after the day that this Act shall come into operation: Provided always, that nothing herein contained shall render invalid any proceedings which may have been had under any commission or warrant in bankruptcy now subsisting, or which shall have been issued before this Act shall come into operation or effect, or lessen any right, claim, demand or remedy, which any person now has thereunder, or upon or against any bankrupt against whom such commission or warrant has or shall have issued as aforesaid, but that all such proceedings shall be completed as if this Act had not been passed, except as herein especially pro

vided.

cates of disa

out the Pro*

LXXIV. And be it enacted, that the certificate of discharge obtained by any Former certifi bankrupt, from any of the Commissioners acting under the Ordinance herein charge to he before recited, and by this Act repealed, at any time prior to the passing of this valid throughAct, or under any commission or warrant in bankruptcy now subsisting, or which vince. shall have been issued before this Act shall come into operation or effect, shall, from and after the passing of this Act, be deemed valid and effectual as a discharge to such bankrupt throughout this Province, from all debts due by him at the date of such commission, and made proveable under such commission.

What laws observed in ca

ses otherwise unprovided for.

Allowance to bankrupts.

the pound.

Paying 128 6d in the pound.

the pound.

LXXV. And be it enacted, that in all questions not otherwise provided for the laws of Upper Canada and of Lower Canada, respectively, shall be resorted to as the rule of decision in all questions respecting Bankrupts, as the said laws now respectively obtain in each section of the Province, and in cases unprovided for in the existing laws above-mentioned, then resort shall be had to the laws of England, as such rule of decision in that part of this Province heretofore Upper Canada, and that only.

LXXVI. And be it enacted, that every bankrupt who shall have obtained his certificate and the confirmation thereof, if the net produce of his estate in hand (with or without prior dividend) pay the creditors who, before or at the time of Paying 10s in making such order, have proved debts under the commission, ten shillings in the pound, shall be allowed and paid five per centum out of the produce, provided that such allowance shall not exceed two hundred and fifty pounds; and every such bankrupt, if such produce shall (with or without prior dividend) pay such creditors twelve shillings and six pence in the pound, shall be allowed and paid seven pounds and ten shillings per centum, provided such allowance shall not exceed the sum of three hundred and twenty-five pounds; and every such bankPaying 15s in rupt, if such produce shall (with or without prior dividend) pay such creditors fifteen shillings in the pound or upwards, shall be allowed and paid as aforesaid ten per centum, provided such allowance shall not exceed four hundred pounds, provided that no such allowance be made without an application to the Judge or Commissioner, and notice given to the assignees; and that such Judge or Commissioner, after hearing both parties, may make such order, not exceeding the foregoing provision, as he shall see fit, subject to the decision of the Court of Review: And provided always, that such allowance shall not be payable to any bankrupt until after the expiration of twelve months from the date of the commission, and such allowance shall then be payable only in the event of the dividends, paid to the creditors who at any time before the expiration of such twelve months shall have proved debts under the commission, being of the requisite amount in that behalf aforesaid; and if, at the expiration of such term, the diviPaying less dend paid as aforesaid shall not amount to ten shillings in the pound, it shall be lawful for the Judge or Commissioner to allow the bankrupt so much as he and the assignees shall agree upon, not exceeding three per centum, or one hundred and fifty pounds.

Proviso.

than 10s. in the

pound.

Allowance to

partners be

LXXVII. And be it enacted, that in all commissions against the joint and coming bank- separate estates of partners, any partner who shall obtain his certificate as a bankrupt shall, if a sufficient dividend shall have been paid upon the separate estate of such partner, be entitled to his allowance, although his other partner or partners may not be entitled to any allowance.

rupts.

LXXVIII.