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XIII. What are exceptions, and when may they be filed? ANS. Objections by the plaintiff to the defendant's answer as being insufficient; the exceptions state the particular points on which the plaintiff considers it insufficient and prays that the defendant may be compelled to put in a better answer. The plaintiff must except within six weeks after answer filed. (2 Leg. Reas. Why, 17.)

XIV. When may the plaintiff move for a decree, and what evidence is taken on the hearing?

ANS. The plaintiff may at any time after the time for answering has expired (but before replication) move the Court upon notice for such decree or decretal order as he thinks himself entitled to. (15 & 16 Vict. c. 86, s. 15.) If a suit is heard on motion for decree the evidence is taken by affidavit or deposition before the examiner, and no evidence can be taken on the hearing except by special order of the Court. (Ayck. Pract. 138, 8th ed.)

XV. May a defendant be cross-examined on his answer, and a witness on his affidavit, and how?

ANS. A defendant cannot be cross-examined on his answer unless he gives notice to read it on motion for decree, when the answer is treated as an affidavit. (15 & 16 Vict. c. 86, s. 15.) Any witness who has made an affidavit is liable to be cross-examined on it; such cross-examination, if the suit is heard on motion for decree, takes place before an examiner, if after replication filed at the hearing of the suit. (Ayck. Pract. 138, 8th ed.)

BANKRUPTCY.

I. Are all persons equally and on the same proof liable to be made bankrupts ? If not, what difference of liability is

there?

ANS. By the Act of 1861, sec. 69, all persons, whether traders or not, are made subject to the provisions of the Act, but as regards non-traders, they can only be adjudged bankrupt in respect of some one of the Acts of Bankruptcy therein described as applicable to non-traders. (Ante, p. 252, tit., "Traders or Not.")

II. Does privilege of Parliament exempt a person who has committed an act of bankruptcy from the operation of the Act of 1861, and does he stand in any, and what, position different from one who is not so privileged ?

ANS. A member of Parliament who has committed an act of bankruptcy may be made a bankrupt; he may be dealt with as any other trader, except that he is not subject to arrest and imprisonment during the time of such privilege, except in cases made felonies and misdemeanours. (5 Exam. Chron. 229.)

III. Under what circumstances may a petition for adjudication be filed against an executor or trustee?

ANS. Where he permanently carries on the business in pursuance of the will of a deceased trader, but not by merely selling off the deceased's stock-in-trade, although obliged to purchase articles to mix with it in order to make it saleable. (2 Exam. Chron. 228; 5 id. 228.)

IV. What is the most general description of a trader, liable to be made bankrupt as a trader?

ANS. The statutory general description (Act of 1849, s. 65) is: All persons who either for themselves, or as agents or factors for others, seek their living by buying and selling, or by buying and letting for hire, or by the workmanship of goods or commodities. (See Wise's Bankr. 60.)

V. To what extent, and under what circumstances, may a trader assign his effects as a security for or in payment of an antecedent debt, without committing an act of bankruptcy?

ANS. A trader may assign part of his property and effects as security for an antecedent debt, so long as it does not prevent him from carrying on his business, and is not done voluntarily, but under threat of legal proceedings. (5 Exam. Chron. 201-204, 208; ante, p. 248.)

VI. State the amount required for the petitioning creditor's debt, distinguishing the single debt of a creditor, or two or more creditors being partners, or of three or more creditors not being partners.

ANS. The debt of one petitioning creditor (or partners) must be £50; of two, £70; of three, £100. A debt owing to two or more persons being partners falls within the meaning of a debt owing to one person. (Ante, p. 250.)

VII. Is any, and what, remedy open to creditors to sustain a bankruptcy if, after the adjudication, the petitioning creditor's debt be found to be insufficient to support it?

ANS. The Court will, upon the application of any other creditor who has proved any debt sufficient to support an adjudication, order the petition to be proceeded in. (Act of 1849, s. 103.) This is sometimes termed substituting another petitioning creditor's debt, and is very useful where the original debt is found to be insufficient. (4 Exam. Chron. 37.)

VIII. & IX. By what proceeding in the Court of Bankruptcy is a man made bankrupt, and describe the proceedings to obtain adjudication?

ANS. When at the instance of a creditor to a proper amount, by

petition filed in the court within the district of which the debtor has resided or carried on business for six months next immediately preceding, or for the longest period during such six months, followed by proof of trading (if the debtor is to be made bankrupt in respect of an act of bankruptcy applicable only to traders), of act of bankruptcy committed within twelve months, and of sufficiency of petitioning creditor's debt. Notice of the adjudication should be served on the debtor, who has seven days (or extended period) to show cause against the adjudication; if not done, the adjudication is advertised. The debtor may petition for adjudication of bankruptcy against himself, obtaining adjudication within twenty-four hours, and he must within three days file a statement on oath of his debts and liabilities, names and residences of his creditors, and causes of his inability to meet his engagements.

X. What is the effect of adjudication as to the property of the bankrupt?

ANS. All the bankrupt's property (with certain exceptions) vest in the official assignee until the appointment of a creditor's assignee, when they are divested out of the official and become vested in the creditor's assignee. (See 5 Exam. Chron. 231, tit. "Property.")

XI. What are the provisions of the statutes with reference to conveyances from, and contracts with, and also payments by and to a bankrupt?

ANS. By s. 133 of Act of 1849 all payments, conveyances, contracts, dealings and transactions by and with any bankrupt really and bona fide made and entered into, and all executions and attachments bona fide executed by seizure and sale before the filing of a petition for adjudication in bankruptcy, are valid, notwithstanding any prior act of bankruptcy; but this is not to extend to any case of fraudulent preference. This is commonly referred to as being "protected transactions." (F. Bk. 220, 221.)

XII. If goods have been bought by the bankrupt, and are at the date of the bankruptcy in course of transmission to him, without having been paid for, is the title of the assignees subject to any, and if any what, exception or defeasibility in favour of the unpaid vendor ?

ANS. The assignee's right is subject to the unpaid vendor's right of stopping the goods in transitu before they come into the possession of the vendor. (See 1 Exam. Chron. pp. 25, 39; Tudor's Lead. Cas. Mercant. Law, 534.)

XIII. What effect has the bankruptcy upon warrants of attorney, cognovits, and consents to judges' orders given by traders ?

ANS. They are void against the assignees unless duly filed in the

Queen's Bench within twenty-one days after execution. (Act of 1849, s. 136; Wise's Bankr. 143; 18 Jur. Dig. 207.)

XIV. If furniture has been transferred by a deed of transfer (that is to say, by a bill of sale), duly executed and registered, and the transferor becomes bankrupt before the transferee has taken possession of the furniture, does the registered deed of transfer hold good against the assignees?

ANS. Not if the furniture was left in the possession of the transferor, as then it comes within the order and disposition clause, being property in the order and disposition of the bankrupt, with the consent of the true owner; and the Commissioner may order them to be sold for the benefit of the creditors. This is under the doctrine of reputed ownership. (5 Exam. Chron. 231; ante, p. 251.)

XV. How may a bankrupt obtain protection from arrest? ANS. By surrendering, or by obtaining his order of discharge. The first is a temporary, the latter a permanent protection.

CRIMINAL LAW.

I. State some cases in which legal proceedings may be taken either in a civil or criminal court.

ANS. Generally in the cases of misdemeanour, as in assaults, libels, nuisances; also in cases under Lord Campbell's Act, 9 & 10 Vict. c. 93.

II. In cases such as those stated in answer to the former question what are the considerations which should influence the judgment in deciding upon the resort to the civil or criminal court?

ANS. Where the payment of damages would not be an adequate punishment, or the defendant's act was one which constituted wrong to society as well as against the individual, and the object is to prevent a repetition of the wrongful act.

III. Name the courts which have jurisdiction in criminal matters, and describe the constitution of each court.

ANS. The High Court of Parliament, consisting of the House of Lords; the Court of the Lord High Steward, for trial during the recess of Peers; The Court of Queen's Bench, consisting of the Chief Justice and four puisne Justices; the High Court of Admiralty, consisting of the Judge over offences at sea, which, however, are usually tried in the ordinary courts; the Courts of Oyer and Terminer and General Gaol Delivery, being common law Judges; the Central Criminal Court, being the common law Judges, the Lord Mayor, and the Judge of the Court of Admiralty; the Police Courts of London, presided over by stipendiary magistrates; the Quarter Sessions, held before two or more Justices of the Peace for the county; and Petty Sessions, held before one or more justices of the district. (5 Exam. Chron. 283; F. Bk. 371, 375.)

IV. What persons are not liable to punishment for criminal acts, and upon what principle is their exemption based? ANS. Persons of unsound mind; infants under seven (and even up to fourteen, but presumably only), and married women in company of their husband, and under his coercion, in certain cases, are esteemed incapable of committing, or at least excused from, the guilt of crime. The principle on which exemption is based is the want or defect of will or understanding, without which there can be no crime. (F. Bk. 292-294.)

V. State the ordinary course of procedure for the purpose of apprehending and obtaining the conviction of a person charged with felony.

ANS. An information or complaint in writing and upon oath is laid before the justices, and a warrant obtained for the arrest of the felon, who after arrest is brought before the justices, when the depositions are taken and the prisoner is committed for trial. When an indictment is preferred he is tried in the usual way. Chron. 2, 40, 134, 297.)

(2 Exam.

VI. Is there any, and if so what, difference between the proceedings for the apprehension and trial of a person charged with a misdemeanour and those against a person charged with felony?

ANS. In felony the person charged may be apprehended by a police constable, and in certain cases even by a private individual, without warrant; but in cases of misdemeanour a warrant must first be obtained. If the accused is committed for trial the proceedings at the trial are the same in both cases.

VII. A. obtained the possession of a horse from B. by false pretences, and rode off with it. B. having discovered the fraud followed A. On his way he met with a constable, who accompanied him in his pursuit. They overtook A. with the horse in his possession. Could they legally apprehend A. Give reasons for your answer.

ANS. Assuming this to have constituted larceny, yet, as s. 103 of the 24 & 25 Vict. c. 96 (Larceny Consolidation Act), authorises the apprehension of an offender without a warrant only when he is in the act of committing the offence, the arrest was unlawful.

VIII. If, in the case stated in the preceding question, A. was assisted by X. in obtaining the horse, should X. be indicted as an accessory or as principal, and why?

ANS. As a principal, for the act of riding off with the horse constituted the larceny, and if X. assisted therein he was a principal; if he assisted only in making the pretence he was guilty of a mis

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