50. Application to Court to Appoint Day for Approving

Composition or Scheme.

(Title.)

Whereas at a meeting of creditors of the above-named debtor,

tion or

scheme of in number representing three-fourths in value of all the creditors who

arrange

ment.

(b)" Debtor" or "official receiver."

have proved their debts.

And whereas the public examination of the said debtor was concluded on the

Now the (b)

day of

19 .

applies to the Court to fix a day for the

consideration of the above-mentioned (a)
The gross amount of the (c)

assets" (but fee will be payable is £

is ordered that the application for the consideration by the Court of the above-mentioned (a)

51. Creditor's Petition for Administration of Estate of Deceased Debtor

hereby petition the Court that an order be made for the administration in bankruptcy of the estate of the late [here insert name and description of deceased debtor], who died on the 19, and

say:

day of

1. That the said A. B., for the greater part of the six months next preceding his decease, resided [or carried on business] at within the district of this Court [or, as the case may be, following the terms of section 95].

2. That the estate of the said A. B. is justly and truly indebted to me [or us in the aggregate] in the sum of £ [set out amount of

debt or debts and the consideration].

3. That [I] do not nor does any person on [my] behalf hold any security on the said deceased debtor's estate, or on any part thereof, &c., [or, as in Form No. 10, Creditor's Petition].

4. That A. B., within three months next before the said date of his

decease, committed the following act [or acts] of bankruptcy, namely [here set out the nature and date or dates of the act or acts of bankruptcy relied on].

of

of

Or,

That the will of the said A. B. [or, as the case may be] was on the 19 proved by J. S. of

day of

who consent to this petition.

and G. H.,

That letters of administration [or, as the case may be] were on the

day of

Or,

19, granted to J. S., of

and G. H., and that the estate of the said A. B. is [according to my

information and belief] insufficient to pay his debts.

Dated this

day of

Signed by the petitioner in

my presence.

Signature of witness.

Address.

Description.

Indorsement.

day of

This petition having been presented to the Court on the
19 it is ordered that this petition shall be heard at
19, at
o'clock in the

If you, the said J. S. or G. H., intend to dispute the matter of any of the statements contained in the petition, you must file with the registrar of this Court a notice showing the grounds upon which you intend to dispute the same.

52. Application for Order of Discharge.

I, A. B., of

19

(Title.)

having been adjudged bankrupt on the day of and being desirous of obtaining my discharge, hereby apply to the Court to fix a day for hearing my application. My public examination was concluded on the Annexed hereto is the certificate of the official receiver certifying the number of my creditors.

Banneret: Knight Banneret.-Knights banneret fall into two classes.

Knights banneret created on the field of battle under the royal standard, the sovereign or Prince of Wales being present. Such knights

banneret took precedence immediately after judges of the High Court, and before the younger sons of viscounts and barons, and before baronets. The other class of bannerets comprise knights banneret, created such by the king's commanders on the field of battle, but not under the same circumstances as the knights banneret of the class first mentioned. Knights banneret of this class take precedence immediately after baronets.

A knight banneret as such is distinguished from a knight bachelor (see KNIGHTS BACHELOR). The word is said to have been derived from the fact that he had the right to carry a banner and not merely a pennon.

The term is of historical value only, as knights banneret are no longer created. Knighthood nowadays is conferred by "accolade," either by the sovereign or some high personage acting as his deputy.

Banns of Marriage.-The Marriage Act, 1823 (4 Geo. IV. c. 76), contains the existing statutory requirements as to publication of banns before marriage in churches or chapels of the Church of England. By sec. 22, “if any persons . . . shall knowingly and wilfully intermarry according to the rites of the Church of England" without banns, licence, or registrar's certificate, "the marriages of such persons shall be null and void to all intents and purposes whatsoever." To render a marriage invalid under this section, both parties must be aware of the absence of the proper preliminary at the time of solemnisation (Greaves v. Greaves, 1872, L. R. 2 P. & D. 423).

Sec. 2. Banns shall be published in an audible manner according to the form of words prescribed by the rubric, upon three several (not necessarily consecutive) Sundays preceding the solemnisation of marriage, during the time of morning service, or of evening service (if there shall be no morning service upon the Sunday upon which such banns shall be so published), immediately after the second lesson." Publication on a holy day (not being a Sunday), though warranted by the rubric, and by Canon 62 of 1603, would not be sufficient to comply with the Statute. A vexed question has arisen as to the proper time for publication in morning service." The rubrics which alone have statutory force are those in the "book annexed" to the Caroline Act of Uniformity. In the marriage service, the direction is "in the time of divine service, immediately before the sentences for the offertory." In the communion office, "banns of matrimony" are directed to be published with other notices next after the Nicene Creed, but before the sermon, which forms no integral part of the communion office (In re Robinson, [1897] 1 Ch. 85). The Oxford University Press, about 1809, altered both these directions to the form in which they now appear in modern prayer books. This was done without authority, but with a view of bringing the rubric into supposed agreement with the then existing statutory provision (26 Geo. II. c. 33, s. 1). The opinion of Alderson, B., expressed obiter at Nisi Prius in R. v. Benson, Oxford Summer Assizes, 1856, was that the proper time of "morning service" is still in the communion office (see Phillimore, Eccl. Law, 2nd ed., i. 588). This construction has the advantage of reconciling the rubric and the statute. The object of publication being to give notice, it is reasonable to make it in the middle of the principal service of the day, when the greatest number of people will presumably be present.

Sec. 7. No clergyman is obliged to publish banns without seven days"

notice in writing. See Nicholson v. Squire, 1809, 16 Ves. 259; 33 E. R. 983, as to the responsibility a clergyman may incur by not requiring notice.

Sec. 6. The churchwardens shall provide a proper register book of the banns, and the banns shall be published therefrom, and not from loose papers.

Where the parties dwell in divers parishes, the curate (i.e. incumbent) of one parish shall not solemnise matrimony betwixt them without certificate of the banns being thrice asked from the curate of the other parish (Rubric). For a common form of this certificate, see Blunt's Book of Church Law, p. 130.

Sec. 9. Banns are only in force three months after the last publication.

It is conceived that it is open to any person present in church, acting in good faith, to declare, in response to the invitation, any fact which such person bona fide believes, and has reasonable ground for believing, to be a cause or just (i.e. lawful) impediment why the parties should not be joined together in holy matrimony. The incumbent should inquire into the validity of any objection taken, and, if in doubt, apply to his bishop for directions before proceeding with the publication or solemnisation. By sec. 8, in the case of minors, a parent or guardian, declaring dissent to the marriage at the time of publication of banns, renders such publication void.

Publication of banns should be by the names (both prename and surname) by which the parties are generally known (Wyatt v. Henry, 1817,2 Hag. Con. 215). But see Fendall v. Goldsmid, 1877, 2 P. D. 263, as to the true legal surname being sufficient, unless actually superseded by reputation.

It has never been decided in terms that an incumbent is punishable for refusing to publish banns. But it would seem that for not publishing, after due notice, the banns of a baptized and confirmed parishioner, he would be liable to ecclesiastical proceedings under the Church Discipline Act, 1840 (3 & 4 Vict. c. 86), though probably not to a criminal indictment for misdemeanor either at common law or under the Marriage Act (see R. v. James, 1850, 3 Car. & K. 167, 172). To sustain a civil action, it is conceived it would be necessary to show a malicious and unreasonable refusal, and actual temporal damage (see Davis v. Black, 1841, 1 Q. B. 900; 55 R. R. 483). In the case of a divorced person, the Matrimonial Causes Act, 1857, 20 & 21 Vict. c. 57, s. 57, makes no express reference to banns. It could hardly be contended that they are covered by the words "to perform the marriage service," in sec. 58.

By the Marriage Registration Act, 1856, 19 & 20 Vict. c. 119, s. 8, it is provided that, when one of the parties dwells in Scotland, a certificate of proclamation of banns in Scotland, by the session clerk of the parish, shall be as valid and effectual in England as a registrar's certificate.

Banns are the normal preliminary to marriage both by canon law and by statute. But the bishop has a canonical power to voluntarily dispense with all or any of the three publications, a power recognised by 25 Hen. VIII. c. 21, and the Marriage Acts.

See LICENCE (MARRIAGE); SUPERINTENDENT REGISTRAR'S CERTIFICATE.

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Baptism. The Church of England recognises baptism as one of the two sacraments which are generally necessary to salvation.

The sacrament of baptism has always been the means of entrance into the Christian Church. The Prayer Book contains three separate offices for baptism: the ministration of public baptism of infants, to be used in church; of private baptism of children in houses; and of baptism of such as are of riper age and able to answer for themselves.

Article 27 provides that the baptism of young children is in anywise to be maintained in the Church, as most agreeable to the institution of Christ.

The Church of England contemplates immersion as the usual course in baptism; but if the godparents shall certify that the child is weak, it shall suffice to pour water upon it. The words used by the officiating priest in performing the rite are: "N. [naming the child after the name given by the godparents], I baptize thee in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost."

The rubric provides that at public baptism the priest shall make a cross upon the child's forehead, the meaning of which is explained in Canon 30 of 1603. In case the child is first privately baptized, "it is expedient that it be brought to the church," that, if it has been properly baptized, "it may be received as one of the true flock of Christian people," but that if it cannot appear that the child was baptized with water in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost (which are essential parts of baptism), it may be conditionally rebaptized, as directed by the last rubric in the ministration of private baptism of children in houses.

The rubrics provide:

The people are to be admonished that it is most convenient that baptism should not be administered but upon Sundays and holy days; that there shall be, for every male child baptized, two godfathers and one godmother, and for every female, one godfather and two godmothers. When there are children to be baptized, the parents shall give knowledge thereof overnight, or in the morning, before the beginning of morning prayers, to the curate.

Canon 29 of 1603 provides that no person shall be "admitted to answer as a godfather for his own child. Neither shall any person be admitted godfather or godmother to any child at christening or confirmation before the said person so undertaking hath received the holy communion." This canon was repealed, as to province of Canterbury, by the Convocation of Canterbury, by a canon of 1869, passed under royal licence, but which has not been ratified by the Crown.

By a constitution of Thomas Peckham, Archbishop of Canterbury, priests shall take care not to permit wanton names to be given to children baptized, especially of the female sex; and if otherwise it be done, the same shall be changed by the bishops at confirmation (as to which, see CHRISTIAN NAME; CONFIRMATION) (Lind. 246).

In case a child shall have been registered without a name, or with a name different to that given it in baptism, the Births and Deaths Registration Act, 1874, 37 & 38 Vict. c. 88, provides for the registration of the baptismal name of such child within twelve months after birth.

Lay Baptism.-As to lay baptism, a question was at one time raised whether the Church of England recognises a baptism performed by a layman. The doctrine and law on the subject may be summarised as follows: There is no question but that the practice obtained to a considerable extent in the primitive Church, and that from the beginning of the fifth century it was universally recognised in the Eastern and