and reputation. The applicant has the right to appeal should the registration be refused (a).

Spain. A person who wishes to trade must have his name inscribed in the registry of merchants. If the inscription is refused by the syndic, he may appeal first to the ayuntamiento, and next to the intendent of the province. Without a registration no one can trade (b).

entrusted with

Switzerland. In the canton of Lucerne, the merchants Registration must be inscribed on a public register. This register is in the Chamber of hands of the Chamber of Commerce, which receives a fee for Commerce. every inscription. The merchant must be registered within a month after he has commenced business. No one can trade unless he is registered. The register is public, and every one may inspect it by paying a small fee. A page of the register is devoted to each merchant, and it contains-1st, the signature of the merchant, or of those who have the power to sign for the firm; 2nd, a statement whether the merchant trades on his own account, or on account of others, and if he be in partnership; 3rd, when there is a partnership, the names of the responsible partners, and the names of the commanditaires, with the sums of their shares. Every mercantile house must send a copy of his circular to the Chamber of Commerce. The retirement of a registered partner, or of a commanditaire, must be published six months, or one year, before the dissolution of the partnership, so that the creditors may secure their rights during its existence. Unless so published, the retirement of the partner or commanditaire is deemed to have had no effect (c). In the cantons of St. Gall and Bâle similar laws exist on the registration of merchants.

SECTION IX.

BOOK-KEEPING.

BRITISH LAW.

There is no specific law in this country requiring merchants to keep certain number and kinds of books, yet it is incumbent upon them to keep correct books and accounts having regard to the requirements of the bankrupt law. If books are not satis

(a) Portuguese Code, §§ 8-13. (b) Spanish Code, § 13.

(c) Law of Lucerne, 11 October, 1832.

gularity indis- factorily kept and balanced from time to time, if the accounts pensable in in the ledger are not entered continuously, according to their case of bankruptcy. priority, and without any intervening blank leaves, and if the cash-book is not properly kept, in either case a good ground would be afforded for the refusal of the certificate (a).

Not keeping or concealing books.

Entries may

dence.

If the bankrupt, during his trading, wilfully, and with intent to conceal the true state of his affairs, have omitted to keep proper books of account, or kept his books imperfectly, carelessly, and negligently; or if, with intent to defraud his creditors, he have destroyed, altered, or falsified any book or writing, or made any false or fraudulent entries, in any such cases there would be a misdemeanour subjecting the party to imprisonment for any term not exceeding three years (b).

An entry in commercial books of accounts may be put in be put in evi- evidence, after the death of the party, if made contemporaneously with the fact which it narrates, and in the usual routine of business, by a person whose duty it was to make the whole of it, who was himself personally acquainted with the fact, and who had no interest in stating an untruth (c). But entries made by a living tradesman in his book are not received in evidence, for no man is allowed to manufacture evidence for himself; yet a tradesman may appear as a witness, and use his books to refresh his memory; and they are always available as indicative evidence, or evidence not itself receivable, but indicative of better (d).

Court may receive books in evidence.

The Court of Chancery is empowered, when they shall think fit so to do, to direct that in taking accounts the books of accounts in which the accounts required to be taken have been kept, or any of them, shall be taken as prima facie evidence of the truth of the matter therein contained, with liberty to the parties interested to take such objections thereto as they may be advised (e).

In Scotland, books of merchants, if kept with reasonable degree of regularity, so as to be satisfactory to the Courts, may be received in evidence, the party being allowed to give his own oath of sup

(a) Re Smart, 1 Fon. B, 14; Re Tracey, 1 Fon. 13; Ex parte Carter, 1 Fon. B. 83; Re Sparrow, Ibid. 69.

(b) 12 & 13 Vict. c. 106, s. 251; 24 & 25 Vict. c. 134, s. 159.

(c) Taylor on Evidence, vol, i. p.

560; Smith's Leading Cases, vol. i. p. 236. Price v. The Earl of Torrington; 1 Salk. 285; Best, Principles of Evidence, 3rd ed. p. 617.

(d) Ibid.

(e) 15 & 16 Vict. c. 86, s. 54.

plement of such imperfect proof, provided there has been a course of dealing between the parties, and other satisfactory circumstances (a).

FOREIGN LAWS.

France. Every merchant must keep a journal exhibiting Kinds of books to be kept by daily the debts due to him and by him, the operations merchants. of his trade, his negotiations, acceptances or endorsement of bills, and generally all that he receives and pays, by whatever title it may be, showing also the sum monthly used for his own private expenses, besides other books used in trade which are not indispensable. He is bound to file the letters which he receives, and to copy in a book those which he sends. He is bound to make every year an inventory of his property, movable and immovable, and to copy it every year in a special book. The journal and the book of inventory must be examined once a year either by a judge of the tribunal of commerce, or by the mayor or his assistant, in the ordinary form and without any charge. The books must be kept by order of date, without blanks, omissions, or marginal references. No sheet can be torn from the books. The copy letter-book is not subject to these formalities. The merchant who has not kept his books, or whose books are incomplete or are badly kept, may be declared “banqueroutier simple." The suppression of books would constitute fraudulent bankruptcy. Merchants are bound to keep their books for ten years. Merchants often keep other books which are not exacted by law, such as the ledger, the sale book, cash book, &c. These books are admitted as evidence in a court of law, the same as the journal and book of inventories. Commercial books, if regularly kept, may be admitted by the judge as a proof between merchants on matters of trade (b).

United States of America.-The law respecting the admission of the party's own books or his own entries differs in most of the states. It is permitted by statute in Vermont, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, as to sums below £10 in a year. In Virginia, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Louisiana, and Maryland entries made by the party himself are not admitted. In the other states they are admitted at common law under various degrees of restriction; but before the books of

(a) Taylor on Evidence, vol. i. p. 561. Tait on Evidence, p. 286.

(b) French Code of Commerce, §§ 817 and 536.

Value of evidence in

entries as

American courts.

Obligation to keep books.

the parties can be admitted in evidence they are to be submitted to the inspection of the court, and if they do not appear to be a register of the daily business of the party, and to have been honestly and fairly kept, they are excluded. If the books appear free from fraudulent practices, and proper to be laid before the jury, the party himself is then required to make oath in open court that they are the books in which the accounts of his ordinary business transactions are kept. He must also swear that the articles therein charged were actually delivered, and the labour and service actually performed. The books must be the register of business actually done, and not of orders and things to be done subsequent to the entry.

Germany. Every merchant is bound to keep books which shall exhibit the state of his business. He must preserve all letters of business which he receives, and keep a copy of the letters which he sends, entering them in a book according to date. Every merchant must, on his commencing business, set down accurately all his immovable property, the amount due to him, the amount of cash on hand, and any other property. He must make a valuation of such property, and make a balancesheet, showing the relation of such property to his debts at the time. Such a balance-sheet must be made every year, unless from the nature of the business it can only be made every two years. The balance-sheet must be signed by the merchant, and if there are several partners all must sign it. The balance-sheets from year to year must be entered in a book to be preserved. When the balance-sheet is made out, the property must be valued as it is worth at the time. Doubtful debts are to be entered according to their probable value; and bad debts must be removed. The books must be kept in a living language, and they must be bound up and paged. No cancelling can take place in the books, nor any changes in the entries. Merchants are bound to keep their books and letters for ten years after the date of their last entries upon them. Books legally kept are an imperfect evidence among traders in commercial matters, to be completed by an oath or other evidence. It is, however, left with the judge to decide what additional proof may be required where the entries in such books are disputed. Commercial books irregularly kept are received in evidence according to circumstances. In case of dispute, the judge may demand the deposition

of the books; and in case of refusal, the contents as asserted is taken as a proof to the prejudice of the refusing party (a).

form of books.

Brazil.-Every merchant is bound to keep a journal and a Nature and copybook. He must enter in the journal every business he transacts, every document which he passes, every bill which he accepts, endorses, pays, and all that he receives and pays. These books must be numbered, sealed, and examined by an officer of the tribunal of commerce (b).

Buenos Ayres.-Every merchant must keep books to register his accounts and his mercantile correspondence. He must keep a journal, an inventory, and a copy letter-book. In the journal are to be entered daily all the operations of trade, all the documents and bills, and in general all he receives. The inventorybook begins with a description of all the property held at the commencement of the business, and contains balance-sheets made up every year, each balance-sheet being signed by all the parties interested in the establishment. No alteration, erasure, mutilation, or interlineation can be made in the books; and books which are defective in any of the required formalities have no value in favour of the merchant who kept them. Commercial books kept in the form required are admitted in court as evidence between merchants. In matters not commercial the books of commerce serve only as a commencement of proof. The merchant must preserve his books for the space of twenty years (c). Greece. The same law exists in Greece as in France. The

books must be kept in the language of the country (d).

Kinds of kept.

books to be

Italy. The same law exists as in France. Books of account establish only half evidence (e). Netherlands.-The merchant must keep his books thirty Length of years (ƒ).

time the books should be

Portugal.-Merchants are bound to keep their books regu- kept. larly, but the kind of books and the manner of keeping them are entirely left to their own discretion. Books of trade must be kept for thirty years. Merchants having accounts among themselves must close them every year (g).

Russia.-All merchants must keep books. Bankers, whole- Kind of