ditors are paid down a composition, which the nonassenting creditors have only a covenant to pay (r); or even if the executing creditors have the benefit of a covenant, of which the non-assenting creditors cannot avail themselves (s). But it has been held not unreason- Reasonable stipulations. able to empower the trustees of the deed to require persons claiming to be creditors to verify their debts or claims by statutory declaration proved before the commissioners of bankruptcy, or otherwise as the trustees may think fit (t). Nor is it unreasonble to give the trustees a discretion as to the sale and management of the estate, or power to sell to the debtor himself (u), or a discretion as to the amount and manner of payment of dividends, or as to the enforcement of payment of debts. And the value of securities held by creditors may reasonably be ascertained by valuers, or an umpire appointed in the usual way (x). Again, a covenant in a composition deed not to sue the debtor for a limited time is not unreasonable (y); nor is a power to revoke a letter of licence given to the debtor (z). In estimating the requisite majority, secured as well as unsecured creditors must be taken into account (a). But the deed need not provide for the distribution of the whole of the debtor's estate amongst his creditors (b) as was required by the corresponding section of the Act of 1849 (c). (r) Ex parte Cockburn, Re Smith, ubi sup. (8) Benham v. Broadhurst; Chesterfield and Midland Silkstone Colliery Company, Limited, v. Hawkins, ubi sup. And see Gresty v. Gibson, 1 Law Rep. Ex. 112; Reeves v. Watts, Q. B. 12 Jur. N. S. 565. (t) Coles v. Turner, Exch. Cham. 1 Law Rep. C. P. 373. (u) Greenberg v. Ward, C. P. 12 Jur. N. S. 524. (x) Coles v. Turner, ubi sup. & C. 361; Walker v. Nevill, 3 H. (z) Walker v. Nevill, ubi sup. (b) Re Rawlings, L. J., 1 De Gex, J. & S. 225; 9 Jur. N. S. 316; Ex parte Morgan, L. C., 9 Jur. N. S. 559; 1 De Gex, J. & S. 283; Clapham v. Atkinson, 4 B. & S. 722. (c) Tetley v. Taylor, 1 E. & B. 521; Drew v. Collins, 6 Ex. Rep. Act to facilitate arrange debtors and creditors. An act has also been passed for facilitating arrangements between ments between debtors and creditors (d), which applies only to such debtors as are not traders within the bankrupt laws. Under this act any such debtor, with the concurrence of one-third in number and value of his creditors, may, with the sanction of a commissioner of the Court of Bankruptcy, and if his debts have not been improperly incurred, procure two meetings of his creditors to be called, to consider any proposal for the payment or compromise of his debts. And if the major part of the creditors in number and value, or nine-tenths in value, or nine-tenths in number whose debts exceed twenty pounds, at the first meeting, and three-fifths in number and value, or nine-tenths in value, or nine-tenths in number whose debts exceed twenty pounds, at the second meeting, agree to the composition, it will be binding as against all the other creditors who had notice of the meetings, provided it be confirmed by the commissioner, and provided one full third in number and value of all the creditors were present at the second meeting, either in person or by an authorized agent. This act has recently been explained to extend to debtors in custody, who may be discharged from custody whenever they, if not in custody, would have been entitled, by virtue of the act, to obtain protection from arrest (e). 670; March v. Warwick, 1 H. & lop, 7 H. & N. 525. (d) Stat. 7 & 8 Vict. c. 70. See Robins v. Hobbs, 9 Hare, 122; Chilcote v. Kemp, 3 Ex. Rep. 514. (e) Stat. 23 & 24 Vict. c. 147. CHAPTER IV. OF BANKRUPTCY OF TRADERS. UNDER some circumstances a debtor is discharged by law from his debt without any actual payment, or without payment of more than a part of it. This occurs in the case of bankruptcy. The whole of the law of bankruptcy was until recently governed by the act to amend and consolidate the laws relating to bankrupts (a) which came into operation on the 11th of October, 1849, and by which all the previous acts were repealed. Of these the most important was the statute of 6 Geo. IV. c. 16, "An Act to amend the Laws relating to Bankrupts," which had been amended and altered by various others (b), the provisions of which, with some alterations, were consolidated in the Act of 1849. But extensive alterations have now been made by the Bankruptcy Act, 1861 (c), under which persons not in trade have for the first time become liable to be made bankrupts. But as there is still a marked distinction between the law of bankruptcy as applied to traders and non-traders, the present chapter will be entirely devoted to the bankruptcy of traders. Traders within the meaning of the laws relating to bankrupts are-all alum makers, apothecaries, auctioneers, bankers, bleachers, brokers, brickmakers, builders, calenderers, carpenters, curriers, cattle or (a) Stat. 12 & 13 Vict. c. 106. (b) 1 & 2 Will. IV. c. 56; 3 & 4 Will. IV. c. 47; 1 & 2 Vict. c. 110; 2 Vict. c. 11; 2 & 3 Vict. c. 29; 5 & 6 Vict. c. 122; 7 & 8 Vict. c. 96; 8 & 9 Vict. c. 48; 10 (c) Stat. 24 & 25 Vict. c. 134. Who may be a bankrupt. sheep salesmen, coach proprietors, cow keepers, dyers, fullers, keepers of inns, taverns, hotels or coffee houses, lime burners, livery stable keepers, market gardeners, millers, packers, printers, shipowners, shipwrights, victuallers, warehousemen, wharfingers, scriveners receiving other men's monies or estates into their trust or custody, persons insuring against perils of the sea, and all persons using the trade of merchandize by way of bargaining, exchange, bartering, commission, consignment, or otherwise in gross or by retail, and all persons who either for themselves, or as agents or factors for others, seek their living by buying or selling, or by buying and letting for hire, or by the workmanship of goods or commodities. But no farmer, grazier, common labourer, or workman for hire, receiver-general of the taxes, or member of or subscriber to any incorporated commercial or trading companies established by charter or act of parliament, shall be deemed as such a trader liable to become bankrupt (d). An attorney or solicitor, as such, is not a trader within the bankrupt law; but if he is in the habit of receiving his clients' money into his own hands and investing it for them, and charging a compensation for so doing, in addition to his charges for other professional business, he will be liable to become bankrupt as a scrivener receiving other men's monies into his trust (e). Alien or deni- An alien or denizen is within the bankrupt law (ƒ); Attorney or solicitor not liable as such. zen. Married woman. Infant. and so is a married woman carrying on trade for her separate use by the custom of London (g), or whilst her husband is undergoing sentence of transportation (h). But an infant under the age of twenty-one years cannot be a bankrupt, because by the law of England he cannot (d) Stat. 12 & 13 Vict. c. 106, 8. 66. (e) Malkin v. Adams, 2 Rose, 28; Ex parte Bath, Mont. 82, 84, where the cases are collected. See also Wilkinson v. Candlish, 5 Ex. Rep. 91, 97; Ex parte Dufaur, 2 De Gex, M. & G. 246. (f) Stat. 12 & 13 Vict. c. 106, s. 277. (g) Ex parte Carrington, 1 Atk. 206. (h) Ex parte Franks, 7 Bing. 762; 1 M. & Scott, 1. be made liable on contracts entered into by him in the course of trade (i). ruptcy. A person within the bankrupt laws becomes bankrupt Act of bankby committing an act of bankruptcy. The following acts, if done with intent to defeat or delay the creditors of a trader, are acts of bankruptcy, namely, if any such trader shall depart this realm, or being out of this realm shall remain abroad, or depart from his dwelling-house, or otherwise absent himself, or begin to keep his house, or suffer himself to be arrested or taken in execution for any debt not due, or yield himself to prison, or suffer himself to be outlawed, or procure himself to be arrested or taken in execution, or his goods, monies or chattels to be attached, sequestered or taken in execution, or make or cause to be made, either within this realm or elsewhere, any fraudulent grant or conveyance of any of his lands, tenements, goods or chattels, or make or cause to be made any fraudulent surrender of any of his copyhold lands or tenements, or make or cause to be made any fraudulent gift, delivery or transfer of any of his goods or chattels (k). It is also an act of bankruptcy Lying in for a trader to lie in prison for debt for fourteen days, prison. or, having been committed or detained for debt, to escape out of prison or custody (1). But it is now pro- Escape. vided that no debtor shall be adjudged bankrupt on the ground of having lain in prison as aforesaid, unless, having been summoned, he shall not offer such security for the debt in respect of which he is imprisoned or detained as the commissioner or registrar, whose duty (i) Belton v. Hodges, 9 Bing. 365, 370. (k) Stat. 12 & 13 Vict. c. 106, s. 67; Ex parte Bland, 6 De Gex, M. & G. 757; Johnson v. Fesenmeyer, 25 Beav. 88; 3 De Gex & Jones, 13; Pennell v. Reynolds, W.P.P. 11 C. B. N. S. 709; Ex parte (1) Stat. 24 & 25 Vict. c. 134, K |