Held, that he was residing within the district of S. within the meaning of the Bankruptcy Act, 1869, and was within the jurisdiction of the S. county court.

Semble-Where an application to annul an adjudication has been made and dismissed, a second application based upon the same materials ought not to be entertained. (Ex p. Williams, re Williams, 21 W. R. 451.)

GENERAL RULES

MADE IN PURSUANCE OF

THE BANKRUPTCY ACT, 1869.

32 & 33 VICT. c. 71.

IT IS ORDERED as follows, that is to say :

Appeals.

1. Rule 150 of "The Bankruptcy Rules, 1870," be and the same is hereby rescinded.

2. The office for entering Bankruptcy Appeals shall be kept open daily throughout the year, from ten till four o'clock, except on Sunday, Christmas Day, Good Friday, the Saturday after Good Friday, Monday and Tuesday in Easter Week, or any day appointed for a public fast or thanksgiving, and except also on Saturdays, when the office may be closed at two o'clock; and the days on which the office shall be wholly closed shall not be reckoned in the number of days ordered for the entering of appeals.

26th May, 1873.

SELBORNE, C.

JAMES BACON, Chief Judge.

BANKRUPTCY ACT.

32 & 33 VICT. CAP. 71.

An Act to consolidate and amend the Law of Bankruptcy. [9th August, 1869.]

WHEREAS it is expedient to consolidate and amend

the law relating to bankruptcy:

Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

Preliminary.

1. This Act may be cited as "The Bankruptcy Act, §§ 1, 2. 1869."

Short title.

2. This Act shall not, except in so far as is expressly ss. 73, 74, provided, apply to Scotland or Ireland.

Messrs. Causland & Co. presented a petition for liquidation on the 26th February, at the Liverpool Court of Bankruptcy. A meeting of creditors was held on the 25th March, at which a trustee was appointed, and it was resolved that the estate should be wound up in liquidation. These resolutions in consequence of the omission to give certain creditors notice were not registered until the 11th April. Messrs. Causland & Co. carried on business both at Liverpool and at Leith, in

B

75, 76. Application of Act.

§ 2.

Scotland; and Messrs. McFarline & Co., of Glasgow, creditors of the debtor, presented on the 9th April, two days prior to the registration of the resolutions under the liquidation, a petition to the Scottish Court for sequestration of the estate. Upon the case coming before the Lord Ordinary, his lordship (Lord Gifford) in an elaborate note to his interlocutory, said: "The petition and proceedings now disposed of by the Lord Ordinary, raise a question of great and general importance, namely, whether liquidation by arrangement under the Bankruptcy Act of 1869, renders unnecessary and incompetent sequestrations of the estates of the same parties in Scotland, under the Scottish Bankruptcy Acts. The question is a very important one, and perhaps worthy of a fuller discussion and consideration than it can receive under the summary forms in the Bill Chamber; but the Lord Ordinary is of opinion that an adjudication of bankruptcy in England under the Act of 1869 (and liquidation by arrangement is equivalent to an adjudication in bankruptcy), carries the whole estate of the bankrupt, whether situated in England or in Scotland, and thus renders sequestration of these estates in Scotland unnecessary and incompetent. The Bankruptcy Act, 1869, is an imperial statute, and though it does not apply to Scotland or Ireland, except in so far as expressly provided, it contains many provisions applicable both to Scotland and to Ireland, and to the British dominions, and the Courts of England, Scotland and Ireland are made auxiliary to each other for the purposes of carrying out the provisions of the Act." His lordship further observed, It would be most anomalous and most startling to hold that, while a Scotch sequestration carries the bankruptcy property in England, an English bankruptcy would not carry the property locally situated in Scotland, even although that property should be simply moveable, or even only debts and obligations. Under the Bankruptcy Acts formerly in force, it was decided more than once that an English bankruptcy carried even real estate in Scotland. It is thought that the existing Act is not less wide in its application. When a trader carries on business both in England and in Scotland, it seems very clear, in point of expediency, that there should not be two distinct and independent processes for the distribution of his estates. This would lead to double expense, and to the most unseemly and needless contests for the administration of particular assets.

There would require to be double rankings, and the decisions §§ 2-4. of the trustees or liquidators might vary, and even the rules of ranking might conflict. In such cases it seems to have been held, and the rule is reasonable, that priority in bankruptcy proceedings should determine under which the liquidation should take place. This occurs when sequestrations have been awarded by different sheriffs, and the rule has been applied under the former English Acts to English bankruptcies."

ment of Act.

3. This Act shall not come into operation until the Commencefirst day of January one thousand eight hundred and seventy, which date is hereinafter referred to as the commencement of this Act.

See Bankruptcy Repeal and Insolvent Court Act, 1869, s. 20.

In Ex p. Anderson, Lord Justice Giffard held, that the procedure established by the Bankruptcy Act, 1869, could be applied to proceedings pending in bankruptcy before the 1st day of January, 1870. His lordship commenting upon ss. 65, 66, 71, 72, said: "These provisions apply to modes of procedure, and modes of procedure only; they take away as far as I can see no right. I can see no sort of inconvenience that would arise from saying, that they are to be construed retrospectively; and it is quite in accordance with principle, it is quite in accordance with convenience, and it is quite in accordance with the terms used, that they should be construed retrospectively, and should be construed as applying to bankruptcies which have preceded the Act of 1869, but of which the Court has seisin by reason of the transfer made by the Lord Chancellor." 39 Law J. Rep. Bank. 49. In re Wieland, Lord Justice Giffard held, that the power given by the 80th sect. of the Bankruptcy Act, 1869 (par. 3), to direct the transfer of proceedings from one Court to another, was not confined to proceedings commenced since the Act came into operation. (39 Law J. Rep. Bank. 46.)

4. In this Act, if not inconsistent with the context, the following terms have the meanings hereinafter respectively assigned to them; that is to say,

Interpretaterms in the

tion of certain

Act: