seems to be, to give to the personal representatives of mortgagees, being entitled to the mortgage money, power to convey the legal estate of the mortgaged premises, on being paid their debt and interest. But, whether such power is given to them only when the paying and conveying transaction is between them and the mortgagor, or whether it extends to the transaction of a transfer of the mortgage, or a sale of the mortgaged estate, it is not easy to discover. The effective part of the clause is, that, when "possession of the land shall not have been taken by virtue of the mortgage, nor any action or suit be depending, such executor or administrator shall have power, upon payment of the principal money and interest due to him on the said mortgage, to convey by deed or surrender." NEW CHANCERY ORDER. Whereas it is proper that the accounts kept by the Accountant-General of this court should be examined and compared, in order to settle the same; and whereas mination, and it is necessary that a time should be it will require considerable time to perfect such exaappointed for closing the books of accounts of the said Accountant-General for the purposes aforesaid :-his Lordship doth order that the books of the AccountantGeneral be closed from Tuesday, the 20th day of August instant, to the first general seal before Michaelmas suitors with the books kept at the Bank, and that Term next, in order to adjust the accounts of the during that time no draft for any money, or cer tificate for any effects under the care and direction of this court, be signed or delivered out by the said Accountant-General, or any stocks or annuities accepted or transferred by him relating to the suitors of this court. And that no purchase, sale, or transfer be made by the said Accountant-General, unless the order, request, or registrar's certificate shall have been left at his and no order for the payment of any money out of court, which may be then in court, be received at the AcAugust. And to the end that the suitors may have nocountant-General's office after Tuesday, the 13th day of tice hereof, and apply to the court, as there shall be occasion, to have money paid to them out of the Bank, or stock, or annuities transferred to them before the said 20th day of August. When a mortgagee sells in order to pay himself, in substance and in fact, he obtains his debt and interest, but he does not obtain payment of it quâ payment of the mortgage money. Whether, therefore, the act in-office on or before Friday, the 9th of August instant; tends, that, on any transaction, the result of which is liquidation of the mortgage debt, the power arises, or whether it means to restrict the power that it gives to the only transaction which is, properly speaking, payment, viz. payment by the mortgagor on a re-conveyance, it is difficult to collect. The exception of the case where possession of the land has been taken, does not throw much light on the point, nor is its object very readily perceived. So, the exception of the case where any action or suit is depending is not characterised by the most remarkable precision. It may be presumed, that an action or suit touching the state of claims and title, as between the mortgagor and mortgagee, is intended. But this is little more than a mere guess, and on such very large and general words, it would be somewhat rash to form any very decided opinion. The tenth clause seems to offer unqualified benefit, not so much on the ground of its shortening conveyances by abolishing the trustees' receipt clause, as by rendering unnecessary, as to deeds made after the act shall take effect, those inquiries now so frequent and so difficult to answer in investigating titles, whether money has been paid to the hands entitled beneficially to receive it. There are many other points in the act which our limits prevent us at present from noticing. We shall, probably, however, return to its consideration when it shall have received, as we have no doubt it will, a careful discussion at the hands of some of those learned writers who occasionally give to the Profession the result of their patient investigations. MEMBER RETURNED TO SERVE IN PARLIAMENT.-John Benbow, Esq., for the borough of Dudley, in the room of Thomas Hawkes, Esq., who has accepted the Chiltern Hundreds. deen. PUBLIC GENERAL STATUTES. 7 & 8 VICTORIA.-SESSION 4. -- CAP. LXXVI. An Act to simplify the Transfer of Property. [6th August, 1844.] Sect. 1. Meaning of Words defined: "Land," " Freehold," "Conveyance,' ," "Person." Number and Gender. Freehold Land may be conveyed by Deed, without Livery of Seisin or prior Bargain and Sale. 2. 3. Partitions, Exchanges, and Assignments to be by Deed. 4. Leases and Surrenders in Writing to be by Deed. 7. No Conveyances to operate by Wrong, or have 8. Contingent Remainders abolished. Executory Devises or Estates. Existing contingent Remainders to continue. 9. Executor or Administrator of Mortgagee empower. 10. Receipts of Trustees to be effectual Discharges. 13. Act to commence from the 31st December, 1844. For simplifying the assurance of property by deed, be it enacted by &c., as follows; that is to say, Died, suddenly, at his residence at Bayswater, Mr. Lewis Duval, the eminent conveyancer. His death was caused by the rupture of one of the principal bloodvessels of the heart. Mr. Duval was a member of Lincoln's Inn, and was called to the bar in June, 1804. MASTERS IN CHANCERY.-The Lord Chancellor has appointed the following gentlemen Masters Extraordinary in the High Court of Chancery:-John Corn- Sect. 1. That the words and expressions hereinafter menthwaite, of Liverpool; Edward Hanscomb, of Ampthill, tioned, which in their ordinary signification have a more conBedfordshire.-Scotland: Alexander Anderson, of Aber-fined or a different meaning, shall in this act, except where the nature of the provision or the context of the act shall exsay), the word "land" shall extend to manors, advowsons. clude such construction, be interpreted as follows; (that is to ther corporeal or incorporeal, and to any undivided share theremessuages, lands, tithes, tenements, and hereditaments, whe of, and to any estate or interest therein, and to money subject to be invested in the purchase of land or any interest therein; the word "freehold" shall extend to customary freehold, or such customary land as will pass by deed, or deed and surrender, and not by surrender alone; the word conveyance' shall extend to a feoffment, grant, release, surrender, or other assurance of freehold land; the word "person" shall extend to a corporation as well as an individual; and every word importing the singular number only shall extend and be applied to several persons or things as well as to one person or thing; and every word importing the masculine gender only shall extend and be applied to a female as well as a male. 2. That every person may convey by any deed, without livery of seisin, or inrolment, or a prior lease, all such freehold land as he might before the passing of this act have conveyed by lease and release, and every such conveyance shall take effect as if it had been made by lease and release: Provided always, that every such deed shall be chargeable with the same stamp duty as would have been chargeable if such conveyance had been made by lease and release. 3. That no partition or exchange or assignment of any freehold or leasehold land shall be valid at law unless the same shall be made by deed. 4. That no lease in writing of any freehold, copyhold, or leasehold land, or surrender in writing of any freehold or leasehold land, shall be valid as a lease or surrender unless the same shall be made by deed: but any agreement in writing to let or to surrender any such land shall be valid and take effect as an agreement to execute a lease or surrender; and the person who shall be in the possession of the land in pursuance of any agreement to let may, from payment of rent or other circumstances, be construed to be a tenant from year to year. 5. That any person may convey, assign, or charge by any deed any such contingent or executory interest, right of entry for condition broken, or other future estate or interest as he shall be entitled to, or presumptively entitled to, in any freehold or copyhold or leasehold land, or personal property, or any part of such interest, right, or estate respectively; and every person to whom any such interest, right, or estate shall be conveyed or assigned, his heirs, executors, administrators, or assigns, according to the nature of the interest, right, or estate, shall be entitled to stand in the place of the person by whom the same shall be conveyed or assigned, his heirs, executors, administrators, or assigns, and to have the same interest, right, or estate, or such part thereof as shall be conveyed or assigned to him, and the same actions, suits, and remedies for the same, as the person originally entitled thereto, his heirs, executors, or administrators, would have been entitled to if no conveyance, assignment, or other disposition thereof had been made; provided that no person shall be empowered by this act to dispose of any expectancy which he may have as heir, or heir of the body inheritable, or as next of kin, under the statutes for the distribution of the estates of intestates of a living person, nor any estate, right, or interest to which he may become entitled under any deed thereafter to be executed, or under the will of any living person, and no deed shall by force of this act bar or enlarge any estate tail; provided also, that no chose in action shall by this act be made assignable at law. struction or merger of any preceding estate, or its determination by any other means than the natural effluxion of the time of such preceding estate, or some event on which it was in its creation limited to determine. 9. That, when any person entitled to any freehold or copyhold land by way of mortgage has or shall have departed this life, and his executor or administrator is or shall be entitled to the money secured by the mortgage, and the legal estate in such land is or shall be vested in the heir or devisee of such mortgagee, or the heir, devisee, or other assign of such heir or devisee, and possession of the land shall not have been taken by virtue of the mortgage, nor any action or suit be depending, such executor or administrator shall have power, upon payment of the principal money and interest due to him on the said mortgage, to convey by deed or surrender (as the case may require) the legal estate which became vested in such heir or devisee; and such conveyance shall be as effectual as if the same had been made by any such heir or devisee, his heirs or assigns. 10. That the bonâ fide payment to and the receipt of any person to whom any money shall be payable upon any express or implied trust or for any limited purpose, or of the survivors or survivor of two or more mortgagees or holders, or the executors or administrators of such survivor, or their or his assigns, shall effectually discharge the person paying the same from seeing to the application or being answerable for the misapplication thereof, unless the contrary shall be expressly declared by the instrument creating the trust or security. 11. That it shall not be necessary in any case to have a deed indented; and that any person, not being a party to any deed, may take an immediate benefit under it in the same manner as he might under a deed-poll. 12. That, where the reversion of any land, expectant on a lease, shall be merged in any remainder or other reversion or estate, the person entitled to the estate into which such reversion shall have merged, his heirs, executors, administrators, successors, and assigns, shall have and enjoy the like advantage, remedy, and benefit against the lessee, his heirs, successors, executors, administrators, and assigns, for non-payment of the rent, or for doing of waste or other forfeiture, or for not performing conditions, covenants, or agreements contained and expressed in his lease, demise, or grant, against the lessee, farmer, or grantee, his heirs, successors, executors, administrators, and assigns, as the person who would for the time being have been entitled to the mesne reversion which shall have merged would or might have had and enjoyed if such reversion had not been merged. 13. That this act shall commence and take effect from the 31st December, 1844, and shall not extend to any deed, act, or thing executed or done, or (except so far as regards the provisions hereinbefore contained as to existing contingent remainders) to any estate, right, or interest created, before the 1st January, 1845. 14. That this act shall not extend to Scotland. CAP. XCVI. 6. That neither the word "grant" nor the word "ex- An Act to amend the Law of Insolvency, Bankruptcy, and cases where by any act of Parliament it is or shall be declared that the word "grant" shall have such effect. 7. That no conveyance shall be voidable only when made by feoffment or other assurance where the same would be absoIntely void if made by release or grant; and that no assurance shall create any estate by wrong, or have any other effect than the same would have if it were to take effect as a release, surrender, grant, lease, bargain and sale, or covenant to stand seised, (as the case may be). 8. That after the time at which this act shall come into operation no estate in land shall be created by way of contingent remainder; but every estate which before that time would have taken effect as a contingent remainder shall take effect (if in a will or codicil) as an executory devise and (if in a deed) as an executory estate of the same nature and having the same properties as an executory devise; and contingent remainders existing under deeds, wills, or instruments executed or made before the time when this act shall come into operation shall not fail, or be destroyed or barred, merely by reason of the de 3 sented to any Court of Bankruptcy without any Notice given. 2. Form of Petition. Petition and Schedule to be verified by Affidavit in the Form specified. 3. 4. 5. Forthwith after filing of Petition a Notice to be given to Creditors and advertised in the Gazette, &c., and a public Sitting of the Court appointed for first Examination of Petitioner and Choice of Creditors' Assignee. Commissioner may reject or remove the Person so chosen. Property of Petitioner to vest in Assignees for the Time by virtue of the Appointment. Upon Petition being filed, Commissioner to have the like Power for Seizure of the Property of the Petitioner, and the Examination of him and other Persons, as in Bankruptcy, 6. Any Prisoner in Execution upon Judgment Action for Debt, not being a Trader, or being g Trader whose Debts are less than 3001, may NEWSIT STRIST Petition be protected from Process and from being detained in Prison for any Debt mentioned in his Schedule; and if so detained, Commissioner may order his Discharge. 7. If Petitioner be in Custody, and is not entitled to be discharged, he may be brought up by Warrant. 8. In case of Death of Petitioner. 9. Wearing Apparel, Bedding, working Tools, &c., of the Value of 201., excepted from the Operation of the Act. 10. Official Assignee may act until Creditors' Assignee appointed; may sell the Property if Commissioner so order, and make Allowance to Petitioner for his Support. Property vested in Official Assignee to go to his Successor. If Petition dismissed, all Acts theretofore done according to the Act to be good and valid. 11. Assignees may execute Powers which the Petitioner might have executed for his own Benefit. 12. Where Lease accepted by Assignees, the Petitioner not liable for the Rent. Assignees not determining whether to accept the Lease, the Lessor may apply to the Court. 13. Assignees may sue in their own Names; may make Composition for Debts; may submit Differences to Arbitration. Proviso for Consent of Creditors to Compositions and Arbitrations. 14. Creditors to vote according to Balance due to them on an Account fairly stated. 15. Where the Petitioner is beneficially entitled to Stock, the Commissioner may order a Transfer. 16. Suits not to be abated by the Death or Removal of Assignees. 17. Goods in Possession, Order, or Disposition of Petitioner, whereof he was reputed Owner, to be deemed his Property. 18. Distress not to be available for more than one Year's Rent. 19. Voluntary Preference fraudulent and void as against Assignees. Proviso. 20. Provisions of 3 Geo. 4, c. 39, extended to the Assignees of Insolvent Petitioners. 21. Warrant of Attorney and Cognovit Actionem not to be acted upon against Property of Insolvent Petitioner after filing his Petition. 22. Final Order to protect the Person of the Petitioner from Process in respect of the Debts or Sums herein particularly mentioned. Specification of Debts, &c. not necessary in Final Order. 23. If Prisoner be detained for any Claim in respect of which he is protected, Commissioner may order his Discharge. 24. If it appear to Commissioner that any Debts of the Petitioner were contracted by Fraud or Breach of Trust, &c., no Day to be named for making the Final Order for Protection; but if otherwise, a Notice of such Day to be given. 25. Sums payable by way of Annuity to be deemed Debts, and the Annuitants to be Creditors for the Value thereof. 26. Final Order may extend to Process for Contempt in Non-payment of Money, and to Costs incurred by Creditor, but subject to Taxation. 27. Adjournment of Consideration of final Order. 28. If final Order refused, or adjourned sine Die, the Court, after the Lapse of such Time as it thinks just, having regard to the Insolvency and the Conduct of the Insolvent, may make an Order to protect him from further Imprisonment in respect of the Debts, &c. mentioned in his Schedule. 29. Petitioner taken or detained after obtaining such Order may be discharged. 30. Where Error in Schedule without Fraud, Act to operate upon the actual Amount of Debt. Commis 31. How Dividend to be made. Notice of Sittings. Examination of Objections and Claims. sioner may require Proof of Debts. 32. Outstanding Debts, &c. may be sold by Order of the Commissioner. 33. Proceedings not liable to Stamp Duty, nor Sales to Auction Duty. 41. The Lord Chancellor may issue a Fiat in Bankruptcy against a Trader having filed a Declaration of Insolvency, upon the Petition of the Trader himself. 42. Lord Chancellor may attach the Country Commissioners to Districts. 43. Minute of Petitions filed to be transmitted to Secretary of Bankrupts. 44. Lord Chancellor authorised to give necessary Direc tions where Courts shall sit. 45. Lord Chancellor empowered to appoint a taring Officer. Tenure of Office, Duties, and Removal. General Provision as to Business of Taxing Officer. 46. Sum to be paid on the Taxation of Bills. 47. Sums received by the Master to be paid into the Bank of England, after deducting such Sum as the Lord Chancellor thinks fit for Expenses of Office. 48. In Case of Sickness or other reasonable Cause, the Duty of the Master may be performed by Deputy. 49. Registrars, &c., who now receive the Surplus of certain Fees, to be paid in Future solely by Salary. 50. Fees to be accounted for. 51. Retiring Pension to Registrars. 52. Compensation to T. A. Warburton for having per formed the Duties of Deputy Registrar. Court may send a Registrar to take Proof of Debis, &c. where expedient. Examinations to be taken down. 53. 54. Style of Deputy Registrars of the Court of Bankruptcy. 55. Repealing Provisions in 5 & 6 Will. 4, c. 29, as to Fees receivable by Accountant in Bankruptcy. 56. Salary of Accountant. 57. Arrest upon Final Process in an Action for Debt not exceeding 201. and Costs abolished. 58. Persons in Execution at the Time of passing this Act where the Debt shall not exceed 201, and Costs shall be discharged on Application to a Judge. Proviso for Discharge fraudulently ob tained. Sheriffs, &c. not liable as for Escape. Judgment to remain in force notwithstanding the Discharge of the Debtor. 59. Power of Imprisonment for Fraud. 60. Execution against the Goods. 61. Execution not to issue till after Default in Payment of Instalment. 62. Power to suspend Execution in certain Cases. 63. Execution to be suspended on Payment of Debt and Costs. protection from process under the said act may be presented to any court or District Court of Bankruptcy within the district of which the petitioner shall have resided twelve calendar months, without any notice whatever being given to any creditor, or in the London Gazette, or any newspaper. 2. That every petition for protection from process presented after the commencement of this act to the Court of Bankruptcy, or to any District Court of Bankruptcy, shall be in the form specified in the schedule hereunto annexed, (A. No. 1); and such petition, and the schedule required by the said recited act to be annexed thereto, shall be verified by an affidavit of the petitioner in the form specified in the schedule hereunto annexed, (A. No. 2); and such affidavit shall be sworn in like manner as affidavits in matters of bankruptcy may be sworn by any law now in force relating to bankrupts, and shall be an nexed to such petition at the time of filing the same: and if such petition and affidavit shall not be in the form herein prescribed such petition shall be dismissed. 3. That the commissioner authorised to act in the matter of such petition shall forthwith, after such petition shall have been filed, cause notice of the filing of such petition to be given, in such manner as the commissioner shall direct, to the creditors named in the schedule of the petitioner, and resident within the United Kingdom, and whose debts respectively shall amount to the sum of 51., and to be inserted in the London Gazette and in some newspaper or newspapers circulating within the county wherein the petitioner shall reside, and shall thereby appoint a public sitting of the court whenever the commissioner shall think fit for the first examination of the petitioner; and the commissioner may adjourn such sitting from time to time, and allow the petitioner to amend his schedule and correct any mis-statement therein, at the discretion of the commissioner, and the choice of the creditors' assignee shall take place at such sitting, or any adjournment thereof, and shall be made by the majority in number and value of the creditors who may attend, by themselves or their attornies duly authorised by letters of attorney in that behalf, before the commissioner on such day; provided that the commissioner shall have power to reject any person so chosen who shall appear to him unfit to be such assignee as aforesaid, or to remove any assignee; and upon such rejection or removal a new choice of another assignee shall be made in like manner. 4. That the property of the petitioner shall, for the purposes of the said recited act and of this act, vest in the assignee or assignees for the time being, by virtue of the appointment of such assignee or assignees; and every such assignee shall be deemed to be an officer of the court in which the petition shall be filed, and shall be liable as such to the control thereof: Provided always, that the property of the petitioner shall in every case be possessed and received by the official assignee alone, save where it shall be otherwise directed by the commissioner; provided also, that it shall be lawful for the Lord Chancellor, or the judges and commissioners of the Court of Bankruptcy in London, or the majority of them, if authorised so to do by the Lord Chancellor, from time to time to make such orders, rules, and regulations for the security of the property of the petitioner as he or they may judge reasonable and proper. 5. That, upon such petition being filed, the commissioner shall possess the like power and authority touching the seizure of the property of such petitioner, (except as herein otherwise directed), and also to compel the attendance of and to examine such petitioner and his wife, and every person known or suspected to have any of the property of such petitioner in his possession, or who is supposed to be indebted to such petitioner, and every person whom the commissioner believes capable of giving any information concerning the person, trade, business, or calling, dealings, or property of such petitioner, or any information material to the full disclosure of the dealings of such petitioner, and to enforce both obedience to such examination, and the production of books, deeds, papers, writings, and other documents, as by any law now in force relating to bankrupts are possessed by the several courts authorised to act in the prosecution of fiats in bankruptcy touching the seizure of property and the examination of any bankrupt or other person under a fiat in bankruptcy. 6. That any prisoner in execution upon any judgment obtained in any action for the recovery of any debt, either not being a trader within the meaning of the statutes relating to bankrupts, or being a trader within the meaning of the said statutes owing debts amounting on the whole to less than 3001., may be a petitioner for protection from process; and every such petitioner to whom an interim order for protection shall have been given shall not only be protected from process, as provided by the said recited act, but also from being detained in prison in execution upon any judgment obtained in any action for the recovery of any debt mentioned in his schedule; and if any such petitioner, being a prisoner in execution, shall be detained in prison in execution upon any such judgment, it shall be lawful for the commissioner to order any officer who shall have such petitioner in custody by virtue of such execution to discharge such petitioner out of custody as to such execution, without exacting any fee, and such officer shall hereby be indemnified for so doing; and no sheriff, gaoler, or other person whatsoever shall be liable to any action as for the escape of any such prisoner by reason of such his discharge; and such prisoner so discharged shall be protected by his interim order from all process for such time as the commissioner shall by such interim order, or any renewal thereof, think fit to appoint, until the making of the final order for protection, in the same manner as if such petitioner had not been a prilowed by any such interim order, or any renewal thereof, (as soner in execution: Provided always, that, after the time althe case may be), shall have elapsed, such petitioner shall not by such discharge be protected from being again taken in execution upon such judgment, but such judgment shall remain in full force and effect notwithstanding such discharge. 7. That, whenever any such petitioner is a prisoner under any process, attachment, execution, commitment, or sentence, and is not entitled to his discharge in manner aforesaid, the commissioner may, by warrant under his hand directed to the person in whose custody such petitioner is confined, cause such petitioner to be brought before him for examination at any sitting of the court, either public or private, and the expense of bringing such petitioner shall be paid out of his estate, and such person shall be indemnified by the warrant of the commissioner for bringing up such petitioner. 8. That, if any petitioner for protection from process shall die after the filing of his petition, the commissioner may proceed in the matter of such petition, for the discovery and distribution of his property, as he might have done if the petitioner were living. 9. That the wearing-apparel, bedding, and other necessaries of the petitioner and his family, and the working tools and implements of the petitioner, not exceeding in the whole the value of 201., may be excepted by the petitioner in his petition from the operation of the said recited act and of this act, and in such case shall be altogether excluded from the operation of the said acts: Provided always, that such excepted articles, with the values thereof respectively, to be ascertained and appraised, if the commissioner shall think fit, in such manner as he shall direct, be fully and truly described by the petitioner in his schedule, but otherwise the exception thereof shall be of no force as to any part of the same. 10. That, until an assignee shall be chosen by the creditors of any petitioner for protection from process, the official assignee nominated by the commissioner upon the filing of the petition of such petitioner shall be enabled to act, and shall be deemed to be, to all intents and purposes, a sole assignee of the property of such petitioner, and, if the commissioner shall so order, may sell or otherwise dispose of such property, or any part thereof, and make such allowance out of the property of such petitioner for the support of himself and his family as the commissioner shall direct; and the property vested in any official assignee alone, or jointly with any assignee chosen by creditors under the said recited act, this act, or either of them, shall not remain in such official assignee alone, or jointly with such assignee chosen by creditors, if such official assignee shall resign or be removed from his office, nor in the heirs, executors, or administrators of such official assignee, nor in the surviving assignee alone, in case of the death of such official assignee, but all such property shall in every such case go to and be vested in the successor in office of such official assignee alone, or jointly with the assignee chosen by the creditors (if any), as the case may be; and whenever any such petition shall have been or shall be dismissed, all sales and dispositions of property, and payments duly made, and all other acts theretofore done by any assignee, or any person or persons acting under his authority, or by any messenger or other person under the authority of the commissioner, according to the provisions of the said recited act, and of this act or either of them, shall be good and valid, but the property of the petitioner shall otherwise in such case revest in such petitioner; provided, however, that no action or suit shall be prosecuted or commenced against such assignee, messenger, or other person or persons acting as aforesaid, except to recover any property of such petitioner detained after an order made by the commissioner for the delivery thereof, and demand made thereupon. 11. That all powers, vested in any petitioner for protection from process, whose estate shall, under the provisions of the said recited act, of this act, or of either of them, have been vested in an assignee or assignees, which such petitioner might legally execute for his own benefit, (except the right of nomination to any vacant ecclesiastical benefice), shall be hereby vested in such assignee or assignees, to be by such assignee or assignees executed for the benefit of the creditors of such petitioner under this act, in such manner as such petitioner might have executed the same. 12. That in all cases in which any such petitioner shall be entitled to any lease, or agreement for a lease, and his assignee or assignees shall accept the same, and the benefit thereof, as part of such petitioner's property, the said petitioner shall not be liable to pay any rent accruing after the filing of his petition, nor be in any manner sued after such acceptance, in respect of any subsequent non-observance or non-performance of the conditions, covenants, or agreements therein contained Provided, that, in all such cases as aforesaid, it shall be lawful for the lessor, or person agreeing to make such lease, his heirs, executors, administrators, or assigns, if the said assignee or assignees shall decline, upon his or their being required so to do, to determine whether he or they will or will not accept such lease, or agreement for a lease, to apply to the commissioner, praying that he or they may either so accept the same, or deliver up such lease, or agreement for a lease, and the possession of the premises demised, or intended to be demised; and the commissioner shall thereupon make such order as, in all the circumstances of the case, shall seem meet and just, and such order shall be binding on all parties. 13. That it shall be lawful for the assignee or assignees of any such petitioner, and such assignee or assignees shall be hereby empowered, to sue, from time to time, as there may be occasion, in his or their own name or names, for the recovery, obtaining, and enforcing of any property or rights of such petitioner, but in trust, for the benefit of the creditors of such petitioner, according to the provisions of the said recited act and this act, and to give such discharge and discharges to any person or persons who shall be respectively indebted to such petitioner as may be requisite; and to make compositions with any debtors or accountants to such petitioner, where the same shall appear necessary, and to take such reasonable part of any such debts as can upon such composition be gotten in full discharge of such debts and accounts; and to submit to arbitration any difference or dispute between such assignee or assignees and any person or persons, for or on account or by reason of any matter, cause, or thing relating to the property of such petitioner: Provided nevertheless, that no such composition or submission to arbitration shall be made, nor any suit in equity be commenced, by any such assignee or assignees, without the consent in writing of the major part in value of the creditors of such petitioner, who shall meet together pursuant to a notice of such meeting, to be published at least fourteen days before such meeting in the London Gazette, and also in some newspaper usually circulated in the neighbourhood of the place where such petitioner had his last usual residence before the filing of his petition, nor without the approbation of the commissioner. 14. That, in all matters wherein creditors shall vote, or wherein the assent or dissent of creditors shall be exercised, in pursuance of or in carrying into effect the said recited act or this act, every creditor shall be accounted such in respect of such amount only as, upon an account fairly stated between the parties, after allowing the value of mortgaged property, and other such available securities and liens, shall appear to be the balance due; and that all disputes arising in such matters concerning any such amount shall, upon application duly made in that behalf, be examined into by the commissioner, who shall have power to determine the same, and, if it seem fit, to refer the examination thereof to an officer of the said court: Provided always, that the amount in respect of which any such creditor shall vote in any such matter shall not be conclusive of the amount of his or her debt for any ulterior purposes, in pursuance of the provisions of this act. 15. That, if any such petitioner shall, at the time of filing his petition, or at any time before such petitioner shall become entitled to his final order according to this act, have any government stocks, funds, or annuities, or any of the stock or shares of or in any public company, either in England, Scotland, or Ireland, standing in his own name in his own right, it shall be lawful for the commissioner, whenever he shall deem fit so to do, to order all persons whose act or consent is thereto necessary to transfer the same into the name of such assignee or assignees as aforesaid; and all such persons whose act or consent is so necessary as aforesaid shall be hereby indemnified for all things done or permitted pursuant to such order. 16. That, whenever any assignee shall die, resign, or be removed, or a new assignee shall be duly appointed, no action at law or suit in equity shall be thereby abated, but the court in which any action or suit is depending may, upon the sugges tion of such death, resignation, or removal, and new appoint. ment, (if any), allow the name or names of the surviving or new assignee to be substituted in the place of the former, and such action or suit shall be prosecuted in the name or names of the said surviving or new assignee, in the same manner as if he had originally commenced the same. 17. That, if any petitioner for protection from process shall, at the time of filing his petition, by the consent and permission of the true owner thereof, have in his possession, order, or disposition, any goods or chattels whereof such petitioner was reputed owner, or whereof he had taken upon him the sale, alteration, or disposition as owner, the same shall be deemed to be the property of such petitioner, so as to become vested in the assignee or assignees for the time being of the estate and effects of such petitioner; provided that no transfer or assignment of any ship or vessel, or any share thereof, made as a security for any debt or debts, either by way of mortgage or assignment, duly registered according to the provisions of tuled, "An Act for the registering of British Vessels," shall an act of Parliament held in the 3 & 4 Will. 4, [c. 55], intibe invalidated or affected by reason of such possession, order, or disposition of the same, as aforesaid. of any petition for protection from process, upon the goods or 18. That no distress for rent made and levied, after the filing effects of the petitioner, shall be available for more than one year's rent accrued prior to the filing of such petition, but that the landlord or party to whom the rent shall be due shall and which the distress shall not be available, and entitled to all the may be a creditor for the overplus of the rent due, and for provisions made for creditors by the said recited act or by this act. 19. That, if the petitioner shall, before or after the filing of his petition, in contemplation of his becoming insolvent, or being in insolvent circumstances, voluntarily convey, assign, transfer, charge, deliver, or make over any estate, real or per sonal, security for money, bond, bill, note, money, goods, or effects whatsoever, to any creditor or creditors, or to any person or persons in trust for, or to or for the use, benefit, or advantage of, any creditor or creditors, or to any person who is or may be liable as surety for such petitioner, every such conveyance, assignment, transfer, charge, delivery, and making over shall be deemed fraudulent and void as against any assignee or assignees of the estate and effects of such petitioner appointed under the provisions of the said recited act and of this act, or of either of them: Provided always, that no such conveyance, assignment, transfer, charge, delivery, or making over shall be so deemed fraudulent and void if made at any time prior to three months before the filing of the petition, and not with the view or intention, by the party so conveying, assigning, transferring, charging, delivering, or making over, of petitioning the court for protection from process. 20. That the provisions of an act passed in the 3 Geo. 4, [c. 39], intituled “ An Act for preventing Frauds upon Creditors by secret Warrants of Attorney to confess Judgment," shall extend to the assignee or assignees of every petitioner for protection from process whose estate shall, after the expiration of twenty-one days next after his execution of such warrant of attorney, or giving of such cognovit actionem as therein mentioned, be vested in an assignee or assignees under the provisions of the said recited act and of this act, or of either of them, as if the said act so intituled as aforesaid had been expressly herein enacted; and every such warrant of attorney, and judgment and execution thereon, and every such cognovit actionem, and judgment entered up thereon, and execution |