Construction and extent of this act.

Concerted bankruptcies.

Arbitration.

Abolition of fees to patentee.

in the said bankruptcy had originally been commenced by virtue of this act, without prejudice to any action or suit commenced, or any contract entered into, by the existing assignees at the time of the passing of this act.

XLI. And be it enacted, That wherever this statute hath used words importing the singular number, or the masculine gender only, yet it shall be understood to include several matters as well as one matter, and several persons as well as one person, and females as well as males, and bodies corporate as well as individuals, unless it be otherwise specially provided, or there be something in the subject or context repugnant to such construction; and that wherever the words Lord Chancellor are used, they shall also be understood to mean Lord Keeper and Lords Commissioners for the custody of the great seal; and that this act shall not extend either to Scotland or Ireland, except where the same are expressly mentioned or referred to.

XLII. And be it enacted, That from and after the passing of this act no commission of bankrupt shall be superseded, nor any fiat annulled, nor any adjudication reversed, by reason only that the commission, fiat, or adjudication has been concerted by and between the petitioning creditor, his solicitor or agent, or any of them, and the bankrupt, his solicitor or agent, or any of them, save and except where any petition to supersede a commission for any such cause shall have been already presented and shall be now pending.

XLIII. And be it enacted, That if the assignees of any bankrupt's estate shall agree to refer any matter in dispute with any party to arbitration, in such manner as by law they are empowered to do, such agreement of reference may be made a rule of the Court of Bankruptcy by this act constituted, and thereupon all such rights and remedies, duties and liabilities, shall accrue from such reference so made a rule of the said court, in respect of arbitration and award, and non-performance of such award, and otherwise howsoever, as by law at present accrue upon any submission of reference made a rule of any of his Majesty's other courts of record.

XLIV. And be it enacted, That all fees heretofore payable to the person holding the patentee's office "for the execution of the laws and statutes concerning bankrupts," shall cease and determine; and that no fee whatever shall be payable to any person whomsoever holding any office under or by virtue of this act, except such as are provided by this act, or in the schedules hereto annexed, and except the fees payable to any commissioner acting in the execution of any commis

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sion or fiat issued or to be issued, and to be executed elsewhere than in the Court of Bankruptcy.

of bankrupts on the granting

to the secretary

of

every fiat; and

XLV. And be it enacted, That there shall be paid to the Lord 101. to be paid Chancellor's secretary of bankrupts, upon the granting of every fiat, in lieu of a commission of bankrupt, by virtue of this act, the sum of ten pounds; and the sums to be so received by the said secre- application tary shall be by him paid once a week, or oftener, as the Lord Chan- thereof. cellor shall think fit to direct, into the Bank of England, to the credit of the accountant general of the High Court of Chancery, to a separate account, to be intituled "The Secretary of Bankrupts' Account;" and all monies to be paid into the said account shall be subject to such general orders touching the payment in, investment, accounting for, and payment out of such monies for the purposes hereinafter provided, as the Lord Chancellor shall from time to time think fit to prescribe.

to the like ac

count.

on all commissions moved into

the Court of Bankruptcy.

XLVI. And be it enacted, That there shall be paid to the said Assignee of bankrupt's esaccountant general, to be placed by him to the like account, by the tate to pay 201 official assignee of each bankrupt's estate to be administered in the said Court of Bankruptcy, out of the first monies that shall come into his hands, and immediately after the choice of assignees by the commissioners, the sum of twenty pounds. XLVII. And be it enacted, That in all cases of commissions of Sums to be paid bankrupt, which by virtue of the provisions herein contained shall be removed into the said Court of Bankruptcy, and under which the choice of assignees shall have taken place prior to the commencement of this act, there shall be paid by the assignees of every such bankrupt's estate, in lieu of all other sums directed to be paid under and by virtue of this act, the sum of three pounds on every sitting under such bankruptcy which shall be held in the said Court, or by any division judge or commissioner thereof: such sum to be paid to the said accountant general, and to be carried to the said account intituled "The Secretary of Bankrupts' Account:" provided always, that no Restriction of fees on auditing fee whatever shall be paid on any meeting for the purpose of auditing assignees acthe assignees' accounts, unless there shall appear to the commissioners counts. to be sufficient assets of the bankrupt's estate for the payment thereof. XLVIII. And be it enacted, That it shall be lawful for the Lord Power for the Chancellor's secretary of bankrupts for the time being, and his clerks, and he and they are hereby respectively authorized and required, to receive and take the several fees and sums set forth in the first schedule hereto annexed, in respect of the business therein specified; and

secretary of bankrupts to receive the fees

in the first schedule.

in the second

schedule.

the amount to be so received shall be by the said secretary applied in payment of salaries to a messenger and housekeeper, and the various other expenses of his office, and the surplus (if any) of such monies shall and may be retained for his own use.

Power for the XLIX. And be it enacted, That it shall be lawful for the chief chief registrar to receive the fees registrar of the said Court of Bankruptcy for the time being, and his clerks, and he and they are hereby respectively authorized and required, to receive and take the several fees or sums set forth in the second schedule hereto annexed, in respect of the business therein specified; and the amount to be so received shall be by him applied in payment of such salaries or sums of money to clerks, ushers, and other under officers of the said Court of Bankruptcy, as the Lord Chancellor may from time to time order and direct; and the yearly surplus (if any) of such monies shall be divided between the two registrars, or between them and the deputy registrars of the said Court, in such proportions as the Lord Chancellor shall appoint.

Salaries of

officers of the

Court.

L. And be it enacted, That from and after the commencement of judges and other this act there shall be paid and payable, out of the monies and securities standing to the said account to be intituled "The Secretary of Bankrupts' Account," the yearly sums following, as and for salaries to the judges and other officers for the time being herein-after named; videlicet, to the chief judge of the said Court of Bankruptcy the sum of three thousand pounds, to each of the other judges of the said Court the sum of two thousand pounds, to each of the Commissioners of the said Court the sum of one thousand five hundred pounds, to the Lord Chancellor's secretary of bankrupts the sum of one thousand two hundred pounds, to each of the registrars of the said Court the sum of eight hundred pounds, to each of the deputy registrars of the said Court the sum of six hundred pounds, to the first clerk of the said secretary of bankrupts the sum of five hundred pounds, and to the second clerk of such secretary the sum of three hundred pounds; which said several sums shall be paid from time to time quarterly, free and clear from all taxes and deductions whatsoever, on the eleventh day of April, the eleventh day of July, the eleventh day of October, and the eleventh day of January in every year, by equal portions, the first payment thereof respectively to be made on the eleventh day of April next; and that if any person for the time being holding either of the said offices shall die, resign, or be removed from the same, the executor or administrator of the person so dying, or the person so resigning or being removed, shall be entitled to receive

such proportionable part of his salary as shall have accrued during the time that such person shall have executed his office since the last payment; and that the successor of any such person so dying, resigning, or being removed as aforesaid, shall be entitled to receive such portion of his salary as shall be accruing or shall accrue from the day of such death, resignation or removal.

tising as barristers, or being attornies.

LI. And be it enacted, That no judge, commissioner, registrar or Restriction as to judges and other deputy registrar, to be appointed by virtue of this act, shall during officers practheir respective continuance in such offices practise as a barrister, and that no attorney or solicitor, whose name shall be on the rolls of the said Court of Bankruptcy, or of any of his Majesty's Courts of Westminster, as such attorney or solicitor, shall be appointed to or hold any of the said offices.

LII. And whereas the office of the patentee "for the execution Provision for compensation of the laws and statutes concerning bankrupts" is now held by the to the patentee Reverend Thomas Thurlow, by virtue of a grant thereof by letters- of bankrupts. patent made to him for the term of his natural life, and the same office hath also been granted by letters-patent to the Honourable William Henry John Scott for the term of his natural life, after the termination of the previous existing interest therein: And whereas the duties of the said office, and the fees and emoluments payable in respect thereof, will by virtue of the provisions of this act be wholly discontinued; and it is just and reasonable that such compensation as is hereinafter provided should be made to the said patentees, in lieu of such fees and emoluments; be it therefore enacted, That the accountant general and the two senior masters of the High Court of Chancery shall be and they are hereby appointed commissioners for the purpose after-mentioned, and the said commissioners shall, within six months after the passing of this act, by examination on oath or otherwise, which oath they and each of them are and is hereby authorized to administer, inquire into and ascertain the amount of the annual clear legal profits and emoluments of the said office, to be computed on an average of the last three years, (after deducting all payments accustomed to be made thereanent,) and shall certify such amount in writing under their hands to the Lord High Chancellor, whereupon an annuity equal to such amount shall forthwith become a charge on an account to be opened by the said accountant general, and to be intituled "The Secretary of Bankrupts' Compensation Account," and shall be paid and payable to the said Thomas Thurlow during his natural life, and from and after his decease to the said

Compensation to commissioners, clerk of the hanaper, &c.

William Henry Scott during his natural life, in case he shall survive the said Thomas Thurlow; which annuity shall commence and be computed from the eleventh day of January next, and be payable half-yearly by equal portions on the eleventh day of July and the eleventh day of January in every year, the first of such payments to be made on the eleventh day of July next: provided always, that in case of the death of either of the said patentees in the interval between either of the said half-yearly days of payment, his executor or administrator shall be entitled to receive a proportionate part of the annuity then payable to the day of his decease; and that the said William Henry John Scott, in case he shall survive the said Thomas Thurlow, shall be entitled to receive on the next half-yearly day of payment after his decease a proportionate part only of his said annuity from the day of such decease.

LIII. And whereas the duties of the several persons now acting as commissioners of bankrupt in London, and the fees and emoluments accustomed to be received by them, will be abolished by the provisions of this act, and the clerk of the hanaper, purse-bearer, and other officers of the Lord Chancellor and of the High Court of Chancery, have been accustomed to receive certain fees, which will also be abolished by this act; and it may be just and necessary that in all or some of such cases compensation should be made in respect of such fees so to be abolished; be it enacted, That it shall be lawful for the lords commissioners of his Majesty's treasury, by examination on oath or otherwise, which oath they and each of them are and is hereby authorized to administer, to inquire into and ascertain the annual amount of the lawful fees and emoluments of such commissioners and other officers, received by them, and to award to all and every or such one or more of the said commissioners as they the said lords of the treasury shall deem to be entitled to the same, an annuity or annuities, of such an amount and for such term as the said lords of the treasury shall find to be a fair and reasonable compensation for the loss to be sustained by all or any of the commissioners and officers aforesaid, by the abolition of the said fees, and shall certify the amount of such annuity or annuities, in writing under their hands, to the Lord High Chancellor, who shall thereupon have power to order the amount so certified as payable to each commissioner or other officer, to be paid out of the moneys and securities to be standing to the said account to be intituled "The Secretary of Bankrupts' Compensation Account;" and the same shall be payable and paid accordingly to the respective