by him for the said Metivier and Co. The facts were as fol. lows:-On the 28th March 1834, an announcement appeared in the London Gazette declaring that Messrs. Metivier and Co., were insolvent. A fiat was issued against them on the 2nd April, and they were adjudged bankrupts by Mr. Commissioner Williams on the 4th April. The official assignee was appointed on the same day, and in the evening the usual announce. ment appeared in the London Gazette. On the same day, 4th April, the attachment was made in Guernsey by Mr. James Guille, who had quitted England after Metivier and Co., had failed; and on the 5th April, a rule of Court or judicial act was obtained in consequence of the attachment, which rule of Court, by the law of Guernsey, and not the attachment, was the act under which he might claim a preference on the property attached. The assignees were appointed on the 21st April. They demanded that the attachment should be set aside, maintaining that the property attached was vested in them from the 28th March. The Bailiff said that the question in this case was, whether the assignment was to be considered as having taken place on the 21st April, or whether an attachment made after the 28th March, when the insolvency of the debtors was announced in the London Gazette, after the 2d April when the Fiat was issued, and after the 4th April when the adjudication of bankruptcy took place, was legal. He considered that the announcement of the 28th March ought to be regarded as a public declaration of insolvency, and that a subsequent attachment was consequently null. Judgment was accordingly given for the plaintiff, and the attachment set aside with costs.

Bankrupt Laws of England, Bankrupt's Personal Estate.Sect. 63 Enacts. That the commissioners shall assign to the assignees, for the benefit of the creditors of the bankrupt, all the present and future personal estate of such bankrupt, wheresoever the same may be found or known. and all property which he may purchase, or which may revert, descend, be devised or bequeathed, or come to him, before he shall have obtained his certificate; and the commissioners shall also assign all debts due or to be due to the bankrupt, wheresoever found or known; and such assignment shall vest the property, right, and interest in such debts in such assignees, as fully as if the assurance whereby they are secured had been made to such assignees; and after such assignment, neither the bankrupt, nor any person claiming through or under him, shall have power to recover the same, nor to make any release or discharge thereof, neither shall the same be attached as the debt

of the bankrupt by any person, according to the custom of the city of London or otherwise, but such assignees shall have like remedy to recover the same, in their own names, as the bankrupt himself might have had, if he had not been adjudged a bankrupt." [Sect 25, 1 and 2 Wm. 4. c. 56, provides that the Bankrupt's personal estate shall vest in assignees, by virtue of their appointment without any deed of assignment from the commissioners for that purpose.] Sect. 72, Geo.4. provides that goods in the possession, order, or disposition of the bankrupt may be sold by the commissioners. Sect. 73, that if the bankrupt shall convey his lands or goods to others or deliver securities or transfer his debts into other names, the same shall be void; and Sect. 120, that persons concealing bankrupt's effects shall be liable to a penalty of £100.

Bankrupt Laws of England, Bankrupt's Real Estate.-Sect. 64 Enacts. That the commissioners shall, by deed indented and enrolled in any of her Majesty's courts of record, convey to the said assignees, for the benefit of the creditors, all lands, tenements, and hereditaments, except copy or customary-hold, in England, Scotland, Ireland, or in any of the dominions, plantations or colonies belonging to his Majesty, to which any bankrupt is entitled, and all interest to which such bankrupt is entitled therein, and of which he might, according to the laws of the several countries, &c., have disposed, and all such lands, tenements, and hereditaments as he shall pur. chase, or shall descend, be devised, revert, or come to, such bankrupt, before he shall have obtained his certificate, and all deeds, papers, and writings, respecting the same; and every such deed shall be valid against the bankrupt, and against all persons claiming under him: Provided, that where, according to the laws of any such plantation or colony, such deed would require registration, enrolment, or recording, the same shall be so registered, enrolled or recorded; and no such deed shall invalidate the title of any purchaser for valuable consideration prior to such registration, enrolment, or recording, without notice that the commission has issued. [Sect. 26, 1 and 2 Wm. 4, c. 56, provides that the Bankrupt's real estate shall vest in assignees by virtue of their appointment without any deed of assignment from the commissioners for that purpose. Sect. 27 provides that where a conveyance would require to be registered, the certificate of the appointment of the assignees shall be registered.]

Bankrupt laws of England, proof of debts.-By the 6, Geo. 4, c. 16, s. 46, if any creditor shall live remote from the place

of the meeting of the commissioners, he may prove by affidavit sworn before a master in chancery, ordinary or extraordinary; or if such creditor shall live out of England, by affidavit sworn before a magistrate where such creditor shall be residing, and attested by a notary public, British minister or consul; and no creditor shall pay any contribution or account of any such debt.

Bankrupt laws of England, choice of assignees.-By the Stat. 6, Geo. 4 c. 16, s. 61, all creditors who have proved debts under the commission to the amount of ten pounds and upwards, shall be entitled to vote in such choice; and also any person authorized by letter of attorney from any such creditor or creditors, upon proof of the execution thereof, either by affidavit sworn before a master in chancery, ordinary or extraordinary, or by oath before the commissioners viva voce, and in case of creditors residing out of England, by oath before a magistrate where the party shall be residing, duly attested by a notary public, British minister or consul; and the choice shall be made by the major part in value of the creditors so entitled to vote: provided that the commissioners shall have power to reject any person so chosen who shall appear to them unfit to be such assignee as aforesaid, and upon such rejection a new choice of another assignee or assignees shall be made as aforesaid.

Bankrupt laws of England, the Surrender.-Sec. 112, Enacts. If the bankrupt does not surrender and submit to be examined on or before three o'clock on the 42nd day after the fiat has been issued against him, or does not make a discovery of his estate and effects, or does not deliver up his goods, books, &c., or removes and embezzles any of the same to the value of £10, that he shall be deemed guilty of felony, and be liable to be transported for life, or for such term not less than seven years as the Court shall adjudge. If in actual custody in Jersey or Guernsey, he may be removed by the Commis. sioners, Warrant under cover of an Order in Council.

Bankrupt laws of England, the Certificate.-The certificate is an instrument, whereby the commissioners certify to the Lord Chancellor their adjudication, the advertisement in the Gazette, the several meetings in pursuance of it, the bankrupt's surrender and conformity, and his having passed his last examination and made a true discovery of his estate and effects; and that the certificate has been duly signed by the creditors both in respect of number and value. It is signed and sealed by the commissioners; and the creditors sign a consent at the foot of it, to the commissioners signing and sealing it, to the

bankrupt's having such allowance and benefit as are given by the statute, and to his being discharged from his debts. Its effect. First, by stat. 6, Geo. 4, c. 16, s. 121, every bankrupt who shall have duly surrendered and in all things conformed himself to the laws in force concerning bankrupts at the time of issuing the commission against him, shall be discharged from all debts due by him when he became bankrupt, and from all claims and demands hereby made proveable under the commission, in case he shall obtain a certificate of such conformity so signed and allowed and subject to such provisions as hereinafter directed [sec. 6, Geo. 4, c. 19, s. 122 ;] but no such certificate shall release or discharge any person who was partner with such bankrupt at the time of his bankruptcy, or who was then jointly bound, or had made any joint contract with such bankrupt. Nor does the signing the certificate of a surviving partner, release the estate of a deceased partner, [Sleech's case, 1 Merivale, 570.] The certificate will be a bar not only to actions for debts contracted in England, but to actions for the debts of Scotch creditors. [Royal Bank of Scotland v. Cuthbert. 1 Rose, 462,] of Irish creditors, and of all Foreign creditors. [Odwin v. Forbes. Brick 57.J

Bankrupt Laws of Guernsey.-See Saisie.

Bankrupt Laws of Jersey.-See Décret.

Bankrupt laws of Jersey, administration and division of Bankrupt's estate. There are two modes in which a debtor may commit an act of Bankruptcy cognizable by the Jersey Laws; [See Décret] the first is by surrendering to the Island prison in execution of a judgment debt, and the other by filing a declaration of insolvency before the Court, and moving for leave to give notice of his intention to renounce his property in a fortnight, which notice must be published in the French local papers, and posted at the door of the Court house. If the debtor surrenders to prison, he must be reduit aux petits depens, i. e. be reduced to the smallest allowance usually called starvation point, at the suit of a Plaintiff, by an Act of the Court, on which he is said to become a bankrupt, and may then renounce to, or give up his property for the benefit of those to whom it may appertain. The law regards no distinction between the cases of trader and non trader: in a Bankruptcy under the Jersey Laws the only persons who share in the estate are judgment creditors duly registered, that is to say, those whose claims have been established before the Jersey Court, and whose judgments have been registered in the Book of Hypothecations and obligations kept by the Registrar of contracts. These creditors are said to stand in a similar situation to two

or more mortgagees of a property in England, but with this difference, that the rights of mortgagees are limited to the real estate specially mortgaged; whereas the rights of judgment creditors whose claims have been registered, extend to the real and personal estate of every description. In the case of a Bankruptcy or rather of a Décret, as it is called, the creditors are required by a public notice from the solicitor appointed to conduct the same, which is affixed to the door of the Court house,and inserted three weeks successively in the french local journals published on the market day, (Saturday) to bring in the amount of their claims, and their titles and evidences between then and a certain day, therein specified, that they may be inserted in the Bankrupt's schedule of inserans. After this the known creditors are summoned by the solicitor to appear at the Greffier's Court to see the property adjudicated. In the list of inserans, the names of creditors, amount of their claims, and description of their titles is inserted beginning with last first, and proceeding retrogadely according to the dates they were respectively recognized before Justice, and registered. Bills of exchange, book debts, and the like, which have not been registered, all take one date, without regard to the time they were contracted and which date is the day on which the schedule is ratified they are placed at the top of the list. Bonds date from the day they were executed, if registererd within ten days following, but if registered at a subsequent period, they date from the day they were left with the Registrar for registry, and to prevent a mistake a note of the day in usually made at the foot of the said Bonds. The creditors are not bound to prove their claims either by documentary evidence, or by affidavit as in England. When the schedule is completed and certified all the real and personal estate of the Bankrupt is adjudicated by a decree in one lot to the first creditor who shall accept it, when called upon according to precedency to do so or abandon his claim. The Greffier calls the names of the creditors beginning at the top of the schedule to take the estate of the Bankrupt and satisfy prior claimants-which of course is always refused by those first on the list, because the estate would then be too much encumbered. And even if it were not so inasmuch as any or all of the creditors under that date may share in the tenure and thus become joint proprietors of the Bankrupt's estate, persons of substance forego their rights, lest by becoming associated with insolvent persons, they should be subjected to endless inconveniencies, which they would be, if a Decret should be declared against those parties: