BAXKKUPT. 



BANKRUPT. 



Rroellent a* are now the Bank of England note*, thrre re not w 

 apotsueed own who contend that more elaborate device, practicable 

 only by th plate-printing method, would I* better, Forgery has 

 dfafaMMd. but it has not quite died out. The Bank director, opposed 

 any marked change la the simplicity of the device on theee ground* : 

 that fomrs can imitate elaborate engraving sufficiently well to deceive 

 the public, if not bank clerks; that parti-coloured note*, invented by 

 Sir William foogrere, were suooossfully imiUted; that the general 

 public, not being judge, of artistic effect, and having little discrimina- 

 tion for the dhftrent styles of different artiste, are apt to be easily 

 deceived by the amme gattnl appearance in a forged note that they 

 hare been familiar with in a real note, and take imperfect imitation* 

 of it quite a* readily; and that, on the whole, long familiarity with 

 one form of inacription, and one style of ornament, ia the beet pre- 

 ventive againct forgery. Theee opinion! were contested by Mr. H. my 

 Bradbury, in a Lecture delivered at the Royal Institution, on the 9th 

 of May, 185(5 ; the lecture was afterward* printed an a quarto pamphlet, 

 with engravings of three specimen bank notes, from design* by Mr. 

 John Leighton. Mr. Bradbury contends that the object to be aimed 

 at should be to impart to each hank note an individuality, thereby 

 ipmainc qualities which are not within the province of mechanical 

 imitation. This is to be done by employing a design of a high artistic 

 character; seeing that the work which has the genius of an artist 

 imprinted on it, is not to be imitated by an inferior mind. The vignette 

 is the part of a note on which the most artistic skill i* displayed ; and 

 Mr. Bradbury urges that this skill should be Ktill further exercised. 

 Early in the present century the Plymouth Dock Bank, to lessen the 

 forgery of its notes, caused a vignette to be engraved ; the forgeries at 

 once ceased. When a really skilful artist can engrave a vignette of 

 high character, his social position and prospects are such as to take him 

 out of the influence and temptation of forgers. The higher the class 

 of the engraving, the less the likelihood of forgery ; seeing that the 

 work of every real artist has an individuality about it which others 

 could not imitate. Admitting that the Bank of England note exhibits 

 simplicity of design, Mr. Bradbury remarks, " The objection I have to 

 submit is that ite simplicity is too simple, not having upon the bee 

 of it those features which characterise the true art-point. The vignette 

 is a specimen the reverse of what I have been advocating ; it is alike 

 deficient in conception and execution. Surface-printing having been 

 chosen as the medium, the Bank authorities were restricted in the 

 application of their art. In consequence of this, the Bank of England 

 n.'tc- in its present form is unworthy of the bank and the i 

 .Assuming that high art should be employed to give character to the 

 simplest parts of the note, Mr. Bradbury would employ machine- 

 engraving such as medallion work, and guilloche or rose-engine work 

 to produce ornamental details of any desired degree of complexity ; 

 straight linen, waved lines, circles, ellipses, &c., may be combined in 

 ways almost illimitable. To produce these results the combination 

 of nigh art, simplicity with mechanical intricacy, as a double check to 

 the forger Mr. Bradbury believes that plate-printing would be neces- 

 sary. Mr. Qrubb, engineer to the Bank of Ireland, has expressed 

 opinions very similar to those of Mr. Bradbury. 



The electrotype is resorted to as the most perfect and practical mode 

 for multiplying the number of plates. The objection formerly raised 

 to the use of copper is entirely removed ; if a copper-plate be covered 

 by electro-deposition with a thin coating of iron or zinc, an unlimited 

 number of impressions may be printed from it : and as the coating 

 can be removed and renewed at pleasure, and ad libitum, without the 

 slightest injury to the plate, copper-plates by this treatment will 

 entirely supersede the use of steel-plate engraving and siderography for 

 bank notes. 



It may be remarked, that while the current coin of the realm i 

 made at the Government Mint on Tower Hill, the Bank of England 

 notes, which are the property of that cor]* .ration, and not of the state, 

 are prepared within the walls of the Bank in Threadneedle Street 



BANKRUPT (Ijax'/ttt-rinilitr, a bankrupt, and banr/ut-nule, bank- 

 ruptcy from banco*, the table or counter of a tradesman, and rii/itut, 

 broken) ia a merchant or trader whose property and effects, on his 

 becoming insolvent, are administered and distributed for the benefit of 

 all his creditors, under that peculiar system of statutory regulation* 

 called the Bankrupt Laws. These lawn, whirh originate! in England 

 with the statute 34 A 35 Henry VIII. c. 4, were firxt mainly directed 

 against the criminal frauds of trader*, who acquired the merchandise 

 and goods of others, and then fled to foreign countries, or lived in 

 extravagance, and eluded and defrauded their creditors. The bank- 

 rupt was consequently treated as a criminal offender; and formerly, 

 the not duly surrendering his property under a commission of bank- 

 ruptcy, when summoned, was a capital felony. The bankrupt laws are 

 now, and have for some time past, been regarded as a connected system 

 .1 legislation, having the double object of enforcing a complete 

 discovery and equitable distribution of the pru]>erty and effects of an 

 insolvent trader, and of conferring on the trader the reciprocal advan- 

 tage of security of person and a discharge from all claims of Inn 

 creditors. These laws were till lately spread over a roluminoiui accu- 

 mulation of statue, referring to and depending on each other, and 

 often creating confusion and inoomenien. , i,-.,,, their diffuse and 

 contradictory provisions. These were, un.l.T the au.-pice* o| 

 El-Inn, repealed, and their jiroviaiuns altered and consolidated by the 



general Bankrupt Act (6 Goo. IV. c. 16), which also introduced many 

 imi>ortant alterations and simplifications. A subsequent statute, 1 & 2 

 Will. IV. c. 66, constituted ' the Court of Bankruptcy,' and mat 

 altered the mode of administration of this law : it entirely removed 

 tin- jurisdiction in the first instance in caw* of bankruptcy from the 

 Court of Chancery to a Court of Bankruptcy, reserving only an appeal 

 from the judges of that court to the Lord rl, .m , ll..r. as to matters of 

 Uw and equity and question* of evidence. Instead of the commission 

 under the Great Seal, which formerly issued to a certain mm. 

 borristers-at-law who were permanent Commissioner- t Haul, 

 the above Act substituted a Jial of bankruptcy, and introduced 

 other important alterations. This statute was followed by the 5 ft 6 

 Will. IV. c. 29, which reduced the number of judges of the Court of 

 Review, established by the previous act, from four to three; and by 

 the 546 Viet c. 122, which introduced some alter.- ' lie law 



of bankruptcy, further modified the constitution of the Con rt of 1 ! 

 and established country courts of bankruptcy in the place of the local 

 commissioners of bankrupt, to whom fiats in bankruptcy were pre- 

 viously directed. 



The numerous statutes relating to bankruptcy have again been con- 

 solidated by the Bankrupt Law Consolidation Act, 184V, and thin has 

 been amended in a few particulars by the 15 & 16 Viet c. 77, and by 

 the Bankruptcy Act, 1854. These three acts embody the actual law 

 applicable directly to bankrupt* and to their estates. 



I n d insidering the provisions of the Bankrupt Law, we must explain 



1 . \V ho may be made a bankrupt. 



2. By wliat acts a trader becomes liable to be made ,\ lumkrupt. 

 8. The proceedings by which a trader is made a bankrupt. 



4. The assignees, their powers and duties ; and the vesting of the 

 bankrupt's property and effects in them. 



5. The examination and certificate of the bankrupt 



6. The proof of debts by the creditors. 



7. The effect of the bankruptcy on the rights of third parties. 



8. Arrangements between bankrupts and their creditors under the 

 control of the court, or by deed ; and composition of bankruptcy. 



9. The constitution of the Court of Bankruptcy. 



1. Who may be made a Bankrupt. The Bankrupt Law Consoli. 

 Act, 1849, s. 65, enacts, that " all alum makers, apothecaries, auctioneers, 

 bonkers, bleachers, brokers, brickmakers, builders, collenderera, car- 

 penters, carriers, cattle or sheep salesmen, coach proprietors, 

 keepers, dyers, fullers, keepers of inns, taverns, hotels, or coffee-houses, 

 lime-burners, livery-stable kee|>ei-8, market gardeners, millers, packers, 

 printers, ship-owners, shipwrights, victuallers, warehousemen, wharf- 

 ingers, persons using the trade or profession of a scrivener rci 

 other men's moneys or estates into their trust or custody, persons 

 insuring ships or their freight or other matters against the perils of 

 the sea, and all persons using the trade of merchandise by v 

 bargaining, exchange, bartering, commission, consignment, or 



wise, in gross or by retail, and all persons who, either for themselves 

 or as agents or factors for others, seek their living by buyin 

 selling, or by buying and letting for hire, or by the workmanship of 

 goods or commodities, shall be deemed traders liable to become bank- 

 rupt ; provided that no farmer, grassier, common labourer, or workman 

 for hire, receiver-general of the taxes, or member of or subscriber to 

 any incorporated commercial or trading company, established by charter 

 or act of Parliament, shall be deemed as such a trader liable to become 

 bankrupt** 



The above enumeration ha* given rise to a variety of decisions in the 

 courts of law. It is not every single act, or even every series of acts, 

 of buying ami selling which constitutes a man a trader within the law : 

 there must be an intention of dealing generally, and of gaining a liveli- 

 hood l.y trading. Thus a schoolmaster who sells books to his scholars ; 

 a colonel of militia, who oeeasionally sells regin. 

 of hounds, who buys dead horses, and sells off the skin and both 

 farmer who sells the milk of his cows to a retail dealer, . .r who buys 

 and sells articles not with a view of making profit, but merely as 

 auxiliary to the carrying on his farm ; these and many similar persons 

 have been held not within the Ixmkriipt laws as traders. And the 

 same has been determined with respect to mn owl . v. ij. 



digs and sells his coals; a person having a freehold inten 

 of years in a brick -ground, who sells the bricks made ir< i 

 earth, though if he purchased the materials for making bricks it would 

 be otherwise. If a trader retires from trade, still while his trading 

 debts remain unpaid he may be made a bankrupt in res])ect of them, 

 but not in rcdpect of debts contracted after his retirement. 



2. The aclt I'll n'- Lr mmli ii Itanl-rupt. 

 These acts are of two sorts: first, those whieh air . t>ank- 

 ruptcy when done with iii'rnf to defeat or delay his creditors; sec. >n>lK , 

 certain acts which have that effect, without refer. Doe to an 



The first class are enumerated in wctioii fi? of the Bankrupt Law 

 <'"ti-<olidat,ioii Act, 1849, whi.li marl,., "that if any trailer liable to 

 become bankrupt shall depart this realm, or Ving '.ut of this 

 shall remain abroad, or shall dejKirt from his dwelling-house, or other- 

 win absent himself, or begin to keep his house, or suffer himself to be 

 arrested or taken in execution for any .1. lit not due, <>r yield himself 

 to prison, or suffer himself to be outlawed, or procure hit. 

 arrested or taken in execution, or his good*, money, or chattels to bo 



