CONGRESS. (UNIFORM SYSTEM OF BANKRUPTCY.) 



195 



mutilate ; (23) ' secured creditor ' shall include a 

 creditor who has security for his debt upon the 

 property of the bankrupt of a nature to be assigna- 

 ble under this act, or who owns such a debt for 

 which some indorser, surety, or other persons second- 

 arily liable for the bankrupt has such security upon 

 the bankrupt's assets; (24) 'States' shall include 

 the Territories, the Indian Territory, Alaska, and 

 the District of Columbia; (25) ' transfer ' shall in- 

 clude the sale and every other and different mode 

 of disposing of or parting with property, or the pos- 

 session of property, absolutely or conditionally, as a 

 payment, pledge, mortgage, gift, or security ; (26) 

 'trustee' shall include all of the trustees of an 

 estate ; (27) ' wage earner' shall mean an individual 

 who works for wages, salary, or hire, at a rate of 

 compensation not exceeding $1,500 per year; (28) 

 words importing the masculine gender may be ap- 

 plied to and include corporations, partnerships, and 

 women ; (29) words importing the plural number 

 may be applied to and mean only a single person or 

 thing; (30) words importing the singular number 

 may be applied to and mean several persons or 

 things. 



CHAPTER II. CREATION OK COURTS OF BANKRUPTCY 



AND. THEIR JURISDICTION. 



" SEC. 2. That the courts of bankruptcy as here- 

 inbefore defined, viz., the district courts of the 

 United States in the several States, the Supreme 

 Court of the District of Columbia, the district courts 

 of the several Territories, and the United States 

 courts in the Indian Territory and the District of 

 Alaska, are hereby made courts of bankruptcy, and 

 are hereby invested, within their respective Terri- 

 torial limits as now established or as they may be 

 hereafter changed, with such jurisdiction at law 

 and in equity as will enable them to exercise orig- 

 inal jurisdiction in bankruptcy proceedings, in Vaca- 

 tion in chambers and during their respective terms, 

 as they are now or may be hereafter held, to (1) 

 adjudge persons bankrupt who have had their prin- 

 cipal place of business, resided, or had their domi- 

 cile within their respective Territorial jurisdictions 

 for the preceding six months, or the greater portion 

 thereof, or who do not have their principal place of 

 business, reside, or have their domicile, within the 

 United States, but have property within their juris- 

 dictions, or who have been adjudged bankrupts by 

 courts of competent jurisdiction without the United 

 States, and have property within their jurisdictions; 

 (2) allow claims, disallow claims, reconsider allowed 

 or disallowed claims, and allow or disallow them 

 against bankrupt estates; (3) appoint receivers or 

 the marshals, upon application of parties in interest, 

 in case the courts shall find it absolutely necessary, 

 for the preservation of estates, to take charge of the 

 property of bankrupts after the filing of the petition 

 and until it is dismissed or the trustee is qualified; 

 (4) arraign, try, and punish bankrupts, officers, and 

 other persons, and the agents, officers, members of 

 the board of directors or trustees, or other similar 

 controlling bodies, of corporations for violations of 

 this act, in accordance with the laws of procedure 

 of the United States now in force, or such as may 

 be hereafter enacted regulating trials for the alleged 

 violation of laws of the United States ; (5) authorize 

 the business of bankrupts to be conducted for lim- 

 ited periods by receivers, the marshals, or trustees, 

 if necessary in the best interests of the estates; (6) 

 bring in and substitute additional persons or parties 

 in proceedings in bankruptcy when necessary for 

 the complete determination of a matter in contro- 

 versy ; (7) cause the estates of bankrupts to be col- 

 lected, reduced to money and distributed, and de- 

 termine controversies in relation thereto, except as 

 herein otherwise provided ; (8) close estates, when- 



ever it appears that they have been fully adminis- 

 tered, by approving the final accounts and dis- 

 charging the trustees, and reopen them whenever 

 it appears they were closed before being fully ad- 

 ministered ; (9) confirm or reject compositions be- 

 tween debtors and their creditors, and set aside 

 compositions and reinstate the cases ; (10) consider 

 and confirm, modify or overrule, or return with 

 instructions for further proceedings, records, and 

 findings certified to them by referees ; (11) deter- 

 mine all claims of bankrupts to their exemptions; 

 (12) discharge or refuse to discharge bankrupts and 

 set aside discharges and reinstate the cases; (13) 

 enforce obedience by bankrupts, officers, and other 

 persons to all lawful orders, by fine or imprison- 

 ment or fine and imprisonment; (14) extradite bank- 

 rupts from their respective districts to other dis- 

 tricts; (15) make Such orders, issue such process, 

 and enter such judgments in addition to those spe- 

 cifically provided for as may be necessary for the 

 enforcement of the provisions of this act; (16) 

 punish persons for contempts committed before 

 referees; (17) pursuant to the recommendation of 

 creditors, or when they neglect to recommend the 

 appointment of trustees, appoint trustees, and upon 

 complaints of creditors, remove trustees for cause 

 upon hearings and after notices to them ; (18) tax 

 costs, whenever they are allowed by law, and render 

 judgments therefor against the unsuccessful party, 

 or the successful party for cause, or in part against 

 each of the parties, and against estates, in proceed- 

 ings in bankruptcy ; and (19) transfer cases to other 

 courts of bankruptcy. . 



"Nothing in this section contained shall be con- 

 strued to deprive a court of bankruptcy of any 

 power it would possess were certain specific powers 

 not herein enumerated. 



" CHAPTER III. BANKRUPTS. 



"SEC. 3. Acts of Bankruptcy. a. Acts of bank- 

 ruptcy by a person shall consist of his having (1) 

 conveyed, transferred, concealed, or removed, or 

 permitted to be concealed or removed, any part of 

 his property with intent to hinder, delay or defraud 

 his creditors, or any of them ; or (2) transferred, 

 while insolvent, any portion of his property to one 

 or more of his creditors with intent to prefer such 

 creditors over his other creditors ; or (3) suffered or 

 permitted, while insolvent, any creditor to obtain 

 a preference through legal proceedings, and not 

 having at least five days before a sale or final dis- 

 position of any property affected by such preference 

 vacated or discharged such preference ; or (4) made 

 a general assignment for the benefit of his credit- 

 ors: or (5) admitted in writing his inability to pay 

 his debts and his willingness to be adjudged a 

 bankrupt on that ground. 



" b. A petition may be filed against a person who 

 is insolvent and who has committed an act of bank- 

 ruptcy within four months after the commission of 

 such act. Such time shall not expire until four 

 months after (1) the date of the recording or regis- 

 tering of the transfer or assignment when the act 

 consists in having made a transfer of any of his 

 property with intent to hinder, delay, or defraud 

 his creditors or for the purpose of giving a prefer- 

 ence as hereinbefore provided, or a general assign- 

 ment for the benefit of his creditors, if by law such 

 recording or registering is required or permitted, 

 or, if it is not, from the date when the beneficiary 

 takes notorious, exclusive or continuous possession 

 of the property unless the petitioning creditors 

 have received actual notice of such transfer or 

 assignment. 



" c. It shall be a complete defense to any proceed- 

 ings in bankruptcy instituted under the first sub- 

 division of this section to allege and prove that the 



