CONGRESS. (UNIFORM SYSTEM OF BANKRUPTCY.) 



199 



if recorded shall impart the same notice that a deed 

 from the trustee to the bankrupt if recorded would 

 impart. 



"SEC. 22. Reference of cases after adjudication. 

 a. After a person has been adjudged a bankrupt the 

 judge may cause the trustee to proceed with the ad- 

 ministration of the estate, or refer it (1) generally 

 to the referee or specially with only limited author- 

 ity to act in the premises or to consider and report 

 upon specified issues ; or (2) to any referee within 

 the territorial jurisdiction of the court, if the con- 

 venience of parties in interest will be served thereby, 

 or for cause, or if the bankrupt does not do business, 

 reside, or have his domicile in the district. 



"&. The judge may, at any time, for the conven- 

 ience of parties or for cause, transfer a case from one 

 referee to another. 



" SEC. 23. Jurisdiction of United States and State 

 courts. a. The United States circuit courts shall 

 have jurisdiction of all controversies at law and in 

 equity, as distinguished from proceedings in bank- 

 ruptcy, between trustees as such and adverse claim- 

 ants concerning the property acquired or claimed 

 by the trustees, in the same manner and to the same 

 extent only as though bankruptcy proceedings had 

 not been instituted and such controversies had been 

 between the bankrupts and such adverse claim- 

 ants. 



" b. Suits by the trustee shall only be brought or 

 prosecuted in the courts where the bankrupt, whose 

 estate is being administered by such trustee, might 

 have brought or prosecuted them if proceedings in 

 bankruptcy had not been instituted, unless by con- 

 sent of the proposed defendant. 



"c. The United States circuit courts shall have 

 concurrent jurisdiction with the courts of bank- 

 ruptcy, within their respective territorial limits, of 

 the offenses enumerated in this act. 



" SEC. 24. Jurisdiction of appellate courts. a. 

 The Supreme Court of the United States, the circuit 

 courts of appeals of the United States, and the su- 

 preme courts of the Territories, in vacation in cham- 

 bers and during their respective terms, as now or as 

 they may be hereafter held, are hereby invested with 

 appellate jurisdiction of controversies arising in 

 bankruptcy proceedings from the courts of bank- 

 ruptcy from which they have appellate jurisdiction 

 in other cases. The Supreme Court of the United 

 States shall exercise a like jurisdiction from courts 

 of bankruptcy not within any organized circuit of 

 the United States and from the Supreme Court of 

 the District of Columbia. 



" b. The several circuit courts of appeals shall have- 

 jurisdiction in equity, either interlocutory or final, 

 to superintend and revise in matter of law the pro- 

 ceedings of the several inferior courts of bank- 

 ruptcy within their jurisdiction. Such power shall 

 be exercised on due notice and petition by any 

 party aggrieved. 



"SEC. 25. Appeals and writs of error. a. That 

 appeals, as in equity cases, may be taken in bank- 

 ruptcy proceedings from the courts of bankruptcy 

 to the circuit court of appeals of the United States, 

 and to the supreme court of the Territories, in the 

 following cases, to wit, (1) from a judgment adjudg- 

 ing or refusing to adjudge the defendant a bank- 

 rupt ; (2) from a judgment granting or denying a 

 discharge ; and (3) from a judgment allowing or 

 rejecting a debt or claim of $500 or over. Such ap- 

 peal shall be taken within ten days after the judg- 

 ment appealed from has been rendered, and may be 

 heard and determined by the appellate court in 

 term or vacation, as the case may be. 



" b. From any final decision of a court of appeals, 

 allowing for rejecting a claim under this act. an ap- 

 peal may be had under such rules and within such 

 time as may be prescribed by the Supreme Court of 



the United States in the following cases, and no 

 other : 



"1. Where the amount in controversy exceeds tho 

 sum of $ 2,000, and the question involved is one 

 which might have been taken on appeal or writ of 

 error from the highest court of a State to the Su- 

 preme Court of the United States; or 



"2. Where some justice of the Supreme Court of 

 the United States shall certify that in his opinion 

 the determination of the question or questions in- 

 volved in the allowance or rejection of such claim 

 is essential to a uniform construction of this act 

 throughout the United States. 



" c. Trustees shall not be required to give bond 

 when they take appeals or sue out writs of error. 



"SEC. 26. Arbitration of controversies. a. The 

 trustee may, pursuant to the direction of the court, 

 submit to arbitration any controversy arising in the 

 settlement of the estate. 



" b. Three arbitrators shall be chosen by mutual 

 consent, or one by the trustee, one by the other 

 party to the controversy, and the third by the two 

 so chosen, or if they fail to agree in five days after 

 their appointment the court shall appoint the third 

 arbitrator. 



" c. The written finding of the arbitrators, or a 

 majority of them, as to the issues presented, may be 

 filed in court and shall have like force and effect as 

 the verdict of a jury. 



" SEC. 27. Compromises. a. The trustee may, 

 with the approval of the court, compromise any 

 controversy arising in the administration of the 

 estate upon such terms as he may deem for the best 

 interests of the estate. 



" SEC. 28. Designation of newspapers. a. Courts 

 of bankruptcy shall by order designate a newspaper 

 published within their respective territorial districts, 

 and in the county in which the bankrupt resides or 

 the major part of his property is situated, in which 

 notices required to be published by this act and 

 orders which the court may direct to be published 

 shall be inserted. Any court may, in a particular 

 case, for the convenience of parties in interest, desig- 

 nate some additional newspaper in which notices 

 and orders in such case shall be published. 



"SEC. 29. Offenses. a. A person shall be pun- 

 ished, by imprisonment for a period not to exceed 

 five years, upon conviction of the offense of having 

 knowingly and fraudulently appropriated to his 

 own use, embezzled, spent, or unlawfully trans- 

 ferred any property or secreted or destroyed any 

 document belonging to a bankrupt estate which 

 came into his charge as trustee. 



" b. A person shall be punished, by imprisonment 

 for a period not to exceed two years, upon convic- 

 tion of the offense of having knowingly and fraudu- 

 lently (1) concealed while a bankrupt, or after his 

 discharge, from his trustee any of the property be- 

 longing to his estate in bankruptcy : or (2) made a 

 false oath or account in, or in relation to, any pro- 

 ceeding in bankruptcy; (3) presented under oath 

 any false claim for proof against the estate of a 

 bankrupt, or used any such claim in composition 

 personally or by agent, proxy, or attorney, or as 

 agent, proxy, or attorney ; or (4) received any ma- 

 terial amount of property from a bankrupt after 

 the filing of the petition, with intent to defeat this 

 act; or (5) extorted or attempted to extort any 

 money or property from any person as a considera- 

 tion for acting or forbearing to act in bankruptcy 

 proceedings. 



"c. A person shall be punished by fine, not to ex- 

 ceed $500, and forfeit his office, and the same shall 

 thereupon become vacant, upon conviction of the 

 offense of having knowingly (1) acted as a referee 

 in a case in which he is directly or indirectly inter- 

 ested : or (2) purchased, while a referee, directly or 



