| of bankruptcy resident in the country. 
without the knowledge of the bankrupt, and 
meant to come suddenly upon him, certain pre- 
cautions“were used to prevent its being malici- 
ously sued out. The act 1° & 2° Will. IV., c. 56, 
abolished commissions, and substituted fiats of 
bankruptcy in their place. These fiats were issu- 
ed by the Lord-chancellor, the Master-of-the- 
rolls, the Vice-chancellor, or a Master-in-chancery, 
upon the petition of any one creditor whose debt 
amounted to £100 ; or of two creditors, not being 
partners, whose debts amounted to £150: or of 
three or more creditors whose debts amounted to 
£200. The fiat authorizes the petitioning credi- 
tor, or creditors, to prosecute his claims in the 
Court-of-bankruptcy, or before the commissioners 
By 5° 
and 6° Vict., c. 122, the Privy-council is em- 
| powered to establish district-courts of bankruptcy, 
with two commissioners to each court, two re- 
gistrars, and from two to four official-assignees ; 
and such courts have been established at Bir- 
mingham, Bristol, Exeter, Leeds, Liverpool, Man- 
chester, and Newcastle. By this last act, the 
debt of a petitioning creditor need not exceed 
£50; or of two, £70; and three creditors whose 
joint debts amount to £100 may petition. 
The commissioners take proof of the bank- 
ruptcy, and of the debtor’s being a trader. The 
trader adjudged a bankrupt is allowed five days 
notice before the adjudication is advertised ; but 
if he cannot show cause against it, the commis- 
sioners appoint two meetings to he advertised. 
At these meetings the debts are proved; and 
at the first of them assignees are chosen, in 
whom the estate is vested for behoof of the cred-’ 
| ators. 
The whole estate of the bankrupt is vested in 
the assignees, as it stood in his person when the 
first act of bankruptcy was committed. After 
that date, therefore, all his transactions are void 
and null. It is, however, provided by Sir Sam- 
uel Romilly’s bill, 46° Geo. III., c. 135, that all 
conveyances, all payments by and to, and all con- 
tracts and dealings by and with a bankrupt, 
made more than two calendar months before the 
date of the commission, shall be valid, notwith- 
standing any prior act of bankruptcy, if the per- 
son so dealing had not at the time any notice of 
such prior act. It was provided by 19° Geo. II. 
c, 32, that no money paid by a bankrupt to a 
bona fide real creditor in the course of trade, even 
after an act of bankruptcy, should be liable to be 
refunded. A bankrupt who conceals goods to the 
value of £10 is guilty of felony, and liable to 
transportation for life. 
When the assignees have recovered all they 
can, they must after four, or within twelve 
months, give notice of a meeting for a dividend. 
The commissioners then direct the dividend to 
be issued at so much a pound. 
Within eighteen months from issuing the com- 
mission, a second and final dividend is ordered, if 
there be any thing remaining ; and if there be a 
BANKRUPTCY. 
surplus after all the debts are paid, it belongs to 
the bankrupt. 
By the 6° George IV., c. 16, if the bankrupt 
conformed in all respects to the statutes, and if 
the creditors, or four-fifths of them in number 
and value, signed a certificate to that purport, 
the commissioners were to authenticate the same, 
and transmit it to the Lord-chancellor, who, upon 
oath made by the bankrupt, that it was obtained 
without fraud, might allow the same, or disallow 
it on cause shown by any creditor. If it was 
allowed, the bankrupt was entitled to an allow- 
ance out of his effects to put him in a way of 
industry. This allowance was proportioned to 
the amount of the dividend on his estate, but 
might never exceed £300. The bankrupt was 
also, by his certificate, discharged for ever from 
all claims for any debts which were proved or 
proveable under the commission. By the 5° and 
6° Vict., c. 122, the court acting in the prosecu- 
tion of any fiat in bankruptcy dispenses with the 
signatures of creditors, but holds a public sitting, 
of which due notice is given in the London Ga- 
zette, and at such sitting will hear any creditors 
against the certificate being allowed, but will 
judge for itself of the validity of their objections. 
Such is the law of England. regarding traders. 
All other persons remain subject to the common 
law, both as to their person and effects. 
are liable to perpetual imprisonment, unless re- 
lieved by the insolvent acts occasionally past, or 
by the provisions of what is called the Lords’ act. 
By this statute it is provided, that a debtor in- 
carcerated for a debt under £300, may petition 
the courts for liberation, which will be granted 
on conveying to his creditors all his effects. Had 
the enactment ended here, it would indeed have 
been a most salutary provision, equal in kind, 
though not in extent, to the Scotch process of 
cessio bonorum, but it goes on to declare, that if 
the incarcerating creditor shall object to the lib- 
eration, and shall find security for an aliment to 
the debtor, not exceeding two shillings and four- 
pence weekly, he may detain him in prison. See 
Bell’s Commentaries on the Law of Scotland in re- 
lation to Bankruptcy.—Cooke and Cullen’s Treatises 
on the Bankrupt Law of England—Burton on the 
Law of Bankruptey, Insolvency, and Mercantile 
Sequestration in Scotland. 
BANKSIA. A genus of evergreen, ornamen- 
tal, Australian shrubs and small trees, of the 
protea tribe. They are named in compliment to 
Sir Joseph Banks; they give a striking feature to 
the landscape in their native country; and they 
are much admired in the conservatories of Kurope 
for their fine outline, their handsome foliage, and 
their remarkable and imposing heads of flowers. 
Five species were introduced to Britain in 1788; 
nearly forty species have been introduced since 
that time; and probably a considerable number 
more may yet be discovered. They occur on 
rocky grounds or on sandy forest land, in all the 
known parts of continental Australia; but they 
They ; 
| 
