The Sun.
London, England, 1849-05-07 00:00:00

A RT. 820,

•
If at the sitting appointed fir the last examination of
au bankrupt, cr at any adjuurnment thereof, or at any
sitting or sojourned sitting for the allowance of his cer-
tificate, it shall appear to the Court that the bankrupt
has been guilty of the off-nees hereinafter in this article
mentioned, it shall he lawful for the C,,art to adjudge
that such bankrupt shall be imprisoned for any term not
exceeding one year; provided always, that this article
shall not take diva Ladd after the expiration of six
months f:•om the commencement of this Act, and then
only against such traders as shall hare been adjudged
bankrupt on petitions for adjudication under tilts Act,
and for off:laces committed alter the commencement of
this Act.

List of offecces ai hin the meaning of this Act, and in
This article abov, referred to.

First—lf the bankrupt shall have put any of kis cre-
ditors to any unnecessary expense by any vexatious or
frivolous defence or delay to any tuft for the recovery of
any debt or demand provable under his bankrupcy, or
,hull be indebted in costs incurred in any action or suit
vexatiously brought or defended.
Sec-ead—lf the bankrupt shall at any time after his
bankruptcy, or at any meeting cif his creditors holden
i,hin two months next preceding his bankruptcy, have
vvil'ufly prevented or wi!hheld the production of any
book, paper, deed, writing, or t eller document relating
to his trade, dealings, or estate.
Third—lf the bankrupt shall during his trading, or
for one year at least next preceding his bankruptcy,
have omitted to keep proper books of account, or shall
kept his books imperfectly, carelessly, tied regli•
gently, and so as not to exhibit at the bankruptcy the
real position of the bankrupt as to his debts and credits.
Fourth—lf the bankrupt shall have emitted to take
stock, and entered the same in a book or on paper in
writing, once at least during evtry L ] years of his
trading.
Fif: h—lf the debts, claims, and demands proveable
under the bankruptcy shall, from time to time as such
debts, claims, and demands were contracted, have to
greatly exceeded the means of the Lankrupt to provide
for the due payment or satisfaction thereof (r yard being
had to his actual and expected property) as to ;how gross
misconduct in the bankrupt as a trader in contracting
the same.

Sixth—lf the bankrupt shall, in his conduct as a tra-
der, at any time after his bankruptcy, cr within twelve
months next preceding his bankruptcy, have wilfully
committed or suffered any act which in the opinion of
the Court shall nut amount to nny offence above specified
in this Act, but which, nevcrtheless shall appear to the
Court to have been committed or suffered by the bank-
rupt in violation of good faith, or with intent to defraud
or injure some one or more of his credit( rs.
We certa►nly confess ourselves unable to discover in
these any cause fur alarm. On the contrary, we think
thcy will work well—v% ill ensure the puishment of the
offences specified (which the law, as it at present stands,
does not), and that the knowledge of their existence will
alone operate to prevent the necessity for a resort to
them. Ttey are not to take effect " until after the
expiration of six months from the commencement of this
Act—and then only against :itch traders as shall have
been adjudged bankrupt on petitions fur adjudica-
tion under this Act—and for offences c: mmitted after
the commencement of this Act.

. Surely this is a great improvement in the present
state of things. As the law now stands, the Court bas
no power to punish. It matters not of what the bank-
rupt_ may have been guilty. He may have bought
goads of A, and sold them next day to B for half their
cost; or he may have pawned theta, and disposed of the
money so obtained in any conceivable manner; he may
have dune all this in a hopeless state of insolvency, or
in contemplation of bankruptcy; or ho may have com-
mitted soy, or all, of the acts specified in Articles 319
and 320; it signifies nothing if he makes true discovery,
the Court has no power to touch him. It may refuse,
or suspend, the bankrupt's certificate, and withhold
protection, asd any judgment creditor who has not
proved may take and imprison him. But the imprison-
ment is not for the offence or ofLnees of which the
bankrupt has been proved to have been guilty; it is for
non payment of the imprisoning cr ditor's debt—a debt
which the bankrupt, if he has made true discovery, can
have no possible means of paying. The thing, it' done
at all, is done in a round-ab nit and a clumsy and incon •
sistent, and, we will add, in a most undignified man.
ncr. A bankrupt mty thus be punished, but if he
be, the punishment is effece.d in a way by no means
likely to operate to a sounder state of things, or to be
commensurate to the offence ; it is unseemly, and, above
all, it is uric' rtain, and may be altogether evaded.
The opposers of Articles 319 and 320 desire a con-
tinuance of the present system, with this difference, that
all creditors who have proved under the bankruptcy
shall be deemed judgment creditors, and entitled to have
capis al satistaciendsm on a certificate from the Court
that they have so proved, and that they shall, on the ad-
journment of a bankrupt sine die, or on the refusal or
suspension of his certificate, be entitled to take and im-
prison him on such capias. But where, we would ask,
is the security that any such espies would be put in force,
and what tie manifest and all but avowed object ? We
know, or at least have a strong suspicion, of what would
follow. We fancy w e are not very wide of the mark in
supposing that every creditor would do just that which
was most likely to put something into his own pocket.
We imagine he would use his capias, not with a view to
punishment for the commission of a commercial offence,
hut as a means of screwing something out of the bank-
rupt or his friends—leaving utterly out of view all con-
siderations of public policy. This is what assuredly
would happen. And as to the " abolition of trial
by jury," where is it now—and where would it be
under the system propounded by the opposers
of the articles we have quoted ? There is none,
and would be none. The creditor takes the un-
protected or uncertificated bankrupt, and impri•
sons him; and he may keep him in prison for just the
same period as it is proposed by Lord Brougham's Bill
that the Court shall have power to imprison him; but in
either way there is no trial by jury. The one is, as we
have already said, a round about, clumsy, inconsistent,
and most undignified proceeding; the other, a direct
mode of punishing for a particular and a specified offence,
and one likely, wo firmly believe, to place trading and
commercial dealings on a sounder footing, and we con-
sequently sincerely desire that it may meet with the
success which we think it merits.

The saving by the Bill and the fees abolished are as

SATING.
Two London Commissioners, abolished as va-
cancies occur, 2,0001. each ... £4,000
Secretary of Bankruptcy... ... ... 1,500
One Wgistrarship, the office held by Mr. Ayrton
at the time of his promotion, never tilled up,
and now abolished ... . . ... 1,200
Three London Registrars abolished—Mr. Ser-
geant Lawes retiring now, and two abolished
as commissionerships become vacant. See
Articles 37 and 39 ~. 3,01'0
Clerk of Enrolments, and his cl,rk, abolished ... 1,000
RegiArar of meetings, abolished ••• ••• 800
'l'o clerks in chief Registrar's office, abolished 400
Ushers and Remembraccer of Court of Review,
abolished ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• 350
Two London uahere, abolished as commissioner-
ships become vacant ... ••• ••• 200uu
Accountant's offices, clerks abolished •••
_a

£12,950

DEDUCT INCREASE OF SALARIES.
Brotlght turvrard £12,950
Chief Commissioner ... ... £5OO
Chit f Registrar ••• ••• ••• ... 300
Senior Registrar ••• ••• ••• ... 250
Taxing Master ••• ••• ••• ... 300
Country Registrzrs, 1001. each ... ... 1,100
Usher of Chief Commissioner • ••• 20
Country Ushers, 101. each • • • • 120
IiCUM ket per••• ••• ••• ... ICO

--- 2,790

Ultimate annual Saving £10,160

FEES ABOLISHED.
Docket struck and not aettd upon ... ... ot 112 6
llerevred fiat ... ~.
...
......0 12 0
Auxiliary fiat ...
••• ••• ••• ••• 0 12 0
Certified copy, declarztiun of insolvency . ... 0 2 6
Certificate to authorise advertisement in
Gazette
0 2 6
•••
Filing affidavits and other et eutnurs • ... 0 1 0
Filing fiat
••• ••• ••• • • ••• 0 I 0
'ea.- h %%arrant 0 5 0
Searching affilavit ... •
Order made in any matter heretofore within
. the jurisdiction of the Court of Review
... 1 0 0
Mina to of order 111 ~. 11411 ... 0 2 0