The Sun.
London, England, 1831-01-08 00:00:00

BANKRUPTCY COURTS.

Yesterday a meeting was held in the great room of the
London Tavern of the bankers, merchants, and other
traders of the city, for the purpose of taking into consi-
deration the expediency of petitioning Parliament respect-
ing the present division into fourteen lists of the Commis-
sioners of Bankrupt, as well as with the intention of com-
plaining of the mode in which the business of the Com-
missioners is at present transactine, and suggesting the
institution of one general Court for the administration of
so important a branch of the laws. At one o'clock the
great room was nearly filled. Amongst those on the plat-
form were Aldermen Thompson, Waithman, Copeland,
and Venedes; Mr. Bouetield, Mr. R. Taylor, Mr. Ward,
M. P. , &c.
Mr. Alderman THOMPSON having been called to the
Chair, said that there existed but one feeling amongst the
trading classes as to the unfitness of the tribunal which
at present disposed of cases of bankruptcy. lle confessed
he was unable to discover on what ground it could be
maintained that the Bankruptcy Courts should rest upon
a footing different from that of other Courts of Judicature
throughout the kingdom. There were fourteen of them,
and, strange to say, that which was law in one list was
not law in another; the Commissioners being distin-
guished by as many sets of rules as there were lists at
Guildhall—one went one way, and another went another,
and the public were left in the dark. It was admitted on
all hands that the system worked badly, and it behoved
them to lose no time in urging Parliament to adopt such
an alteration as should give confidence to the trading com-
munity and to the public at large.
Mr. BOUSFIELD, in rising to move the first resolution,
trusted that before he sat down he should be enabled to '
show that the present system was one with which the
public ought to be dissatisfied ; that it was enormously
expensive, and productive of delay and injustice. First,
he complained that any persons should be appointed to
judicial situations who did not receive sufficient remunera-
tion to induce them to devote the whole of their time to
the business about which, they were engaged; then he
complained that the attention of a List of Commissioners
was divided between three or four meetings at one and the
same time. One of them even wound be engaged with
three or four, while the other three Commissioners would
be amusing themselves with totally different business. On
the subject of expence he should take occasion to observe,
that he had made a calculation which he had shewn to a
friend of his, a Commissioner, who fully concurred with
him as to its accuracy, that the average amount paid to
Commissioners alone was 40/. upon each Commission. There
was 3/. on the opening of the Commission ; on the first
public meeting there was 31. That was an expence which
might easily be done away with ; for in general the credi-
tors never thought it worth their while to attend that first
public meeting—they always thought it useless to go to
such a place; they reserved themselves fee the election of
Assignees, or for a meeting when a dividend was to be
received or a certificate signed. They always considered
it then time enough to come forward to prove their debts;
there was then 31. for every meeting, and there was 3/.
for executing the assignment. To a printed scale of the
fees to be charged by Commissioners, there was this ob-
servation, " That the Commissioners, in deference to
long-established usage, granted the fee of 1/. to Solici-
tors." Though they did not pretend to decide on what
principle such a fee was payable, it would be well for the
public if they would try to discover on what principle the
11. was paid to the Commissioners themselves, and thrre
would then be a saving of 41. on each meeting of cre-
ditors. Ile would now come to the third meeting of
creditors in a Commission of Bankrupt, which was the
most important, and for which 3/. would not be too
much, provided the business was well and properly exe-
cuted, for it was at that meeting that the bankrupt was
to submit all his accounts, and answer such questions as
his creditors might find it necessary to put to him ; but
such was the confusion which generally prevailed its the
Bankrupt Courts, that that important purpose was for the
most part defeated, and rendered altogether unavailing.—
There was 31. for taxing the bills of the Solicitors. Nai
doubt the Solicitors' bills ought to be taxed ; but, with
great respect for many of the Commissioners, he must
be allow, d to say that they were not the fittest per-
sons for such a duty : the Commissioners were necessarily
ignorant of the system upon which those bills were made
out, and yet they took upon themselves to tax as many as
three bills at one and the same time. The Audit meeting
also cost three pounds, and that was a private meeting.
Now he would contend that the Audit meeting ought to
be a public meeting ; but it was not so, and there, as at
all the other meetings. the Commissioners endeavoured to
deal with three or four cases at ogee. Thus there was
for the

Opening £3

First meeting: '3
Second

Account £3
Provide Ass. 1 in 3
Adj. choice, or Ex. of decd 3
Three private, or other
meetings 9

Third

Tax of Bill
Audit
Dividend

He would now, with the permission of the meeting, call 1
the attention to the sums paid by the creditors of bank-
rupts—that is, by the creditors to the Commissioners; 1
and when they contrasted that with the duties performed
by those gentlemen, and the manner in which they were
performed, they would judge how far they gave value for
the sums they received. In 1825, the number of bank-
ruptcies amounted to 647 ; in 1826, to 1237 ; 1827,
1830, 668—making a
t602tai1;0f184258; 583;y6ie 1829, 784
7avBe4ra;ge of '757, which at 401.
each, gave an income of 30,2801, and that, divided by
70, would produce an income of 4321. to each Commis.
sioner. The gross sum was 30,2801.—a much greater sum
than the Courts of King's Bench and Common Pleas re-
ceived. Yet who would compare the two Courts? who
would compare the Bankrupt Court even with the Court
of Requests at Guildhall, where at least they heard but one
cause at a time ? Whereas, before the Commissioners,
they heard several at a time, in defiance of all decency and
decorum—that was not a rare practice, but a matter of
evt ry-day occurrence, taking place every day and every
hour. There was another evil not less to be complained
of, namely, the.mode of payment. Human nature was so
constituted, that men could not help looking after their
own interest, however high-minded and pure they might
be comparatively speaking. It was impossible for the
Commissioners to shut their eyes to the fact, that the pri-
vate meetings were to them a source of emolument. It
was well known that the whole of these private meetings
were held at the houses of the messengers, somewhere in
the neighbourhood of Southampton-buildings. The edi-
fice which had been erected adjoining Guildhall for the
transaction of bankrupt business, cost no less than thirty
thousand pounds ; and the expense of erection was to be
defrayed by the sum of eleven shillings on each commis-
sion. Now it had been ascertained that the public meet-
ings were only double the number of private meetings ;
every one of the private meetings was an encroachment
upon the fund applicable for the repayment of the building
expenses ; and the sum total of them was of an amount that
must delay the re-payment of the money sunk in that build•
ing to a period one-half longer than would otherwise be re-
quire,!. How was business managed at the houses of the mes •
sengera ? In their drawing-rooms, being the largest in
the house, two Commissioners generally sat, and the third
in another room ; even that one, sitting by himself in a
smaller room, constituted a better tribunal to go before
than did either of the other two. But what was the case
when witnesses were to be sworn ? Then the three Com-
missioners must be present; and for that purpose the third
had to leave the parties engaged before him to go into the
other room for the purpose of hearing the witnesses sworn
who were to be examined ber:ire his brother Commis-
sioners. They had yet to look to the manner in which
those gentlemen spent their time whilst ostensibly em-
ployed in judicial duties. They were often engaged in
looking at a case which might be sent to them for ad-
vice, but as often were they engaged in attentively pe-
rusing the newspaper. Yes, the newspaper was their
grand resource, and upon that their attention was too
frequently bestowed, when they should be occupied ex-
clusively with the questions which they were paid to
decide, and the businen which they had sworn to
transact. But there W:l3 another evil of very great mag-
nitude—the Commiseioner who sat as a Judge in one
list might be called on to act as Counsel before
another : seas not that so degrading to the bar, and, at
the same time, so inconsistent with the judicial character, '
as to call for an immediate interference of the Legislature?
An Old Bliley Lawyer might leave his Court and leave his
client to be transpoi ted, and conic to take his seat as Com-
missioner of Bankrupt, then quit that and plead before
another list, and go back to the Old Bailey just in time to
hear his client sentenced, yet receive fees from all, and do
duty for none. So much importance was formerly attached
to bankruptcy cases, that Commissions issued to no persons
of less authority than the Lord Chancellor and the Privy
Council, the Lord Chief Justices of the King's Bench
and Common Pleas always being one. In 1687 twenty
shillings were deemed exorbitant for a day, and ten shil-
lings for half a day to the Commissioners ; in 1694 the
prices varied, and in 1705 the present lists were established.
In 1706 complaints were addressed to Parliament against
the exorbitant charges made by the Commissioners, and
against the insolent manner in which they treated the
creditors who came before them. Thus they would see
that in 1830 the same system prevailed, against which
Ithey were then met to remonstrate and petition. In 1718
again, another petition was presented to Parliament set-
ting forth the excessive charges made by the Commis-