The Sun.
London, England, 1859-02-08 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT•

HOUSE OF LORDS-(YESTERDAY).

The LORD CHANCELLOR took his seat on the woolsack
at five o'clock.
The Duke of NORFOLK. presented a petition in favour
cif a reform of the representative system..
The Earl of ALBEMARLE presented a petition from
Diss, in Norfolk, in favour of the abolition of church-rates.
LAW OF TROPE RTY AND TRUSTEES REPEAL
AMENDMENT BILL.
On the motion of Lord ST. LEONARDS, this bill was
read a second time.
LAW OF DEBTOR AND CREDITOR.
The LORD CHANCELLOR, in rising to call theatten-
tion of the house to the subject of the law of debtor and
creditor, said he feared he shouldbe obliged to trespass upon
their lordships' attention for a longer period than he could
have wished. The subject was one of great importance to
all, for the community might fairly be divided into two
classes, debtors and creditors, and therefore it was necessary
that the law relating to it should be made as perfect as pos-
sible. Their lordships might remember that at the close of
last session he had laid upon the table a bill which at the
time he said must not be regarded as embodying the ulti-
mate views of the Government, but rather as the redemption
of a pledge that some bill should be produced during that
session. That bill had been prepared by the learned Attor-
ney-General, and it was more wonderful, notwithstanding
his known industry and ability, that his hon. and learned
friend had found time amid his multifarious occupations to
draw any bill than that that bill should have failed to satisfy
all parties. In fact, he (the Lord Chancellor) had invited
their lordships to accept that bill rather as a guide to the
general direction in which the Government proposed to
legislate than as a complete and perfect measure. During
the recess the attention of the Government had been be-
stowed upon this important subject, and he hoped they
had succeeded in preparing a measure which would receive
the sanction of Parliament. Upon this subject there were
many conflicting opinions to meet, hostile interests to
reconcile' and various views, both of theorists and practical
men to be considered; but he hoped the result of the
deliberation of the Government would be found satisfactory
to Parliament and the mercantile community. In order
that their lordships should clearly understand the questions
to be considered, he would briefly state what was the state
of the existing law. At present the laws relating to
insolvents and their estates were administered by two dis-
• tinct and independent tribunals—the Insolvent Debtors'
Court, and the Court of Bankruptcy. The Insolvent Court
might be regarded as having had its authority renewed and
confirmed upon its present footing by three acts of Parlia-
ment passed during her Majesty's reign—the Ist and 2d of
Victoria, cap. 110, popularly known as the Prisoners' Act,
because only persons in custody could have the benefit of
its provisions, and two other acts of the sth and 6th of Vic-
toria, and the 7th and Bth of Victoria, generally known as
the Protection Acts. Under the Ist and 2d of Victoria a
prisoner in actual custody might, within 14 days from the
commencement of his imprisonment, apply by petition to the
Commissioner for his discharge. In the petition he must
pray that all his property of every description might be vested
in the provisional assignee. Upon that petition a vesting
order was made, and within 14 days from that time the peti-
tioner was required to file a schedule containing the amount
and particular description of all his property of every kind,
including debts due to him, and also a list of the debts owing
by him, with the names and descriptions of the creditors.
Notice was given to every creditor entered in that schedule
of a day appointed for a final hearing. Upon that day if the
creditors offered no opposition, or if they opposed unsuccess-
fully, an order was made for the insolvent's discharge ; but
before his adjudication he was required to execute a wan-ant
of attorney, under which the creditors would be enabled to
issue execution against any property which he might subse-
quently acquire. There was no compulsory power in the
Court to force an insolvent to file a petition, but if be did not
do so within 21 days a creditor had the power to present a pe-
tition to the Court, praying that the property of the prisoner
night be vested in the provisional assignee. Upon that
petition a vesting order be made, and then it became
the duty of the debtor to file a schedule, but there was no
power to compel him to do so ; therefore, if a debtor was
obstinate, and chose to stop in prison, he could act in defi-
ance of his creditors, and spend his property as he pleased.
That act applied to persona of every description, -whether
traders or not, and whatever the amount of their debts
might be. Shortly after its passing the Protection Acts
were introduced. The jurisdiction under those Acts was at
first given to the Bankruptcy Courts, but by an Act of the
10th and 11th of Victoria it was transferred to the Insol-
vent Court in London and to the county courts in the
country. The mode of proceeding under those Acts was,
that a debtor presented a petition applying for protection,
at the same filing a schedule of all his debts and assets as
under the Prison Act. This petition ought also to contain
a proposal of some mode of liquidating his debts. Upon
the filing of the petition the property of the debtor was ipso
facto vested in the official assignee. A. day was then ap-
pointed for the hearing, and notice given to all the creditors.
Upon the appointed day, if the conduct of the debtor had
been blameless, or his debts had not been incurred within
any of the prohibitions of the Act, the Commissioner was
empowered to award final protection ; but if dissatisfied with
the insolvent's conduct, he might refuse to appoint any day
for the final hearing, or upon the day of final hearing he
might refuse to grant any final order. The debtor might
afterwards apply for a protecting order, which the Commis-
sioner could grant or withhold at his discretion. During
the withholding of protection the debtor would be at the
mercy of his creditors, but the Act contained a provision
that no insolvent should be detained in custody at the suit
of any creditor entered in the schedule for a longer period
than 12 months. Those Acts applied both to traders and
non-traders, the latter being unrestricted as to the amount
of their debts, but traders owing less than £3OO were alone
qualified to petition. It might naturally have been sup-
posed that practically the Insolvent Acts applied only to
non-traders and the Bankrupt Acts to traders ; but a com-
munication which he had received from one of the Commis-
sioners of the Insolvent Coort had, to his great surprise,
shown a very different state of facts. It appeared that in
London from Ist Jan. to 12th Dec. last year there were 1,024
protection cases, of which no less than 816 were cases of
traders. In the country the facts were still more surprising,
for it appeared from a return of country cases during 2} years
that of 4,230 applications for protection only 50 were those
of non-traders. Had it not been for the existence of the
Protection Acts all those humble traders would have been
compelled to go to prison in order to obtain the benefit of
the Insolvent Act, or they must have had their affairs ar-
ranged by the expensive process of bankruptcy. Having
thus explained to their lordships the position in which the
law of insolvency now stood, he should proceed to intro-
duce to their notice the state of the existing law with
respect to the administration of insolvent estates in the
Court of Bankruptcy, which might be considered to have
assumed its present form of jurisdiction in the year 1831.
Previous to that period the estates of a bankrupt were ad-
ministered in London by 70 commissioners,• composed of
barristers and solicitors, whose names were distributed
over several lists, any one of which the parties interested in
the bankruptcy might select as that from which they might
choose the cgmmissioner to whom they desired their case to
be submitted. By the Act of 1831, however, those 70 com-
missioners in London were reduced to six, which constituted
at present
rntevthe maximum number in the metropolis. A
thecourt
Act
as
a court of appeal,iew was also established under the operation of
from which tribunal, however,
a right of appeal lay to the Lord Chancellor, and under
certain circumstances to the House of Lords, without the
necessity of submitting the case to the Court of Chancery
in the first instance. With respect to the
commis-
sioners, he might state that it was enacted
be appointed by the Lord Chancellor upon
of the judges of the different circuits, and that in
1842 there
nomination
were 700 of those commissioners, who used to reside i that
theunttYhey
n ul
should
boroughs. He might further state that the
court of
of
appeal had, after a short trial, been found to be useless
that it had in consequence been abolished ; that its
; juris-
diction had at first been transferred to a Vice-Chancellor,
and eventually to the Lords Justices and the Lord '
Chan-
cellor, who now, sitting either together, or separately, con-
stituted the court of appeal in bankruptcy. In the year
1840 a Royal Commission had been appointed to inquire
into the state of the bankrupt law, and to suggest the
introduction of such amendments into it as they might
deem to be necessary. They had accordingly issued a very
elaborate report, in which they recommended, among other
things, that the country commissioners should be reduced
in number, a recommendation which was acted upon, their
number ha • gin 1842 been diminished to a maximum of 12.
The report contained various other recommendations also,
some only of which were adopted. In 1849, however, the
whole of the bankrupt law had been reviewed, and all its
provisions had been consolidated in one act, which com-
prised the existing code upon the subject. Notwithstanding,
however, the great pains which had been taken in framing
that Act, it had been found to operate in a manner so un-
satisfactory to the commercial portion of the community,
that, within four years after its passing into a law, it had
been deemed expedient to issue a Royal commission
'tee the purpose of inquiring into the state of the bank-
'lint law, and ascertaining whether or not it stood in
new of amendment. At the head of that commission
` his right hon. friend the Secretary for the Home
,De-
partment, and from them had emanated a rei-bort containing
vanoll/1 lreCommen
dations as to alterations in the system as
it stood, which they thought it desirable to have introduced.
Of those reconansenya
yationm, however, the greater number
had been complete' neglected ; but although the Legisla-
ture had been stationary in reference to the question, the
mind of the publicaoftustr:
of Jo had been by no means in-
active. Meeting
g to take the subject into
consideration had been held inthroughouthadb the country. Nu-
merous petitions with regard to it
presented to the
house. A central meeting of delegateseeuf all the com-
rNcit7hdichthe mercial towns had assembled in London,
sugges-
tions which were made and the views
pounded on those several occasions had which were pro-
Majesty' s Ministers at last to form some idea of whecia her
the nature of the requirements of the commercial commu-
nity Was
lay in connexion with the question. Those requirement:
they had endeavoured to meet as far as they considered
them to be just, reasonable, and at the same time practic-
able. Now, the first point which seemed to have engrossed
the attention of those among the public who had* directed
their attention to the subject was the existence of two