The Sun.
London, England, 1861-02-12 00:00:00

1,100. This only shows the great preference among credi-
tors for private arrangements, even although under the pre-

sent state of the law the trustee in such a caso cannot,have

he expeditious remedy which this Bill will alow, and,

although the only mode of securing the due performance of
the trust is by a resort on the part of the creditors to the
Court of Chancery against the trustee. In spite of these
disadvantages, creditors have preferred to incur all the

inconveniences of deeds of private arrangement. Not
hat the law of bankruptcy itself is wrong, but that there

are impediments to its proper administration. I have
thought it right to address myfelf to aid that which appears
to be the general impression among the commercial com-
munity, and which in the abstract nature of things must be
most desirable; for if a debtor comes and surrenders his
property and is willing to account, what do you want with
a Bankruptcy Court ? It is quite sufficient that there should
be a facile remedy to compel the administration and per-
formance of a trust when it is or ce created. Upon that
ground, therefore, I trust that that portion of the Bill which
applies the law of bankruptcy to deeds of trust and com-
position, and admits of the parties to them being placed in
the stone relative position, and subject to the same juris-
diction as if there had been actual bankruptcy, as if the
trustees were assignees, and as if the creditors claiming
under the deed had proved in bankruptcy, I say, I trust and
believe that portion of the bill would be found most useful
and efficient. It is upon that portion of the bill that, as a
question of finance I hope to meet with the approval of the
House. At present the House is aware that the Court of
Bankruptcy is in constitution self-supporting. Ido not
propose to interfere with that principle, except in two par-
ticulars—one 'with respect to the salary of the chief judge,
which I propose shall, like the salaries of other judges
employed in the administration of public justice be paid
out of the public revenue, and the other is the unfortunate
portion upon which the former bill in a great measure
suffered shipwreck. In the former bill I proposed, in
conformity with the recommendation of the commissioners
and in conformity with repeated suggestions of former
commissiona—that the compensations granted in 1831 to
officers who were then. discharged from their duties, and
which compensations were charged upon the bankruptcy
fund—most unjustly, as I think, because it made future
generations-of creditors pay for the faults of the law, and
the improper mode of its administration previously existing
—I proposed that these compensations should be thrown
upon the Consolidated Fund. The House did net agree to
that proposition, but did, I think, agree that the compensa •
tion should be defrayed by annual votes of Parliament. I hope
gentlemen who listen to me will understand that my bill
creates no compensation at all. lam only dealing with com-
pensations given nearly 30 years since—(hear)--and I am
only acting in accordance with common justice, in order
that we may accomplish that result, without which all re-
forms are idle—namely, the introduction into the adminis-
tration of the law of bankruptcy the principles of economy
and cheapness which are absolutely necessary, for if yoUtax
creditors to the extent 0f•33 per cent., as at present, you
compel them to resort to other remedies rather than seek a
court of justice for relief. The Bill will, I trust, be in the
hands of hon. gentlemen by Wednesday morning, and I
trust that if they give me leave to introduce it no*, they
will accompany that favour with another, by permitting
the bill to proceed with all possible expedition—(hear, hear)
—and I hope that, with the assistance of the house, the Bill
will before we part for the Easter holidays have gone through
committee, and may be transmitted to the other house
before the end of the next ensuing month. I have now
only to thank the house for its kindness in listening to me,
and trust that it will not consider me to have unnecessarily
trespassed on its patience. (Cheers.) The hon. and learned
gentleman concluded by formally moving for leave to in-
troduce a Bill to amend the laws- relating to bankruptcy

and insolvency.
Mr. HADFIELD felt authorised, in the name of the
commercial communities of this country, to tender their
thanks to the hon. and learned gentleman for bestowing so
much care and attention upon this important subject.
(Hear, hear.) He was glad to find that the hon. and learned
gentleman intended to proceed with the bill expeditiously,
and hoped, as this was no party measure, that members on
both sides would assist in that desirable object, even
if one or two morning sittings should be necessary for
the purpose. He was glad to find that the old objection
against submitting non-traders to the same law as traders
had not weighed with the Attorney-General, and, for-his
own part, he believed non-traders would benefit by the
change. Let non-traders keep accounts and exercise cau-
tion in making contracts as commercial men were obliged
to do, and there was no reason why an exclusive law should
be created for them. He rejoiced, too, to hear the learned
Attorney-General's opinion on imprisonment for debt, as,
from his experience, he had arrived at the conclusion that
~the system should be got rid of as soon as possible. He felt
bound to express his obligations to the Attorney-General,
and to assure him that the bill would be very satisfactory in
its main features to the commercial classes. (Hear.)
• Mr.MALINS said there was scarcely anything which had
fallen from the Attorney-General in which he did not
entirely concur. Many of the provisions of the bill had
already received the sanction of the house. They had una-
nimously approved the principles of having a chief judge
and of abolishing the classification of certificates. The part
to which there was the greatest opposition was that which
affected non-traders. But, as he understood, non-
traders would be protected by due notice being required,
and by judgment being first necessary upon any debt in re-
spect of which they could be made bankrupt. He inter-
preted the empty state of the benches usually occupied by
country gentlemen as an indication that their alarm had
been removed, and that they would not offer any very for-
midable opposition. The true principle, he apprehended,
was to make the law of debtor and creditor with regard to
traders and non-traders uniform, and to provide that all
classes who became insolvent should render up their pro-
perty and be restored to a capacity to acquire future pro-
perty. He thought it exceedingly rational that in cases of
great impropriety the judge should haVe the power to make
future-acquired property liable for debts. He regarded with
some degree of distrust the great diminution of the powers
of official assignees, as he thought great advantage had
arisen from assets being in the hands of persons holding an
official position, who could not use them for their private
purposes. Ho concurred in the advisability of going on
with the bill as soon as possible, but he suggested that the
Attorney-General should fix some moderately distant day
for the second reading.
Mr. CRAWFORD said it would ill become one who was
unacquainted with the principles of law to offer any criti-
cism on the luminous speech of the Attorney-General, but
as he represented the largest commercial city in the world,
he should fail to do justice to their feelings if he did not
take the earliest opportunity of tendering to the hon. and
learned gentleman their thanks for the manner in which he
had dealt with the question. (Hear.) He agreed with the
hon. member for Sheffield that it was not a question of
party politics. The notice was now in the hands of the
house, and he hoped Parliament would as soon as possible
pass this bill into law. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. WALPOLE said—l very much concur in the, ob-
servations which have fallen from the hon. gentleman who
has just sat down. This bill is one upon which no party
question arises. It is a bill of the utmost moment to the
commercial classes, and it should be proceeded with in a
temper and with an expeditiih to enable it to pass into law.
(Hear.) With that object in view, Ido not quite concur
in the observations of my hon. and learned friend, inasmuch
as I thinkit better that the second reading should be put
for an early day, and that the committee should be post-
poned to such a period as will enable the people to examine
the details of the measure. (Hear.) That there may be
no mistake upon the points which will arise on the second
reading I will state briefly what I consider are the objects
of the bill. I conceive those objects are, first, a speedier and
more economical administration of the bankruptcy laws;
second, as a consequence of that, increased facility to private
arrangements, compositions, and agreements between credi-
tors and debtors; third, a gradual approximation to the
abolition of the punishment of imprisonment as the means
of getting satisfaction for a debt; and fourth, a gradual
assimilation of the laws of bankruptcy and insolvency, so
that the same principles shall apply in future to the trader
and non-trader. name are the four great points involved
in the bill, and it is obvious that if gentlemen agree mainly
on those points the second reading may be fairly assented
to on an early day, and the details considered when the bill
has been in the hands of the public. (Hear, hear.) I will
not enter into any discussion of those points at the present
moment, because I think it is almost unfair to the Attor-
ney- General that we should throw doubts on portions of the
bill until we are satisfied from examination of the bill itself
that those doubts are well founded. The luminous exposi-
tion which the hon. and learned gentleman has made of
the whole of the measure, also, is such as to preclude the
possibility of cavil at this stage. (Hear, hear.) If I throw
out one or two suggestions it is more with a view to keep
them open for myself in future discussion. In the general
objects of the bill I most heartily and entirely concur. The
points which I should like an opportunity of considering
are these :—first of all, with,regard to the administration
.of the law, whether it would be wise to place the adminis-
tration of bankruptcy in the County Courts—whether we
cannot acquire a facility of administration independent of
those courts. The reason that I have a doubt on this
point is that the County Courts ought to be kept as litigant
courts. Bankruptcy• is essentially an administrative
court, and there must be great difficulty, though I do not
say it is impossible, of reconciling those two kinds of juris-
diction in the same court, without detriment to the
court to which the two jurisdictions are referred. I
entirely approve, also, of the provision that where a debtor
' has been guilty of misconduct the court should have power
to come upon any property which he may subsequently
acquire. As to the mode of trying offences, lam not quite
sure that I understood my learned friend. It seemed to me
that he proposed that a case of misconduct should be trans-
ferred, if the debtor demanded it, to a court of law where it
would be heard before a jury, but that where no such de-
mand was made by the bankrupt the case should be pro-
ceeded with before the chief judge. I would suggest that
such cases 'should not be removed from the Bankruptcy
Court, but that the chief judge should have the assistance
of a jury. I would confine the trial to the court that is to
administer the property; but I think it is due both to the
judge and to the bankrupt that the assistance of a jury
should be called in. (Hear.) I will not go into the grave
question of the gradual abolition of punishment for (104