The Sun.
London, England, 1857-11-05 00:00:00

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

COURT OF SESSION—BILL CHAMBER.
EDINBURGH, Saturday, Oct. 31.
(Before Lord Ordinary Mackenzie.)
PETITION FOR RECALL OF SEQUESTRATION.
WALKER V. COLONEL SLEIGH.

Under the Scotch Bankrupt Act of 1856 the es-
tates of all persons subject to the jurisdiction of the
Court of Sessioa may be sequestrated at the in-
stance of the bankrupt and a concurring creditor.
It had become a common practice for English
debtors to visit Scotland, reside in it for a short
time, and then, with the concurrence of a creditor,
avail themselves of the statute to obtain sequest, a-
tion, The present application, made by Major
Walker to recall the sequestration of the respon-
dent, Burrows Willcocks Arthur Sleigh, raised the
question of the competency of an award of seques-
tration in such circumstances. The bankrupt, Bur-
rows Willcocks Arthur Sleigh, Esq., was usually
designed by the military title of Colonel,
but of what regiment was not known. He
was editor and proprietor of the Daily Telegraph,
and his only office, or place of business,
Re, orally known to his creditors, was 253, Strand,
London, where he conducted his newspaper. In
his petition for s, questration, and in the st stu-
tory notices, he was designed merchant, of 39,
West Campbell-street, Glasgow, and recently of
17, Melville-street, Edinburgh, and the address
in the Strand was not given at all. It was now
admitted that the Glasgow address should have
been 139 instead of 39, and the petition for recall
alleged that he had lived at these lodgings in Glas-
gow only a week, and in Melville-street only a fort-
night, during May. He had been at Ltiss, on Loch-
lomend, fishing, and in May and June last he was
at' Helensburgh. In July, according to his London
solicitor, he was abroad, and in the beginning of
August ho was seen in London. The date of his
return to Scotland is not known, but on the 21st
Aug. he presented his petition for sequestration,
which was awarded in the usual course. In February
of this year he was a candidate for the representa-
tion of the burgh of Greenwich, and in his state-
ment of assets the property is omitted which gave
him his qualification. He has given up a list of 52
creditors, of whom all reside in England except one,
and that one is creditor to the amount of 3/. only,
the debt being ineeirred for printing prospectuseis
for a society in Paris for the sale of land in New
Grenada. His entire assets amount to 2001. worth
of small book-debts, and his debts dae to these 52
cre litors to 'about 4,000/.
Mr. P. Fraser applied for the recall of the se-
questration, because, before coming to Scotland at
all, be had applied for and obtained protection from
the Bankruptcy Court of London ; because there
was no residency in Scotland proved, nor any
trading ; because there was no assets in Scotland,
and only one Scotch creditor of very small account.
Mr. Gifford, for the bankrupt, stated that Sleigh
had cut all connection with London in February,
1857 ; that, after selling his paper, he went to
Fr ince, and left it for Scotland to establish an
agency for this Paris New Granada Laud Society ;
that he was introduced at the Royal Exchange;
Glasgow ; that he went to Helensburgh in
summer, returning almost daily to Glasgow,
like other Glasgow merchants at that time of the
year ; that his business was bona fide ; that he had
lost his English domicile, and that his concurring
cre liter was an English creditor.
The Lord Ordinary inquired, Where, was he at
the date of the sequestration ? Mr. Gifford could
not answer ; and on the Lord Ordinary remarking
that he had no funds, and that it was a mockery
and abuse of the law to grant sequestration in the
circumstances, Mr. Gifford submitted that the 29th
clauses of Act makes the granting of sequestration
imperative.
The Lord Ordinary said it did not, however, pre-
vent the Court from granting a recall. When a
party applies, with a prima facie title to sequestra-
tion, we cannot know whether he has assets or not,
therefore there may he no course but granting the
sequestration ; but then a creditor may apply
for recall within forty days. The Legislature
may say, You shall grant it in the first in-
stance, but if good cause be shown it may be
recalled. There may be cases where no objec-
'tion could be offered, as for instance, when a man
has money in the funds in consols, which may be as
well administered here as in London, and when the
bulk of his creditors are here, then there would be
no disadvantage. But then there is another class
of cases—like that of Robertson—where only a
vague descripfon is given. That is put in the
Gazette, all his creditors are in Eaglaed, except,
perhaps, those to whom the man may owe his
lo lgings here for forty days, and his creditors
never hear of it. If the Court are to have no
discretion, then it must be in cases where full
particularsare given in the petition._

His Lordship-required Mr. Gifford to give in
a ininut, within six days, stating specifically the
bankrupt's pinups of residence for at least forty
days prior to the 21st Aug., the date of his pe-
tition for sequestration.
Agents for the petitioner—Messrs. Miller and
Crawford, S.S. C.
Agent for the bankrupt—Mr. Wm. Dalrymple,
W. S.—Scotsman.