Des Arc weekly citizen., 1868-03-14
v E THE FsANkAREPT ACT.

! hundred persons have been registered as bankrupts ill the District of West | Tennessee. By the signature of the 1 President, March ?, 1867, the bankrupt act became law. The filing of peti- l tions to take benefit of the act was to begin June l, and by the provisions of the law all persons making application were to have the full benefits Of the act without .limi mitation but in the sec ond year of its operation no person 1 was entitled to the benefits thereof, un- l less he could show assets amounting to one-half of his indebtedness, or could ! obtain releases sufficient to reduce his remaining indebtedness so that he 1 could pay fifty cents on the dollar. | The New York World says:
 l "rhc question nowis, when does the second year, cntailing these restric- tions, begin ? March 2, 1868, one year | from the date of the law, or June l,
 l96S a year from the date of filing the I petitions! Every one Is at sea on the subject A resolution was some time { ago introduced in the Senate to amend i or explain the act so that there should l he no mistake about it, and positively
 declaring the second year to begin June l. But this went 10 some com
 mittee, and thence, possibly, to the
 waste basket. Meanwhile, in this
 Southern District of the State of New l ! ork. out ofS, 900 estimated bankrupts, from pro to 9I5 only have taken bene- I fit of the net. But of the whole 5000, ] perhaps one-half are now clear and free, because the law broke down the fence between the creditor and debtor, and opened q fair field for compromise and settlement without resort to law itsel There would have been rush at first, no doubt, to take advantage of l the law, especially as the limitations of ] the second year were to Do so much
 restrictive, but business generally has been so bad as 10 present little induce mcnt to those who might desire to re- enter; so bad, indeed, as ogpreclude lmany from raising the funds necessary
 to get through bankruptcy, and then there were the very complicated cases requiring longer time then the most liberal provisions of the act extend. But it is very desirable that Congress shonld at once determine whether the
 second year of the law begins now or EJuue l."
 ll But in the absence of special lcgisla- ton by Congress, we are informed that all petitioners who file their eases with 1 the Clerk of the United States Courts ] in this city before the first day of June, 1868, will not be required 10 pay fifty lper cent in order to obtain their dis l charge. The provisions of the bank lrupt law relating to this point are con tained in sections thirty three and fifty,
 and are as follows: -H" .I.f- SCrs Qp md ha if .fi1rt har or1acf a6 IThat no debt created by the fraud or embezzlement of the bankrupt, or by his dedication as apublic officer, or while acting in fiduciary character
 shall be discharged under this act but j the debt may be proved, and the divi- dcnd thereon shall be a payment on ac- I granted under this act shall release,
 discarge, of affect any person liable for l the same debt for or with the bankrupt,
 either as partner, joint contractor, in- I dorser, surety or otherwise. And in I all proceedings in bankruptcy, com-
 menced after one year from the time I this act shall go into operation, no dis lcharged shall be granted to a debtor
 whose assets do not pay fifty per T centum of the claims against his estate,
 uuieSS tiic aNscht, III WflhftS, Ot S Iiid-
 jority in number and value of his credi- tors who have proved their claims, is
 filed in tho case or before the time of
 application for discharge.
 SEC. 50. And be it further enacted,
 That this act shall commence and take
 effect, as to the appointment ofthe off
 cers created hereby, and the promulga-
 tion of rules and general orders from
 and after the date of its approval; pro-
 vided that no petition or other pro- ceeding under. this act shall be filed,
 received, or commenced before the
 first day of June, Anho Domini eigh-
 teen hundred and sixty-seven.
 II It would seem from the terms used
 in the above sections that tho intention was clearly to allow those persons who
 were in failing circumstances one
 year in which to avail themselves of
 the benefit of the act, and not nine months and the words from the time this act shall % into operation must 4 bc construed to refer to tho period from which operations under the act lby parties interested might be com
 meneed, namely, June l, as before this time the act had only . very limited ef- feet, and was not in operation for any
 beneficial purpose to the bankrupt. As far as we have been able to learn, the above construction is the one given
 to the act by the large majority of ofli-
 cers andattorneys engaged in proceed ings under it,--Memphis Bulletin.
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 1 -Bull Hughes, the Senator died