Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1878-04-16
EUREKA DAILY SENTINEL.
TUESDAY, APRIL IS, 1878.
rEIE X LAW.

It Is probable that the Bankrupt act
will be repealed at the present session
of Congress. 1t has often and justly
been denounced as the most terrific
engine of fraud, oppression and wrong
over created by legislation since the
foundation of the Government. To
the honest and unfortunate debtor, it
has been a constant terror, il it has not
wrought his destruction. To the
adroit villain, it has afforded unbound
ed facilities for cheating his creditors
and ~secreting a fortune. There seems
to be an almost universal agreement
that it should be removed from the
code of national legislation. 1t is too
bad to be amended. 1t should be re-
pealed. And yet, a wise and reasona-
BILE bankrupt law is highly desirable;
it is, indeed, a commercial necessity.
There are so many calamities that
NAV overtake the business man with
out any fault on his part, that justice
to him, and the general interest of the
community, require that in proper
cases he should be discharged from
debts and obligations which he can
not meet. 1t would seem a very easy
matter to provide a suitable bankrupt
act, and the inquirer is naturally as
tonished at the extent and compiled
tions of the legislation on that sub
ject. Probably the shortest bankrupt
act ever proposed, and probably the
best, was the following, when the SUBJ
iect was under discussion. The full
text of it is:
"BE 1T ENACTED, that whenever any person,
BY accident or misfortune, without fraud,
shall become involved in debts and liza bilities
by petition in equity to the Circuit Court of
the Unit. d States for the district in which he
may reside, to surrender his estate for the
benefit of his creditors, EXCEPT so much as
allowed to him by the Court on any equitable
ground; and thereupon the Court shall ap-
point a receiver of such estate. and cause
reasonable notice, by publication. or other
wise, to be given to all persons interested;
and shall proceed to marshal and distribute
said estate among the creditors of the petit
TONER, according to the rules and practice Of
equity. And il 1t shall appear that. such
debts and liabilities wers incurred without
fraud, and that the inability of the debtor to
make payment has arisen from accident and
misfortune, the Court shall grant him a dis
charge from all such debts and liabilities.
Tho Court shall have power to grant ex-
tensions of time for, payment, and to reduce
the amount of Indebtedness pro rata. for the
purpose of allowing the debtor to proceed
with his business, if it seem best so to do.
1t shall be tae duty of the Supreme Court
to estu blish such additional rules in equity,
If any, as may be required to carry TINS act
into full effect"
The trouble with the modern legisla-
tor is, hat he seems not to be aware
of the existence of a vast and varied
system of law, the product of ages, of
civilization, which adapts itself with
wonderful facility to nearly all the
varying %exigencies of human expert
ence; and that about all which is re-
uuired of the legislator is an occasional
grant of authority to some particular
department of government, or the ab-
roRation of some rule which has ceased
to be useful because the circumstances
which gave rise to it no longer prevail.
Absolutely, we should not have n
page of legislation where we now have
ten. What we need is short and clear
statutes, framed in harnony with the
fundamental principles of u juris-
prudence, and adapted to the surround
ings of the place they are intended to
fill.