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the stockholders of a bankrupt company as fully as the stockholders or directors could have done. (Upton, Ass., v. Hansbrough, 10 N. B. R. 368; 3 Biss. 417; 5 Chi. Leg. News, 242; 7 West. Jur. 238; Fed. Cas. 16801.) But it has no authority to deprive the assignee of the possession of the bankrupt's property without due process of law, unless the parties consent to a trial by the court. (Wood Mowing and Reaping Machine Co. v. Brook, 9 N. B. R. 395; 2 Sawy. 576; Fed. Cas. 17980.)

Sales.-The form of an order is sufficient that directs the sale of the right, title, etc., of the bankrupt, and it need not direct the sale of the right, title, etc., which the general assignee acquired by the decree of bankruptcy. (Smith v. Scholtz et al., 17 N. B. R. 520.) If there has been a recovery of judgment before bankruptcy, the sheriff may go on and sell, but the bankrupt court has the right to cause the sale to be made under its supervision and control. (Allen & Co. v. Montgomery et al., 10 N. B. R. 503.) The bankrupt court has authority to order the sale of property pledged or mortgaged by a bankrupt, the proceeds to be brought into court to await the determination of the rights of the pledgee or mortgagee. (In re Columbian Metal Works, 3 N. B. R. 18; Fed. Cas. 3039.) It has the power to sell free of mortgage lien. (In re Barrow, 1 N. B. R. 125; 1 Amer. Law T. Rep. Bankr. 63; Fed. Cas. 1057; In re Kahley, 4 N. B. R. 124; 3 Chi. Leg. News, 85; 2 Leg. Gaz. 405; Fed. Cas. 7593; In re Salmons, 2 N. B. R. 19; 15 Pittsb. Leg. J. (O. S.) 541; Fed. Cas. 12268; Ray v. Brigham et al., 12 N. B. R. 145; Markson et al. v. Haney, 12 N. B. R. 484.)

(8) Closing estates.- A trustee is required to close up the estate as expeditiously as is compatible with the best interests of the parties in interest (sec. 47—2), and will prepare for the final meeting of the creditors a detailed statement of the administration of the estate (sec. 47—7), and make final reports and file final accounts with the court fifteen days before the day fixed for the final meeting of the creditors (sec. 47-8).

(9) Compositions.- Bankrupt may offer terms of composition to creditors after examination in open court or at a creditors' meeting, and the schedule of his property and list of his creditors has been filed in court (sec. 12a), which composition shall be confirmed if the court is satisfied it is for the best interest of the creditors, that the bankrupt has not been guilty of any of the acts or failed to perform any of the duties which would be a bar to his discharge, and that the offer and its acceptance are in good faith, and have not been made or procured by means, promises or acts forbidden, etc. (sec. 12d). The judge may, upon the application of parties in interest, filed at any time within six months after a composition has been confirmed, set the same aside and reinstate the case, if it shall be made to appear upon a trial that fraud was practiced in the procuring of such composition, and that knowledge thereof has come to the petitioners since the confirmation of such composition

(sec. 13), in which event the trustee, upon his appointment and qualifica tion (sec. 44), becomes vested with the title to all of the bankrupt's property as of the date of filing the final decree setting the composition aside (sec. 70d). Upon the confirmation of a composition, the consideration is to be distributed as the judge directs, and the case dismissed; when not confirmed, the estate is to be administered as otherwise provided. (Sec. 12c.) The confirmation discharges the bankrupt, except as to debts agreed to be paid by the terms thereof, or such as would not be affected by a discharge (Sec. 14c.)

(10) Certification of findings by referees.- Referees are required to make up records embodying the evidence, or the substance thereof, as agreed upon by the parties in all contested matters arising before them, whenever requested to do so by either of the parties thereto, together with their findings therein, and transmit the same to the judges. (Sec. 39-5.) Referees are required to consider all petitions referred to them by the clerks and make the adjudication or dismiss the petition. (Sec. 38-1.)

(11) Exemptions.- With the schedule of the bankrupt's property, which must be filed in court by him within ten days after the adjudication, unless further time is granted, if involuntary bankrupt, and with the petition if a voluntary bankrupt, there must be filed in triplicate a claim for such exemptions as he may be entitled to, one copy to be for the clerk, one for the referee, and one for the trustee. (Sec. 7-8.) As soon as practicable after the appointment of the trustee, he is required to set apart the bankrupt's exemptions and report the items and estimated value thereof to the court. (Sec. 47-11.) By operation of law the trustee is vested with the title of the bankrupt, as of the date he was adjudged a bankrupt, except in so far as his property is exempt. (Sec. 70.)

(12) Discharge.- Applications for discharge must be made after the expiration of one month and within the next twelve months subsequent to the adjudication of bankruptcy in the court in which the proceedings are pending, which time may be extended six months upon a proper showing. (Sec. 14a.) After a hearing the bankrupt should be discharged, unless he has committed an offense punishable by imprisonment as provided herein, or, with a fraudulent intent to conceal his true financial condition, has destroyed or failed to keep books of account, etc., from which his true condition might be ascertained. (Sec. 14b.) Within one year after the discharge has been granted, the judge may revoke it upon trial, if it is made to appear that it was obtained through the fraud of the bankrupt, and knowledge of such act has come to the petitioner since the granting of the discharge, and that the actual facts did not warrant the granting thereof. (Sec. 15.) The confirmation of a composition discharges the bankrupt except as to debts agreed to be paid by the terms thereof, or such as would not be affected by a discharge. (Sec. 14c.)

(13) Contempt.-The court may punish for contempt if the bankrupt refuses or neglects to surrender any portion of his property, after being ordered (In re Salkey and Gerson, 11 N. B. R. 423; 6 Biss. 269; 7 Chi. Leg. News, 178; Fed. Cas. 12253); or in case of an attaching creditor, who, having been enjoined from further proceeding against the property attached, makes no effort to stop his suit, but allows his attorney to proceed, or assigns his claim to an assignee who prosecutes the suit and receives the proceeds of the sheriff's sale (Hyde v. Bancroft & Steiner, 8 N. B. R. 24; Fed. Cas. 6966); or who sells property in defiance of an injunction (In re Atkinson, 7 N. B. R. 143; 5 Amer. Law T. Rep. 423; Fed. Cas. 606); or where an injunction was issued restraining an attorney, with knowledge of pending bankruptcy proceedings of his client, from further proceeding with an application for appointment of a receiver, notwithstanding which he had the receiver appointed (In re South Side R. R. Co., 10 N. B. R. 274; Fed. Cas. 13190); or where bankrupt made an assignment and creditors attached the property in the hands of the assignee, but before the assignee had been appointed other creditors restrained the attaching creditors from proceeding against the property attached the court held, on motion to vacate the injunction, that it could grant the injunction and punish the attaching creditors for disregarding it (In re Ulrich et al., 8 N. B. R. 15; Fed. Cas. 14328); or where one obtains a foreclosure of the mortgaged premises, pending proceedings in bankruptcy, without proof of the mortgage debt or leave of the court first obtained (Phelps v. Sellick, 8 N. B. R. 390; Fed. Cas. 11079); or where a lease is terminated by condition broken, after the filing of a petition, and before the appointment of an assignee, lessor re-enters or interferes without leave of court (In re Steadman, 8 N. B. R. 319; Fed. Cas. 13330).

Where a restraining order is asked for at the commencement of proceedings in bankruptcy against any person other than the debtor, no judgment of contempt can be had against such party for disregard of such order, unless it was granted on a separate petition, distinct from that against the bankrupt. (Creditors v. Cozzens & Hall, 3 N. B. R. 73; 2 West. Jur. 349; 16 Pittsb. Leg. J. 236; Fed. Cas. 3378.) When a court of bankruptcy has no power to discharge a judgment, it cannot interfere to prevent its enforcement by imprisonment, unless necessary to the exercise of its jurisdiction. (In re Pettis, 2 N. B. R. 17; 7 Amer. Law Reg. (N. S.) 695; Fed. Cas. 11046.) Nor can it enforce an order which is in effect a final judgment for the payment of money, whether the proceeding in which it is made is of equitable or legal cognizance. (In re Atlantic Mut. Ins. Co., 17 N. B. R. 368; 9 Ben. 337; Fed. Cas. 629). Nor will it punish a bankrupt for contempt when it is satisfactorily purged. (In re Hayden, 7 N. B. R. 192; Fed. Cas. 6257.)

(14) Extradition.-Whenever a bankrupt is found within the juris diction of a court other than the one issuing the warrant for his appre hension, he may be extradited in the same manner in which persons

under an indictment are now extradited from one district within which a district court has jurisdiction to another. (Sec. 10.)

(15) Orders. While district courts have no power to make general rules in bankruptcy (In re Kennedy et al., 7 N. B. R. 337; Fed. Cas. 7699), they are not hampered by such technical rules as will prevent the doing of what is just and for the protection of the state, even if it required the revocation of an order once made. (Samson v. Burton, 6 N. B. R. 403.)

(16) Contempt before referees.- In proceedings before a referee no person shall disobey or resist any lawful order, process or writ; misbehave during a hearing; neglect to produce, after having been ordered to do so, any pertinent document; or refuse to appear after having been subpoenaed; or refuse to take the oath as a witness or be examined according to law. (Sec. 41a.) In case a person violates any of these provisions, the referee shall certify the facts to the judge, who shall, in a summary manner, hear the evidence as to the acts complained of, and impose such imprisonment as for the like contempt committed before a court of bankruptcy, etc. (Sec. 41b.)

(17) Assignees; appointment and removal.- Assignees in bankruptcy are public officers whose appointment must be approved by the judge of the district court (Morris et al. v. Swartz, 10 N. B. R. 305); but an election persuaded by the importunity of the proposed assignee exercised upon disinterested creditors will not be approved. (In re —, a Bankrupt, 2 N. B. R. 100.) The removal of an assignee rests in the discretion of the court, but it is a legal discretion, and cause must be shown to render the removal either necessary or expedient. (In re Blodgett et al., 5 N. B. R. 472; Fed. Cas. 1552; In re Mallory, 4 N. B. R. 38; Fed. Cas. 8990.)

A resolution of creditors of a bankrupt, committing his estate for settlement and distribution to a trustee and nominating a committee composed of two members, one of whom is the trustee, to supervise and direct the trustee, will not be confirmed. (In re Stillwell, 2 N. B. R. 164; Fed. Cas. 13447.)

See also sections 44 and 46,

(18) Costs.— As a general rule no charge for professional services of counsel to an assignee rendered prior to the appointment of the assignee will be allowed. (In re N. Y. Mail S. S. Co., 2 N. B. R. 137; 1 Chi. Leg. News, 210; Fed. Cas. 10210.) In respect to services rendered to a bankrupt prior to adjudication, an attorney is a general creditor, and must prove his debt in the usual form. For services rendered after adjudication and before choice of assignee, an attorney's fee may be allowed, if it be clearly shown that the services were properly and necessarily rendered for the purpose of benefiting or preserving the estate of the bankrupt in the interest of the general creditors. (In re Jaycox and Green, 7 N. B. R. 140; Fed. Cas. 7239.) The court will order the payment of

such fees out of the estate upon written approval of the assignee (In re Montgomery, 3 N. B. R. 35; 3 Ben. 364; Fed. Cas. 9726); and a register may certify to the court the amount he has allowed counsel for assignee for revision or approval of the court. (In re Warshing, 5 N. B. R. 350; Fed. Cas. 17209.)

Counsel fees may be allowed petitioning creditors in a petition in invitum to have a creditor adjudged a bankrupt (In re Waite, 2 N. B. R. 146; In re The New York Mail Steamship Co., 3 N. B. R. 155; 7 Blatchf. 178; 3 N. B. R. 185; Fed. Cas. 10208); and they are entitled to a reasonable allowance for expenses incurred by them in procuring an adjudiIcation (In re Mittledorfer, 3 N. B. R. 1; Chase, 288; Fed. Cas. 9675), as where solicitors prepare partnership and individual schedules for invol untary bankrupts. (In re Andrews and Jones, 11 N. B. R. 59; 22 Pittsb. Leg. J. 41; Fed. Cas. 370.) They have been allowed debtor's counsel in case of involuntary bankruptcy, where there was a contest as to whether acts of bankruptcy had been committed, and whether the debtor should be adjudged a bankrupt, out of the assets of the bankrupt estate. (In re Portsmouth Savings Fund Society, 11 N. B. R. 303; 2 Hughes, 239; Fed. Cas. 11298.)

Where attachment proceedings are not instituted with a view of obtaining a preference, but were merely auxiliary to bankruptcy proceedings, and so for the benefit of all creditors, the costs and expenses of the former proceedings will be allowed. (In re Ward, 9 N. B. R. 349; Fed. Cas. 17145.)

The allowance of costs has been refused creditors in the following cases: For expenses in an effort to obtain a preference (In re Archenbrown, 8 N. B. R. 429; Fed. Cas. 503); retainer paid attorneys, or for any services rendered by attorney after adjudication of the debtor bankrupt (In re Comstock et al., 9 N. B. R. 88; Fed. Cas. 3075); an attaching creditor whose attachment is set aside by bankruptcy proceedings, unless it is shown that the attachment was employed in aid of the proceedings and to the benefit of the creditors generally. (In re Irons & Coon, Ex parte Adler, 18 N. B. R. 95; Fed. Cas. 7067.) But creditors have been held liable for costs when they petition against discharge of bankrupt upon frivolous or unsuccessful charges (In re Eidom, 3 N. B. R. 39; Fed. Cas. 4315; In re Robinson & Chamberlain, 3 N. B. R. 17; Fed. Cas. 11943); or, where the petition is dismissed by the order of the court, the debtor is entitled to recover from the petitioner the same costs that are allowed by law to a party recovering in equity (Dundore v. Coats & Bros., 6 N. B. R. 304; Fed. Cas. 4142); or where he has full knowledge of the condition of his insolvent debtor, receiving a preference, he should be taxed with the costs of the petition of the assignee to expunge. (In re Forsyth and Murtha, 7 N. B. R. 174; Fed. Cas. 4948.)

Where bankruptcy proceedings are mainly for the benefit of secured creditors, they should defray the costs of the suit, and no more of the

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