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shall, when practicable, be sold subject to the approval of the court; it shall not be sold otherwise than subject to the approval of the court for less than 75 per cent. of its appraised value.

(c) The title to property of a bankrupt estate which has been sold, as herein provided, shall be conveyed to the purchaser by the trustee. (d) Whenever a composition shall be set aside, or discharge revoked, the trustee shall, upon his appointment and qualification, be vested as herein provided with the title to all of the property of the bankrupt as of the date of the final decree setting aside the composition or revoking the discharge.

(e) The trustee may avoid any transfer by the bankrupt of his property which any creditor of such bankrupt might have avoided, and may recover the property so transferred, or its value, from the person to whom it was transferred, unless he was a bona-fide holder for value prior to the date of the adjudication. Such property may be recovered, or its value collected from whoever may have received it, except a bona-fide holder for value.

(f) Upon the confirmation of a composition offered by a bankrupt, the title to his property shall thereupon revest in him.

THE TIME WHEN THIS ACT SHALL GO INTO EFFECT

(a) This act shall go into full force and effect upon its passage: Provided, however, That no petition for voluntary bankruptcy shall be filed within 1 month of the passage thereof, and no petition for involuntary bankruptcy shall be filed within 4 months of the passage thereof. (b) Proceedings commenced under state insolvency laws before the passage of this act shall not be affected by it. Approved, July 1, 1898.

NOTE.

The foregoing act was amended in certain of its sections and subdivisions by act passed February 5, 1903. The full text of the amendatory act follows.

AMENDMENT TO UNITED STATES
BANKRUPTCY ACT

An Act to Amend an Act entitled "An Act to establish a uniform system of bankruptcy throughout the United States," approved July first, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That clause five of section 2 of said Act be, and the same is hereby, amended so as to read as follows:

"(5) Authorize the business of bankrupts to be conducted for limited periods by receivers, the marshals, or trustees, if necessary in the best interests of the estates, and allow such officers additional compensation for such services, but not at a greater rate than in this Act allowed trustees for similar services."

SECTION 2. That clause 4, subdivision (a) of section 3 of said Act, be, and the same is hereby, amended so as to read as follows:

"or (4) made a general assignment for the benefit of his creditors, or, being insolvent, applied for a receiver or trustee for his property or because of insolvency a receiver or trustee has been put in charge of his property under the laws of a state, of a territory, or of the United States."

SECTION 3. That subdivision (b) of section 4 of said Act be, and the same is hereby, amended so as to read as follows:

"(6) Any natural person, except a wage-earner, or a person engaged chiefly in farming or the tillage of the soil, any unincorporated company, and any corporation engaged principally in manufacturing, trading, printing, publishing, mining, or mercantile pursuits, owing debts to the amount of one thousand dollars or over, may be adjudged an involuntary bankrupt upon default or an impartial trial, and shall be subject to the provisions and entitled to the benefits of this Act. Private bankers, but not national banks or banks incorporated under state or territorial laws, may be adjudged involuntary bankrupts.

"The bankruptcy of a corporation shall not release its officers, directors, or stockholders, as such, from any liability under the laws of a state or territory or of the United States."

SECTION 4. That subdivision (6) of section 14 of said Act be, and the same is hereby, amended so as to read as follows:

"(b) The judge shall hear the application for a discharge, and such proofs and pleas as may be made in opposition thereto by parties in

interest, at such time as will give parties in interest a reasonable opportunity to be fully heard, and investigate the merits of the application and discharge the applicant unless he has (1) committed an offense punishable by imprisonment as herein provided; or (2) with intent to conceal his financial condition, destroyed, concealed, or failed to keep books of account or records from which such condition might be ascertained; or (3) obtained property on credit from any person upon a materially false statement in writing made to such person for the purpose of obtaining such property on credit; or (4) at any time subsequent to the first day of the four months immediately preceding the filing of the petition, transferred, removed, destroyed, or concealed, or permitted to be removed, destroyed, or concealed any of his property with intent to hinder, delay, or defraud his creditors; (5) in voluntary proceedings been granted a discharge in bankruptcy within six years; or (6) in the course of the proceedings in bankruptcy refused to obey any lawful order of or to answer any material question approved by the court."

SECTION 5. That section 17 of said Act be, and the same is hereby, amended so as to read as follows:

"SECTION 17. Debts Not Affected by a Discharge.-(a) A discharge in bankruptcy shall release a bankrupt from all of his provable debts, except such as (1) are due as a tax levied by the United States, the state, county, district, or municipality in which he resides; (2) are liabilities for obtaining property by false pretenses or false representations, or for wilful and malicious injuries to the person or property of another, or for alimony due or to become due, or for maintenance or support of wife or child, or for seduction of an unmarried female, or for criminal conversation; (3) have not been duly scheduled in time for proof and allowance, with the name of the creditor if known to the bankrupt, unless such creditor had notice or actual knowledge of the proceedings in bankruptcy; or (4) were created by his fraud, embezzlement, misappropriation, or defalcation while acting as an officer or in any fiduciary capacity."

SECTION 6. That subdivisions (a) and (b) of section 18 of said Act be, and the same are hereby, amended so as to read as follows:

"(a) Upon the filing of a petition for involuntary bankruptcy, service thereof, with a writ of subpoena, shall be made upon the person therein named as defendant in the same manner that service of such process is now had upon the commencement of a suit in equity in the courts of the United States, except that it shall be returnable within fifteen days, unless the judge shall for cause fix a longer time; but in case personal service cannot be made, then notice shall be given by publication in the same manner and for the same time as provided by law for notice by publication in suits to enforce a legal or equitable lien in courts of the United States, except that, unless the judge shall otherwise direct, the order shall be published not more than once a week

for two consecutive weeks, and the return day shall be ten days after the last publication unless the judge shall for cause fix a longer time."

"(b) The bankrupt, or any creditor, may appear and plead to the petition within five days after the return day, or within such further time as the court may allow."

SECTION 7. That subdivision (a) of section 21 of said Act be, and the same is hereby, amended so as to read as follows:

"(a) A court of bankruptcy may, upon application of any officer, bankrupt, or creditor, by order require any designated person, including the bankrupt and his wife, to appear in court or before a referee or the judge of any state court, to be examined concerning the acts, conduct, or property of a bankrupt whose estate is in process of administration under this Act: Provided, That the wife may be examined only touching business transacted by her or to which she is a party, and to determine the fact whether she has transacted or been a party to any business of the bankrupt."

SECTION 8. That subdivision (b) of section 23 of said Act be, and the same is hereby, amended so as to read as follows:

"(6) Suits by the trustee shall only be brought or prosecuted in the courts where the bankrupt, whose estate is being administered by such trustee, might have brought or prosecuted them if proceedings in bankruptcy had not been instituted, unless by consent of the proposed defendant, except suits for the recovery of property under section 60, subdivision (b), and section 67, subdivision (e).”

SECTION 9. That subdivision (a) of section 40 of said Act be, and the same is hereby, amended so as to read as follows:

"(a) Referees shall receive as full compensation for their services, payable after they are rendered, a fee of fifteen dollars deposited with the clerk at the time the petition is filed in each case, except when a fee is not required from a voluntary bankrupt, and twenty-five cents for every proof of claim filed for allowance, to be paid from the estate, if any, as a part of the cost of administration, and from estates which have been administered before them one per centum commissions on all moneys disbursed to creditors by the trustee, or one-half of one per centum on the amount to be paid to creditors upon the confirmation of a composition."

SECTION 10. That section 47 is hereby amended by adding thereto the following subdivision:

"(c) The trustee shall, within thirty days after the adjudication, file a certified copy of the decree of adjudication in the office where conveyances of real estate are recorded in every county where the bankrupt owns real estate not exempt from execution, and pay the fee for such filing, and he shall receive a compensation of fifty cents for each copy so filed, which, together with the filing fee, shall be paid out of the estate of the bankrupt as a part of the cost and disbursements of the proceedings."

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SECTION 11. That subdivision (a) of section 48 of said Act be, and the same is hereby, amended so as to read as follows:

"(a) Trustees shall receive for their services, payable after they are rendered, a fee of five dollars deposited with the clerk at the time the petition is filed in each case, except when a fee is not required from a voluntary bankrupt, and from estates which they have administered, such commissions on all moneys disbursed by them as may be allowed by the courts, not to exceed six per centum on the first five hundred dollars or less, four per centum on moneys in excess of five hundred dollars and less than fifteen hundred dollars, two per centum on moneys in excess of fifteen hundred dollars and less than ten thousand dollars, and one per centum on moneys in excess of ten thousand dollars. And in case of the confirmation of a composition after the trustee has qualified, the court may allow him, as compensation, not to exceed one-half of one per centum of the amount to be paid the creditors on such composition."

SECTION 12. That subdivision (g) of section 57 of said Act be, and the same is hereby, amended so as to read as follows:

"(g) The claims of creditors who have received preferences, voidable under section 60, subdivision (b), or to whom conveyances, transfers, assignments, or incumbrances, void or voidable under section 67, subdivision (e), have been made or given, shall not be allowed unless such creditors shall surrender such preferences, conveyances, transfers, assignments, or incumbrances."

SECTION 13. That subdivisions (a) and (b) of section 60 of said Act be, and the same are hereby, amended so as to read as follows:

"(a) A person shall be deemed to have given a preference if, being insolvent, he has, within four months before the filing of the petition, or after the filing of the petition and before the adjudication, procured or suffered a judgment to be entered against himself in favor of any person, or made a transfer of any of his property, and the effect of the enforcement of such judgment or transfer will be to enable any one of his creditors to obtain a greater percentage of his debt than any other of such creditors of the same class. Where the preference consists in a transfer, such period of four months shall not expire until four months after the date of the recording or registering of the transfer, if by law such recording or registering is required."

"(b) If a bankrupt shall have given a preference, and the person receiving it, or to be benefited thereby, or his agent acting therein, shall have had reasonable cause to believe that it was intended thereby to give a preference, it shall be voidable by the trustee, and he may recover the property or its value from such person. And, for the purpose of such recovery, any court of bankruptcy, as herein before defined, and any state court which would have had jurisdiction if bankruptcy had not intervened, shall have concurrent jurisdiction."

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