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Rh A person who has committed an act of bankruptcy; one who has done some act or suffered some act to be done in consequence of which, under the laws of his country, he is liable to be proceeded against by his creditors for the seizure and distribution among them of his entire property. Ashby v. Steere, 2 Woodb. & M. 347, 2 Fed. Cas. 15; In re Scott, 21 Fed. Cas. 803; U. S. v. Pusey, 27 Fed. Cas. 632.

A trader who secretessecrets [sic] himself or does certain other acts tending to defraud his creditors. 2 Bl. Comm. 471.

In a looser sense, an insolvent person; a broken-up or ruined trader. Everett v. Stone, 3 Story, 453, Fed. Cas. No. 4,577.

A person who, by the formal decree of a court, has been declared subject to be proceeded against under the bankruptcy laws, or entitled, on his voluntary application, to take the benefit of such laws.

A law relating to bankrupts and the procedure against them in the courts. A law providing a remedy for the creditors of a bankrupt, and for the relief and restitution of the bankrupt himself.

1. The state or condition of one who is a bankrupt; amenability to the bankrupt laws; the condition of one who has committed an act of bankruptcy, and is liable to be proceeded against by his creditors therefor, or of one whose circumstances are such that he is entitled, on his voluntary application, to take the benefit of the bankrupt laws. The term is used in a looser sense as synonymous with "insolvency,"—inability to pay one's debts; the stopping and breaking up of business because the trader is broken down, insolvent, ruined. Phipps v. Harding, 70 Fed. 468, 17 C. C. A. 203, 30 L. R. A. 513; Arnold v. Maynard, 2 Story, 354, Fed. Cas. No. 561; Bernhardt v. Curtis, 109 La. 171, 33 South. 125, 94 Am. St. Rep. 445.

2. The term denotes the proceedings taken under the bankrupt law, against a person (or firm or company) to have him adjudged a bankrupt, and to have his estate administered for the benefit of the creditors, and divided among them.

3. That branch of jurisprudence, or system of law and practice, which is concerned with the definition and ascertainment of acts of bankruptcy and the administration of bankrupts' estates for the benefit of their creditors and the absolution and restitution of bankrupts.

An old law term, signifying a space or tract of country around a