Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 2.djvu/860

 IN RE HICK3. 863 �parties coneerned. The committee of ered^tors representa the entire body of the creditors, and its acts and doings are their acts and doings. Ail the details of the winding up and settlement of the estate are carried on thrpugh and by the trustee and committee, hy arrangement and amicable adjust- ment, and until some dispute or other exigency arises which cannot be settled and disposed of in that way, none of the pro- cesses, powers or jurisdiction of the court are brought into requisition, and they can be set in motion only by a special application for that purpose." �I think it is clear upon these authorities, and upon the terms of the statute, that the trustee and the committee are net liable to the ordinary processes and modes of proceeding prescribed by the bankrupt law for the regulation of assignees, and for the enforcement of those obligations which assignees assume towards creditors and the bankrupt. At the same time the statute sanctions and these cases recognize the power and duty of the court to intervene, upon cause shown, for the purpose of preventing a violation of their trust on the part of the trustee or creditors, and to secure the equal rights of ail creditors in the distribution of the assets, which is ex- pressly provided for in the act. The most common cause for the interference crf the court is upon a question being made as to whether or not a person making a claim is entitled to share as a crediter. Such a question, if mooted and not ad- justed by the parties, must necessarily be dôtermined by the court. In this very case such questions have been so de- termined in f avor of the applying creditors. So there can be no doubt that any action of the trustee or committee in excess of their lawful powers, as, for instance, a diversion of funds to a purpose not authorized by the terms of their trust, will be corrected on application to the court. In re Bonnett, 19 N. B. R. 309. �Nor does the trustee any more than any other trustee, hold the funds of the estate without a liability to be called to an account. As a trustee for creditors he is probably bound to afford them on request ail proper information as to his perform ance of his trust. There is nothing, however, in the statute, ����