Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 4.djvu/644

 630 FEOEBAI* fiSPOBTSB. �court for hîs dîscharge. He stated that the costs in the case had not been paid, but that he was willing to make payment of ail the costs ; and in the petition in review to this court he alleges that he has paid ail' costs due. On the seventeenth of October, 1879, the district court refused to grant the appli- cation of the bankrupt for his discharge, and it is that order which is sought to be reviewed by the petition in this court. It is intimated, for there is no opinion of the district judge in the case, that the ground upon which the court disallowed the application of the bankrupt was that there had been a final disposition of the cause, and, therefore, it came too late. If this were so, it must have been because the discharge of the assignee from ail liability was considered as a final disposition of the cause. But as there were no assets, and no claims proved against the estate, the discharge of the assignee was merely a formai matter, and, indeed, was unnecessary, hav- ing nothing to do, in one important particular, at least, with the final dispostion of the cause. Without expressing any opinion as to the regularity of the proceeding before the regis- ter, it would seem that it should, in some form, comie under the cognizance of the court. There is nothing to indicate that, in this record, nor to show when, if ever, the proceedings before the register were filed in the district court. �I had occasion to consider an application of this klnd sev- eral years ago, In re Canady, 2 Biss. 75. That decision was made under the etatute as it then stood, which declared that the bankrupt, at any time after the expiration of six months from the adjudication in bankruptcy, and within one year of the same, might apply to the court for his discharge. It was there held that there was a certain discretion in the court, if proper explanations were given for the delay, to grant the discharge, notwithstanding the application might be made after one year. It would seem as though the bankrupt ought not to be precluded from making an application, unless he has had notice of something to be done which shall constitute the final disposition of the cause. In this case he says he had no notice whatever of the action of the assignee or of the register. We think that a bankruptcy case may be ����