Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 6.djvu/183

 IN BE EKING8. ' 171 �for a claim of |207, and proved for the wLole aniount; (8) one by James M. Smylie, who had before made proof of a claim for $277, and who had afterwards surrendered to the assignee a mortgage which he held against some real estate of the bankrupt to secure the payment of a bond for $1,100, and had proved the bond as an unsecured debt; (4) one by Francis Ekings, the brother of the bankrupt, who proved a claim of about $600, which did not appear in the schedules of the bankrupt, and which had been barred by the statuts of limitations for a long number of years. �It was conceded upon the argument that ail these creditors made their proofs before the hearing, on the application for discharge, for the sole purpose of aiding the bankrupt in ob- taining his discharge by filing consents thereto. �Two questions are presented — First, whether proofs of debt, filed with the register af ter the application of the bank- rupt for his discharge, are to be counted, under the provisions of section 9 of the amendment of June 22, 1874, in ascer- taining the assent of one-third in number of creditors and one-fourth in value; second, whether the testimony shows that the bankrupt has violated the eighth clause of section 5110 of the Eevieed Statutes, which prohibits a discharge "if the bankrupt, or any person in his behalf> has procured the assent of any crediter, or influenced the action of any cred- iter, at asy stage of the proceedings, by any pecuniary con- sideration or obligation. " �1. The original section of the banknipt act, (section 5112 of the Eevised Statutes,) to -which the ninth section of the amendment of June 22, 1874, was a supplement, required that the assent in writing of a majority in number and value of the creditors should be filed in the case at or before the time of hearing of the application for discharge. AU proofs of debt, therefore, that were made before the time of hearing, could be used as foundations for assents filed at the hearing. The supplement is less exacting, and was passed to facili- tate the opportunities for a diseharge. It does not require the assent to be ini ivriting, nor to be filed anywhere, nor at any specined time. It simply reduces the required number ��� �