Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 9.djvu/213

 198 FEDKBAL EBPORTEE. �in the case. If the proeeeding was "pending" when the law waa repealed, the court has power to grant the application. �ihs language of the act of congress is inconsistent with the idea that it intended the court's jurisdiction to depend upon the presence of the required number and amount. Section 5021 of the Revised StatuteSj as amended by the act of 1874, (18 St. at Large, 180,) pro- vides that : �"And in all cases commenced since the first day of December, 1873, and prior to the passage of this act, as well as those commenced hereafter, the court shall, if such allegation as to the number or amount of petitioning cred- itors be denied by the debtor by a statement in writing to that effect, require him to file in court forthwith a full list of his ereditors, with their places of residence and the sunis due them, respectively, and shall ascertain, upon reasonable notice to the ereditors, whether one-fourth in number and one- third in amount thereof, as aforesaid, have petitioned that the debtor be ad- judged a bankrupt. But if such debtor shall, on the flling of the petition, admit in writing that the requisite number and amount of ereditors have petitioned, the court (if satisfled that the admission was made in good faith) shall so adjudge, which judgment shall be final, and the matter pioceed without further steps on the subject. And if it shall appear that such num- ber and amount have not so petitioned, the court shall grant reasonable time, not exceeding in cases heretofore commenced 20 days, and cases here- after commenced 10 days, within which ereditors may join in such petition. And if, at the expiration of such time so limited, the number and amount shall comply with the requirements of this section, the matter of bankruptcy may proceed; but if, after the expiration of such limited time, such number and amount shall not answer the requirements of this section, the proceed- ings shall be dismissed, and, in cases hereafter commenced, with costs." �The bankrupt act provides that the adjudication shall relate back to the time of filing the petition. The section just quoted provides a mode for supplying the requisite number and amount when there was originally a deficiency. Can it be said that congress would make the adjudication relate back to a time when the court had no jurisdiction of the proeeeding? In this case there was a petition containing the neeessary allegations as to the residence of the alleged bankrupt, his indebtedness, the nature and cbaracter of the petition- er's claim, the acts of bankruptcy alleged to have been committed, with accompanying proofs and aifidavits as required by the bankrupt law, the defendant was duly served, and this gave the court juris- diction of the cause. The question was before me in the case of In re H. Hirsch e Co., and I then so ruled. The opinion of Judge Lowell in Ex parte Jeivett, 2 Lowell, 393, is to the same effect. The court having jurisdiction of the case when the bankrupt law was ��� �