Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 1.djvu/385

 ,” as hath rated the livre tournois of France at eighteen and an half cents, be and the same is hereby repealed.

. And be it enacted and declared, That if the principal, in any bond which shall be given to the United States, for duties on goods, wares, and merchandise imported, shall be insolvent, or if such principal being dead, his or her estate and effects, which shall have come to the hands of his or her executors or administrators, shall be insufficient for the payment of his or her debts, and if, in either of the said cases, any surety in the said bond, or the executors and administrators of such surety, shall pay to the United States the monies thereupon due, such surety, his or her executors or administrators, shall have and enjoy the like advantage, priority and preference, for the recovery and receipt of the said monies out of the estate and effects of such insolvent or deceased principal, as are reserved and secured to the United States, by the forty-fourth section of the act, intituled “,” and shall and may bring and maintain a suit upon the said bond, in law or equity, in his, her or their own name or names, for the recovery of the monies which shall have been paid thereupon. And it is further declared, That the cases of insolvency in the said forty-fourth section mentioned, shall be deemed to extend, as well to cases in which a debtor, not having sufficient property to pay all his or her debts, shall have made a voluntary assignment thereof, for the benefit of his or her creditors, or in which the estate and effects of an absconding, concealed or absent debtor shall have been attached by process of law, as to cases, in which an act of legal bankruptcy shall have been committed. Priority of the United States. In all cases of insolvency or bankruptcy of a debtor of the United States, they are entitled to payment out of his effects. The United States v. Fisher et al., 2 Cranch, 368; 1 Cond. Rep. 421.

The United States have no lien on the estate of their debtor, until suit brought, or a notorious insolvency or bankruptcy has taken place; or, being unable to pay all his debts, he has made a voluntary assignment of all his property; or the debtor having absconded, concealed, or absented himself, his property has been attached by process of law. United States v. Hoe et al., 3 Cranch, 73; 1 Cond. Rep. 458.

The 5th section of the, giving a priority of payment to the United States out of the effects of their debtors, did not apply to a debt due before the passing of the act, although the balance was not adjusted at the treasury until after the act was passed. United States v. Bryan et al., 9 Cranch, 374; 3 Cond. Rep. 436.

In case of insolvency the United States are not entitled to a priority of payment, unless the insolvency be a legal and known insolvency, manifested by some notorious act of the debtor, pursuant to the act of Congress. Prince v. Bartlett, 8 Cranch, 431; 3 Cond. Rep. 199.

The United States are not entitled to a priority over all creditors, under the 65th section of the, upon the ground of the debtor having made an assignment for the benefit of his creditors, unless it is proved that it is all the debtor’s property. United States v. Howland et al., 4 Wheat. 108; 4 Cond. Rep. 404.

The priority of the United States does not attach by the mere concealment of the debtor when insolvent. Ibid.

It has never been decided by the Supreme Court, that the priority of the United States will divest a specific lien attached to anything, whether it be accompanied by possession or not. Conard v. The Atlantic Ins. Comp., 1 Peters, 439.

The priority of the United States extends as well to debts by bonds which are payable after insolvency or decease of the obligor, as to those actually due or payable at the period thereof. The United States v. The State Bank of North Carolina, 6 Peters, 29.

The priority of the United States for debts due to them by an insolvent debtor, or by the estate of a deceased debtor, does not extend to affect the lien of an incorporated bank on the stock held by one indebted to the bank, when by the charter of the bank such a lien is given. Brent v. The Bank of Washington, 10 Peters, 596.

. And be it further enacted, That the President of the United States be, and hereby is authorized to appoint such place within the district of Vermont to be the port of entry and delivery within the said district, as he may deem expedient, any thing in the act, intituled “,” to the contrary notwithstanding.

, May 2, 1792.