Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 2.djvu/66



creditors as shall have made due proof of their debts, in proportion to their several and respective debts; which second dividend shall be final, unless any suit at law, or equity, be depending, or any part of the estate standing out, that could not have been disposed of, or that the major part of the creditors shall not have agreed to be sold or disposed of, or unless some other or future estate or effects of the bankrupt shall afterwards come to, or rest in the said assignees, in which cases the said assignees shall, as soon as may be, convert such future or other estate and effects into money, and shall, within two months after the same be converted into money, by like order of the commissioners, divide the same among such bankrupt’s creditors as shall have made due proof of their debt under such commission.

. And be it further enacted, That in the distribution of the bankrupt’s effects, there shall be paid to every of the creditors a portionrate, according to the amount of their respective debts, so that every creditor having security for his debt by judgment, statute, recognizance, or specialty, or having an attachment under any of the laws of the individual states, or of the United States, on the estate of such bankrupt, (Provided, there be no execution executed upon any of the real or personal estate of such bankrupt, before the time he or she became bankrupts) shall not be relieved upon any such judgment, statute, recognizance, specialty, or attachment, for more than a rateable part of his debt, with the other creditors of the bankrupt.

. And be it further enacted, That the assignees shall keep one or more distinct book or books of account, wherein he or they shall duly enter all sums of money or effects, which he or they shall have received, or got into his or their possession, of the said bankrupt’s estate, to which books of account, every creditor who shall have proved his or her debt, shall, at all reasonable times, have free resort, and inspect the same as often as he or she shall think fit.

. And be it further enacted, That every bankrupt, not being in prison or custody, shall, at all times after his surrender, be bound to attend the assignees, upon every reasonable notice, in writing, for that purpose, given or left at the usual place of his or her abode, in order to assist in making out the accounts of the said bankrupt’s estate and effects, and to attend any court of record, to be examined touching the same, or such other business, as the said assignees shall judge necessary, for which he shall receive three dollars per day.

. And be it further enacted, That all and every person and persons who shall become bankrupt as aforesaid, and who shall, within the time limited by this act, surrender him or herself to the commissioners, and in all things conform as in and by this act is directed, shall be allowed five per cent. upon the nett produce of all the estate that shall be recovered in and received, which shall be paid unto him or her by the assignee or assignees, in case the nett produce of such estate, after such allowance made, shall be sufficient to pay the creditors of said bankrupt, who shall have proved their debts under such commission, the amount of fifty per cent. on their said debts, respectively, and so as the said five per cent. shall not exceed, in the whole, the sum of five hundred dollars; and in case the nett produce of the said estate shall, over and above the allowance hereafter mentioned, be sufficient to pay the said creditors seventy-five per cent. on the amount of their said debts, respectively, that then the said bankrupt shall be allowed ten per cent. on the amount of such nett produce, to be paid as aforesaid, so as such ten per cent. shall not, in the whole, exceed the sum of eight hundred dollars; and every such bankrupt shall be discharged from all debts by him or her due or owing, at the time he or she became bankrupt, and all which were or might have been proved under the said commission; and in case any such bankrupt shall afterwards be arrested, prosecuted