Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 52.djvu/895

 PUBLIC LAWS-CH. 575-JUNE 22, 1938 Privileged commu- nications. Examination of wit- nesses with interest adverse to party call- ing. Remedies pertain- ing to discovery, etc. Provio. Expediting hear- ings. Accounting; failure to disclose cost. Reference of peti- tions. Transfer of case from one referee to another. Jurisdiction of Unit- ed States and State courts. Suits by receiver and trustee. Pi, pp. 809, 875, 879. Jurisdiction of ap- pellate courts. such other person as may be provided by the arrangement or wage- earner plan, and if recorded shall impart the same notice that an instrument of transfer from the trustee to the debtor or to such person if recorded would impart. "i. A communication by a creditor, by the receiver or the trustee of a bankrupt, by the attorney for any of them, or by the referee to a creditor, to the receiver or trustee of the bankrupt, to the attorney for any of them, to the referee or to the bankrupt or his attorney, uttered in good faith and with reasonable grounds for belief in its truth, concerning the conduct, acts, or property of the bankrupt, shall be privileged and the creditor, receiver, trustee, attorney, or referee so uttering the same shall not be held liable therefor. "j. In any proceeding or controversy, or in any plenary suit, brought under this Act, if it shall appear that the interest of a witness is adverse to the party calling him, such witness may be examined as if under cross-examination and the party calling him shall not be bound by such testimony. "k. In all proceedings under this Act, the parties in interest shall be entitled to all rights and remedies granted by the rules of equity practice established from time to time by the Supreme Court pertaining to discovery, interrogatories, inspection and production of documents, and to the admission of execution and genuineness of instruments: Provided, That the limitations of time therein prescribed may be shortened by the court to expedite hearings. "1. In any proceeding under this Act against a bankrupt for an accounting by him for his property or the disposition thereof, or to compel a turn-over of property by him, if his books, records, and accounts shall fail to disclose the cost to him of such property sold by him during any period under consideration, it shall be presumed, until the contrary shall appear, that such property was sold at a price not less than the cost thereof to him. "SEC. 22 . REFERENCE OF PETITIONs. - a. The judge may at any stage of a proceeding under this Act refer the same to a referee, either generally or specially. "b. The judge may, at any time, for the convenience of parties or for cause, transfer a case from one referee to another. "SEC. 23. JURISDICTION OF UNITED STATES AND STATE COURTS.- a. The United States district courts shall have jurisdiction of all con- troversies at law and in equity, as distinguished from proceedings under this Act, between receivers and trustees as such and adverse claimants, concerning the property acquired or claimed by the receivers or trustees, in the same manner and to the same extent as though such proceedings had not been instituted and such contro- versies had been between the bankrupts and such adverse claimants "b. Suits by the receiver and the trustee shall be brought or prosecuted only in the courts where the bankrupt might have brought or prosecuted them if proceedings under this Act had not been instituted, unless by consent of the defendant, except as provided in sections 60, 67, and 70 of this Act. "SEC. 24. JURISDICTION OF APPELLATE COURTs. -a. The Circuit Courts of Appeals of the United States and the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, in vacation, in chambers, and during their respective terms, as now or as they may be hereafter held, are hereby invested with appellate jurisdiction from the several courts of bankruptcy in their respective jurisdictions in proceedings in bankruptcy, either interlocutory or final, and in controversies arising in proceedings in bankruptcy, to review, affirm, revise, or 854 [52 STAT.

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