of the said registrars, (those appointed under 1 & 2 Will. 4, c. 56), such vacancy shall be supplied by the deputy registrar acting under the registrar by whose death, removal, or retirement such vacancy shall occur; and that when any vacancy shall occur by the death, removal, or retirement of either of the said two last-mentioned deputy registrars, (those not attached to the commissioners of the Court), such vacancy shall not be supplied so as to provide altogether for more than two such registrars and one such deputy registrar, other than the six deputy registrars attached to the com. missioners aforesaid; and it shall be lawful for the Court of Review, when and as any such vacancy shall occur, to make such general orders, as to the duties to be performed by such registrars and deputy registrars, as they shall think fit.

The Court of Review will not order the registrar to attend with the proceedings on the trial of an action at law on behalf of a stranger to the commission (c).

Enrolment Office.] By stat. 6 Geo. 4, c. 16, s. 95, authority is given to the Lord Chancellor to appoint a proper person, who by himself or deputy shall enter of record all matters relating to commissions, and have the custody of the entries thereof. And by sect. 96, in all commissions issued after this act shall have taken effect, no commission of bankruptcy, adjudication of bankruptcy by the commissioners, or assignment of the personal estate of the bankrupt, or certificate of conformity, shall be received in evidence in any court of law or equity, unless the same shall have been so first entered of record as aforesaid; and every such instrument shall be so entered of record, and a certificate of such entry indorsed thereon as therein mentioned; but by 2 & 3 Will. 4, c. 114, s. 1, it is enacted, that the records of all commissions of bankrupt, and of all proceedings under the same, which may have been heretofore entered of record pursuant to or under colour of the said first-recited act or any other act, shall be removed into the said Court of Bankruptcy, and shall be kept as records of the said court in such place as the judges of the said court shall from time to time direct; and that it shall and may be lawful for the judges of the Court of Bankruptcy to nominate the person heretofore appointed by the Lord Chancellor to enter such proceedings of record, or in case of his refusal to accept such office, some other fit and proper person, as the Clerk of Enrolment to the said court, at such salary, to be paid out of the fees hereinafter mentioned, as the Lord Chancellor shall by writing under his hand direct; and that such Clerk of the Enrolments and his successors (to be appointed in like manner at the like salary) shall have the care and custody of all the said records so removed as aforesaid, and shall in like manner enter of record all matters and proceedings in bankruptcy which, by this act, or by the said recited acts, or by any order made in pursuance thereof, are or may be directed to be entered of record, upon payment of the fees hereinafter men

(c) Ex parte Munk, 3 Dea. & C. 233.

tioned; and by s. 2, all commissions of bankruptcy issued before the first day of September, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-five, and all depositions and other proceedings relating to such commissions directed to be enrolled, and actually entered of record upon or since that day, shall be deemed and taken to have been well and effectually entered of record; and by s. 4, any one of the judges of the Court of Bankruptcy shall have full power and authority, upon application made to him for that purpose, to direct such officer to enter upon the records of the court any commission of bankrupt at any time heretofore issued, and the depositions and proceedings had and taken under the same, or such part or parts thereof as such judge shall think fit: Provided always, that it shall and may be lawful for such officer to enter of record the several matters directed by the said recited acts or either of them to be entered of record, upon the application of or on behalf of any party interested therein, without any special order for that purpose; and by s. 5, all fiats already issued, or hereafter to be issued, in lieu of commissions of bankrupt, to be prosecuted elsewhere than in the said Court of Bankruptcy, and all adjudications of bankruptcy by the persons named in such fiats to act as commissioners, and all appointments of assignees, and certificates of conformity, made and allowed under such fiats, may and shall be entered of record in the said Court of Bankruptcy, upon the application of or on behalf of any party interested therein, on the payment of the fees hereafter mentioned, without any petition in writing presented for that purpose; and any one of the judges of the said court may, upon petition, direct any deposition or other proceeding under such fiat to be entered of record as aforesaid; and by s. 6, there may and shall be paid for the entry of any commission and fiat the fee of two shillings; and for the entry of every certificate of conformity, and for every assignment, the fee of six shillings each; and for the entry of every examination such fee as the Court of Review shall from time to time fix and appoint, not exceeding the rate of one shilling for every folio thereof; and for the entry of every adjudication of bankruptcy, deposition, appointment of assignees, and every other proceeding or matter relating to commissions or fiats, the fee of two shillings each; which fees shall be paid to the chief registrar for the time being, and shall be applied by him to the payment of the expenses of such enrolment and the salary of such officer; and the balance thereof, if any, shall be applied to the payment of such other expenses attending the said Court of Bankruptcy as the judges, thereof, with the consent of the Lord Chancellor, shall from time to time direct.

The office for this purpose is in the Bankrupt Office.

Accountant in Bankruptcy.] By 5 & 6 Will. 4, c. 29, s. 3, it shall be lawful for the Lord High Chancellor for the time being to nominate, from time to time, as occasion may require, some fit and proper person to be the Accountant in Bankruptcy; which officer so to be appointed shall hold his office during good beha

viour, notwithstanding the demise of his Majesty, or any of his heirs or successors: provided always, that it shall be lawful for the Lord High Chancellor by any order to remove any such officer for some sufficient reason to be in such order expressed. And by s. 4, it shall and may be lawful for the Lord High Chancellor, by any general or other order or orders, to direct that the whole or any part of the cash, funds, or securities belonging to bankrupts' estates, or to suitors in matters of bankruptcy, and then standing in the name or to the credit of the said Accountant-General of the High Court of Chancery, at the Bank of England, to the credit of any bankrupt's estate, or of any assignee or assignees of such estate, or in the matter of any bankruptcy, be forthwith paid and transferred into the name and to the credit of the said Accountant in Bankruptcy; and all such payments or transfers as now are or heretofore have been made into the Bank in the name or to the credit of the Accountant-General of the High Court of Chancery in matters of bankruptcy, shall, from and after the appointment of the said Accountant in Bankruptcy, be made in the name or to the credit of the said Accountant in Bankruptcy; and all cash, funds, or securities to be so paid or transferred as aforesaid shall be subject to such and the like provisions, regulations, rules, and orders as the same are or would have been subject to if paid or transferred in the name or to the credit of the said Accountant-General of the Court of Chancery, except as the same may be altered by this act, or any rule or order to be made by the Lord High Chancellor in respect of the same. And by s. 10, out of the interest and dividends of the government or parliamentary securities to be purchased under the authority of this act, and out of the interest and dividends of any government or parliamentary securities to be hereafter purchased and placed to the said account, to be intituled, "The Bankruptcy Fund Account," there shall be paid by the Governor and Company of the Bank of England, by virtue of any order or orders of the Lord Chancellor to be made for that purpose, to the said Accountant in Bankruptcy, such salary or yearly sum as the Lord High Chancellor may by any order or orders direct, not exceeding the yearly sum of eight hundred pounds, and also to the clerks of the said Accountant in Bankruptcy, such sums by way of salary as the Lord Chancellor shall by order direct, and also any farther sum to the said Accountant in Bankruptcy which may be necessary or expedient to defray the expenses of stationery and other necessary expenses of the said accountant, if any, to be by him incurred in discharge of the duties imposed upon him by this act; such several salaries or yearly sums before mentioned to be paid quarterly, free of charges; the first quarterly payment to the Accountant in Bankruptcy for the time being, to commence from the day of his appointment, and, as to the said clerks, to commence from the 11th of January, 1835, or from such other day as may in such order be specified: but nothing hereinbefore contained shall authorize the Lord Chancellor to order the payment in any one year of any sum exceeding the sum of one thousand pounds for the payment of the salaries of the said clerks, and the discharge

of such expenses of stationery and other incidental expenses as aforesaid. And by s. 11, it shall and may be lawful to and for the Lord High Chancellor, upon the requisition of the said Accountant in Bankruptcy for that purpose, to appoint one or more, not exceeding five, persons to be clerks to the said Accountant, and to order such yearly salaries as aforesaid to be paid to them. And by s. 12, the salaries hereinbefore provided shall be in lieu of all fees and emoluments whatsoever, and all such fees and emoluments, whether for commission, brokerage, or otherwise, as are now receivable by the said Accountant-General of the Court of Chancery in matters of bankruptcy, shall, from and after the appointment of the said Accountant in Bankruptcy, be received by him, and paid into the Bank in the name of the said last-mentioned Accountant, and be carried to the credit of the said account, to be intituled, "Interest arising from the Bankruptcy Fund Account," and be applicable to all the purposes of the said account.

The present Accountant in Bankruptcy is Basil Montagu, Esq., and his office is at the Court of Commissioners, Basinghall-street.

SECTION 2.

Court of Bankruptcy.

By 1 & 2 Will. 4. c. 56, s. 1, it is enacted, that it shall and may be lawful for his Majesty, his heirs and successors, by charters or letters patent under the great seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to erect and establish a Court of Judicature, which shall be called, "The Court of Bankruptcy," and by a commission under the great seal to appoint one person, being a serjeant or barrister-at-law of not less than ten years' standing, to be the chief judge of the said court, and three persons, being serjeants or barristers-at-law of not less than ten years' standing at the bar, or of five years' standing at the bar, having previously practised five years as a special pleader below the bar, to be other judges of the said court, and six persons, being barristers at law of not less than seven years' standing at the bar, or of four years' standing at the bar, having previously practised as a special pleader for three years below the bar, to be called commissioners of the said court, and from time to time to supply any vacancy in the number of the said judges and commissioners; and the same court shall be and constitute a court of law and equity, and shall, together with every judge and commissioner thereof, have, use, and exercise all the rights, incidents, and privileges of a Court of Record, or judge of a Court of Record, and all other rights, incidents, and privileges, as fully to all intents and purposes as the same are used, exercised, and enjoyed by any of his Majesty's courts of law or judges at Westminster. By 5 & 6 Will. 4, c. 29, s. 21, there are hereafter to be only two judges of the said court other than the Chief Judge. By the 1 & 2 Will. 4, c. 56, s. 8, is

set forth the form of the oath to be taken by the judges, (see p. 15, post). And by sect. 38, the said judges and commissioners of the said Court of Bankruptcy shall in all matters within their respective jurisdictions have power to take the whole or any part of the evidence either viva voce on oath, or upon affidavits to be swom before one of the said judges or commissioners, or a master, crdinary or extraordinary, in Chancery, as the said court may in any case direct, or as the Lord Chancellor may from time to time prescribe by any general rule to be made by virtue of this act. And by 5 & 6 Will. 4, c. 29, s. 24, the Court of Review, and either of the Subdivision Courts, and also any judge or commissioner of the Court of Bankruptcy, shall have power to administer oaths, on affidavits to be sworn before them respectively in matters of bankruptcy, in all cases where the same may be administered by a Master in Ordinary or Extraordinary of the High Court of Chancery; and by 3 & 4 Will. 4, c. 47, s. 7, his Majesty, by warrant under his royal sign manual, may direct at what times the judges or commissioners of the Court of Bankruptcy, and every of them, shall respectively hold their sittings. By 1 & 2 Will. 4, c. 56, s. 51, no judge, commissioner, registrar, or deputy registrar, to be appointed by virtue of this act, shall, during their respective continuance in such offices, practise as a barrister; and no attorney or solicitor, whose name shall be on the rolls of the said Court of Bankruptcy, or any of his Majesty's Courts of Westminster, as such attorney or solicitor, shall be appointed to or hold any of the said offices. And by s. 60, no judge, commissioner, registrar, or deputy registrar, secretary of bankrupts, or official assignee, or other officer to be appointed by virtue of this act, shall, during their respective continuance in such offices, be capable of being elected or of sitting as a member of the House of Commons. And by s. 58, if any judge, commissioner, registrar, or deputy registrar, clerk, messenger, assignee, or any other officer or person whatsoever, shall, for anything done or pretended to be done under this act, or any other act relating to bankrupts, or under colour of doing anything under this act or any other such acts, fraudulently and wilfully demand or take, or appoint or allow any person whatsoever to take for him or on his account, or for or on account of any person by him named, or in trust for him, or for any other person by him named, any fee, emolument, gratuity, sum of money, or anything of value whatsoever, other than is allowed by this act, and any other such act as aforesaid, such person, when duly convicted thereof, shall forfeit and pay the sum of five hundred pounds, and be rendered incapable, and is hereby rendered incapable, of holding any office or place whatsoever under his Majesty, his heirs or successors.

And by s. 28, the said judges of the said Court of Bankruptcy shall cause to be made a seal of the said court, in such form as they shall think fit, and shall cause to be sealed therewith all such proceedings, documents, and copies as by the law now in being, or by this act, or by any rule or order of the said court, shall be required to be so sealed.

In pursuance of the said statute, his Majesty, by letters patent,