A bankrupt presented his own petition. It was contended that the relation back of the title of the assignees in bankruptcy to the anterior act of bankruptcy did not affect the rights of the Crown was altered by the 1869 Act
Held: The Act made no change. There was no divesting of the debtor’s property until the trustee was appointed, when the trustee’s title would relate back, but that ‘…the potentiality of something happening afterwards to devest the property is not a parting with his property by the debtor so as to prevent the extent of the Crown affecting that property’. The section did not bind the Crown. In the absence of any statutory provision for relation back, the Crown could only take the property of the debtor at the time of the issue of the writ; if he had previously assigned or transferred his property the Crown could not take it. Accordingly, the question was whether the act of bankruptcy was in fact, and not merely in contemplation of law in consequence of the section, an assignment of the debtor’s property.
Judges:
Sir George Jessel MR
Citations:
(1879) 10 ChD 595
Statutes:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Re Dennis (A Bankrupt) CA 22-May-1995
A joint tenancy was severed (under the former law) on the event of an act of bankruptcy, and not only by the later actual adjudication of bankruptcy. The vesting of the debtor’s property in the trustee which occurred on adjudication was automatic; . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Insolvency
Updated: 29 April 2022; Ref: scu.186752
