BILLS OF SALE.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2693, 24 November 1882, Page 3

BILLS OF SALE.

(London “ Times,” August 30th.) On the Ist of November next a new law comes into operation with regard to Bills of Sale. One of the chief features of the new Act is the discouragement given to the borrowing of small amounts by making all bills for sums under .£3O absolutely void. The importance of this provision may be inferred from the fact that last year there were as many as 14,519 Bills of Sale for amounts under £2O. Another very important point is that the holder of a Bill of Sale will be deprived of the preference which was given to him by the Act of 1878 over the ordinary creditors of a trader who becomes bankrupt. In cases of bankruptcy the debtor’s goods will in general be distributed among the creditors instead of being a good security for the debt of one to whom a Bill of Sale has been given. For the Act repeals the innovation of the Statute of 1878 which says that chattels comprised in a Bill of Sale “ shall not be deemed to be in the possession, order, or disposition of the grantor within the meaning of the Bankruptcy Act.” Another thing against which a Bill of Sale will afford no protection will be the recovery of taxes and poor and other parochial rates. Then, again, it will be necessary to set forth in a Bill of Sale an inventory of all the personal chattels comprised in it; for it will be void, except as against the grantor, in respect of any chattels not so specifically described. Moreover, it will be similarly void as regards property acquired after the execution of the bill; except that growing crops may be affected by a bill where they are actually growing at the time of execution, and also fixtures, plant, or trade machinery that are substituted for others of the same kind. The Act sets forth the five classes of reasons which alone will make p -operty liable to be seized under a Bill of Sale. They are (1) if the debtor make default in payment at the proper time of the sum borrowed, or in the performance of any agreement that is contained in the bill and is necessary for maintaining the security; (2) if he become a bankrupt or suffer the goods to be distrained for rent, rates, or taxes; (3) if he fraudulently remove the goods from the premises ; (4) if he fail, without reasonable excuse, to produce upon demand of the lender the last receipt for rent, rates, and taxes; and (5) if execution bo levied against the goods of the debtor under a judgment of law. When property is seized under a Bill of Sale, it is not to be removed or sold until after the expiration of five days; and during that time a Judge, if he is satisfied that by payment of money or otherwise the cause of seizure no longer exists, may, on the application of the debtor, restrain the removal or sale, or make any other order that seems just. The new Act contains a form according to which every bill given by way of security for payment of money is to be made; and it is only with this kind of bill that the Act deals. It will no longer be necessary for the execution to be attested by a solicitor or for the - attestation to state that before execution the effect of the transaction had been explained by him to the borrower. The attestation will have to bo merely by one or more credible witnesses not being a party. In default of attestation, of registration within seven days, and of the true consideration being set forth, the bill will be absolutely void in respect of the chattels comprised therein. Another noticeable point in the Act is that provision is made for local registration. Where the residence of the borrower or the property is outside the London bankruptcy district the Registrar is directed to transmit an abstract of the bill to the County Court Registrars of the districts in which the property and the residence are.