JUDGE WARD ON THE BANKRUPTCY LAWS.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume III, Issue 256, 17 March 1875, Page 2

JUDGE WARD ON THE BANKRUPTCY LAWS.

On the application of one James Reid, butcher, at Balclutha, for his final discharge, His Honor Judge Ward delivered the following judgment, (clipped from the Clutha Leader,) which, as a satire on the present incongruous state of the bankruptcy laws of the colony, is inimitable : — His Honour said: I am dearly of opinion that the order of discharge applied for by this bankrupt must be delayed for a lengthened period ; but I must say that he appears to be a most unfortunate man. He had evidently been born 200 years too late. At the Taieri his sphere of swindling was somewhat too limited ; but here he has ridden on a regular Border foray. Instead, however, of spear and sword, he has been armed with acceptances to bills of exchange—the great majority of which seem to have been duly dishonored. I am not certain that the old method of plundering was not the best: those who were plundered had, at all events, chance of a fight for their sheep and oxen, and the plunderer, if caught, was summarily disposed of. The bankrupt’s schedule does the greatest credit to the primitive simplicity of the Clutha ; there would scarce be such faith found in Israel. He came to the district over head and ears in debt: he had fifty pounds incash and-his partner a £lO horse, and on this magnificent capital they set up business as butchers, and contrived to incur debts to the amount of nearly £lOOO in six months.-— (His Honour then referred to the various subsections of the 120th clause of the Bankruptcy Act violated by the bankrupt.)—Under these circumstances, the bankrupt’s order of discharge must be suspended for two years. Let him not, however, imagine that by this suspension he will be exposed to the slightest risk of imprisonment. Probably he is not aware of the tenderness—the romantic affection, I may almost call it—with which an insolvent debtor is regarded by the humane Legislature of this happy Colony. It may be instructive to point out how marvellously the wind is tempted to the shorn lamb of the Bankruptcy Court—with what care his personal liberty is guarded from the vengeance of his unfeeling creditors. Supposing a person in difficulties desires to pass through the portals of this Court to the blissful haven beyond, where wicked creditors cease from troubling, and the weary debtor is at rest, his first act is to file hii schedule, and this at once gives him pence pro tempore. Then commence his creditors’ difficulties. Assuming a creditor to be able to show that the debt was incurred by gross fraud, he is not admitted to oppose the bankrupt’s discharge—even if his claim be admitted by the bankrupt—without proving his debt. If he proves his debt —however minute be the dividend received—he is deemed to have elected to satisfy his claim out of the bankrupt’s estate, and is debarred from imprisoning the bankrupt for th ■ balance during the suspension of the order of discharge. Let us suppose, however, that such a creditor has not proved his debt, but lias stood by during the. bankruptcy proceedings, and

has heard the order of discharge suspended. In such a case, coarse-minded commercial men might imagine that, if a creditor’s debt were admitted on the schedule of the bankrupt, and if it were decided, in effect, by the suspension of the order of discharge, that the bankrupt had behaved fraudulently or improperly, then, on the application of such a creditor, the bankruptcy Court should issue a warrant of imprisonment without further expense of delay. Not so has deemed the wisdom of . the Legislature. First, the unfeeling creditor must go through the whole expense of obtaining judgment against the bankrupt for his debt already admitted ; then he must apply for an order under the Abolition of Imprisonment Act of last session —and among the regulations under that Act, if I remember right, he will find it directed that no order of imprisonment is to issue against a person adjudicated a bankrupt. I have not the regulations here to refer to, and therefore speak as to those under correction. It is clear, however, that the Legislature has considered that in the event of a return of nulla bona to a writ oljtfa, a creditor, whose bills have been duly dishonoured should consider himself compensated both for principal and interest, by the thought of the remorse which his debtor ought to feel for non-payment in this world ; or, failing, such remorse, by the prospect of the retribution which awaits him in the next. Doubtless there are persons who would prefer the administration of a modicum of ‘imprisonment to a bankrupt during life to a somewhat speeulative post obit, but with such grovelling natures the Legislature has evidently no sympathy. And I am well-assured, said his honor (addressing the bankrupt), that I act in simple accordance with the lofty spirit of our laws, touching debtors and creditors, when I inform you that in suspending your order of discharge for two years I do not expose you to the slightest practical risk of imprisonment: I merely express my opinion of your peculiar style of businsss, and abandon you to the reproaches of an agonized conscience.