RECENT BANKRUPTCY DECISIONS.

ASSIGNEE.

Compensation of. By section 5099 of the Revised Statutes, the allowance of a reasonable compensation to the assignee for his services is within the discretion of the Court of Bankruptcy, and this discretion cannot be regulated beforehand by the Supreme Court; this discretion is given to the court only, and not to the registers. Assignees, intending to charge for services beyond the fees mentioned in rule 30, must notify creditors of their intention in the notices of the meeting at which their account is to be presented. U. S. Dist. Ct., Dist. Mass. Ex parte Whitcomb; In re Colwell, 15 Nat. Bankr. Reg. 92.

ATTORNEY.

Authority of, presumed: revocation of authority.— The register is an officer of the court, and must take judicial notice of its judgments and decrees. When an attorney at law appears before a register to represent a person, he is to be accepted as such attorney unless some one puts him to proof, by a rule therefor, to show his authority. If a person who is not an attorney at law desires to represent another before a register, he must show a formal power of attorney. If a telegram is produced revoking a power of attorney, the register, if the facts justify it, may, in his discretion, suspend action until proof of the revocation and new appointment can be presented to him. U. S. Dist. Ct., E. D. Missouri. In re Scott, Collins & Co., 15 Nat. Bankr. Reg. 73.

DEFENSE.

Of assignment, void under bankrupt law: can be raised only by creditors of bankrupt.- Whether an assignment by bank directors under the general banking law of Pennsylvania is invalid, because in contravention of the United States bankrupt law, is a question which can be raised only by the creditors of the bank. A debtor of the bank cannot, in a suit against him by the assignees, set up as a defense that the assignment was invalid under the bankrupt law. Sup. Ct., Penn., Oct. 9, 1876. Shryock et al., assignees of F. & M. Bank, v. Bashore, 3 W. N. Cas. 360.

POWER OF ATTORNEY.

When death of principal does not revoke.- An irrevocable power of attorney to transfer stock as a security for a debt is not revoked by the death of the attorney, and the creditor is entitled to the security as against the assignee. Sup. Ct., Penn. Lightner, Assignee, v. First Nat. Bank of Strasburg, 15 Nat. Bankr. Reg. 69.

PRIORITY.

Claim of attorney, when not entitled to.- The claim of an attorney for services rendered in defending a suit prior to the commencement of the proceedings in bankruptcy is not entitled to priority. The claim of an attorney for services rendered in preparing the petition and schedules, and filing the same, is not entitled to priority. U. S. Dist. Ct., W. D. Tex. In re Handell, 15 Nat. Bankr. Reg. 71.

PRIVILEGED CLAIM.

Of clerk employed to adjust bankrupt's books.-A person employed for a temporary service in adjusting the books and accounts of a bankrupt within the time mentioned in section 5101, Revised Statutes, before the bankruptcy, has a privileged claim against the estate for services as clerk. U. S. Dist. Ct., Dist. Mass. Ex parte Rockett; In re Taylor, 15 Nat. Bankr. Reg. 95.

SURETYSHIP.

Surety on bond of assignee, how far liable. In an action by a creditor of the estate of R., and at the time the assignee thereof in bankruptcy, against the former assignee and a surety on his official bond, it was admitted that the principal in the bond has lost a part of the money collected by him as assignee, and was justly accountable for it, but it was further admitted that the default was actually complete before the bond was given. Held, that under these circumstances the surety in a bond of this nature was not to be presumed to undertake for past and already accrued losses or defalcations, unless the language of the bond was such as to prove clearly such an intent. U. S. Dist. Ct., Dist. Mass., Feb. 23, 1877, Easton v. Cutter.

VOLUNTARY BANKRUPTCY.

THIS

BOOK NOTICES.

A Treatise on the Law of Fixtures, embracing the leading decisions upon the subject, both American and English, bringing the law down to the present time. By Ransom H. Tyler, author of "American Ecclesiastical Law." "Commentaries on the Law of Infancy and Coverture," etc., etc. Albany, N. Y.: William Gould & Son, 1877. HIS volume opens with a statement of general principles governing the subject upon which it treats, and then follow chapters upon these topics: Foundation of law of fixtures, manner of annexation to freehold in order to constitute a fixture, right to remove annexations, rule respecting annexations by strangers, tests by which fixtures may be determined, and the effect upon the law by the relations and agreements of the parties. Twenty-four chapters are devoted to a consideration of the law of the subject as between landlord and tenant. Then follow chapters upon the other relations, such as personal representatives of tenant for life, and tenant in tail, vendor and vendee, mortgagor and mortgagee, bankrupt and assignee, heir and executor, and tenants in common. The closing chapter is devoted to remedies provided in respect to fixtures, and discusses also the criminal law in its application thereto. The body of the work is very largely made up of extracts from the opinions delivered in the various cases cited, the author preferring to give the law in the words of the judges who delivered the opinions, rather than to deduce from such words the general principles which they include. The volume is, therefore, rather a collection of the rulings of the courts upon cases involving the law of fixtures, than an elementary treatise upon that law. It is not, however, the less useful for this reason, in fact many will prefer it, because it adheres to the letter, as well as the principles of adjudicated cases.

The volume covers a subject which is of growing importance and which includes questions that almost daily come under the observation of every lawyer in active practice. In the cities, especially at the present day, the greater part of commercial and manufacturing business is carried on in leased premises, by means of machinery and other erections more or less permanent, which are put up by the tenant, so that there is hardly a

change of occupants which does not bring about a dispute upon the question of fixtures. To those of the profession who are called upon to advise as to the rights of the parties on these occasions, this book will be found to be an indispensable aid; nor will it be less so to those who have to advise with executors, bankrupts and mortgagors. Indeed, to every one whose business concerns real estate, the book will be found of value.

Mr. Tyler's work has one feature not common to law publications of the present day; it is not overloaded with citations. Somewhat more than a thousand cases are all that the author claims to have incorporated into it. These, if they embrace every adjudicated point of importance, are sufficient. The book is fairly indexed, and is well printed and bound.

Reports of the Life and Accident Insurance Cases, determined in the Courts of America, England, Scotland and Canada, down to September, 1876, with Notes and References. By Melville M. Bigelow. Vol. 5. New York: Hurd & Houghton, 1877.

Mr. Bigelow has exercised such excellent judgment and has displayed such care and discrimination in the preparation of his Life and Accident Insurance Reports, that they have come to be regarded as authoritative, and are cited by the courts quite as frequently as are the original reports. To the lawyer who devotes any attention to insurance business, they must prove of great service. In the five volumes thus far published are collected all the adjudications since life and accident insurance litigation first began, and one is enabled easily to bring under one view whatever has been decided on any question under these titles. No text book, nor all the text books on insurance, can fill the place of these volumes, as it is to the decided cases themselves, that every careful lawyer will always go when it is possible to determine what is law, or what has been decided to be law.

CORRESPONDENCE.

THE BLUE LAWS.

-

To the Editor of the Albany Law Journal: SIR-I am afraid you have done the good and loyal Parson Peters -- loyal, I mean, to his king - an injustice in attempting to quote from his truthful history. You make him say that "no iron crow can be forced into" the water. His exact words, in relation to the * iron crow," are as follows: "Here water is consolidated, without frost, by pressure, by swiftness, between the pinching, sturdy rocks, to such a degree of induration, that au iron crow floats smoothly down its current." According to Noah Webster, another Yankee, this may mean that the iron crow was simply conveyed down the stream by the water or flood. There is no exaggeration here, as you appear to be "more than half inclined to believe." I am almost certain that on this statement of facts your trust in the good Parson Peters will be fully restored.

Now, as to there being "no original printed copy of these Blue Laws to be found," the Parson, in his hisLory, gives the reason why. He says the Blue Laws of New Haven colony "were never suffered to be printed," and were “denominated Blue Laws by the neighboring colonies." It may be supposed that the magistrates of New Haven colony, who were both legislators and judges, had sufficient reasons, to them, for keeping the laws in their possession. Offenders against the majesty of the laws, from time to time, as

occasion required, were informed of their nature and made acquainted with the penalties imposed for their violation. In this way the Blue Laws or Bloody Laws of New Haven colony gradually became known to the people of that and the neighboring colonies.

If my pious old grandfather were living, could he be convinced that there was no law in New Haven colony prohibiting the reading of Common Prayer, the keeping of Christmas, in any manner, either as a day of worship, or by setting forth a feast of good things for the physical man, such as a roast turkey or a mince pie? I think not. I can myself remember a time when a householder, who set forth a feast on Christmas day, was, for such an offense, pointed at with the finger of scorn, he was not loved by many of his professedly pious neighbors, and by many he was looked upon as a wicked man, who deserved to be punished, and one who had incurred the wrathful displeasure of heaven.

Yours, truly, JANESVILLE, WIS., Feb. 28, 1877.

NOTES.

PETERS.

argument of Mr. George Hoadly and his asso

ciates, counsel before the Electoral Commission in behalf of the electoral votes cast by E. A. Cronin and others, for the State of Oregon, is an able production, covering 83 printed pages, octavo, and states the reasons for the ground taken by those who supported the validity of Mr. Cronin's appointment with great cogency.- One of the most useful works published for those interested in Texas matters, is the Texas Legal Directory, prepared by Messrs. Bentley & Pilgrim, attorneys at law, Austin, Texas. It contains the names of all public officials in that State, both State and Federal, and of all practicing lawyers, a list of the counties, banks and post-offices, the rules of the different courts and other matters of local information.

The Independent says: "The ALBANY LAW JOURNAL names John F. Dillon, at present the United States Circuit Judge for the Eighth Circuit, as an exceedingly suitable person to fill the vacancy in the bench of the Supreme Court made vacant by the election of Justice Davis to the United States Senate. We say amen to the suggestion. No better name could have been mentioned. Judge Dillon is a judge of rare ability and ample experience on the bench, both State and Federal. He is content to be a judge and nothing else, and this is a very decided recommendation. It has become a sort of habit with Presidents - a very bad habit, we think-entirely to overlook the Circuit Judges of the United States in making appointments to the Supreme Bench, and sometimes to select lawyers who have no judicial experience, rather than those who are already trained in the service."

The Beecher scandal is not out of the courts yet. The counsel are fighting over an additional allowance of $250 to Mr. Beecher for counsel.- - Wm. Jay Has kett, a lawyer who recently died in New York city, left a will containing this clause: "I am informed that there is a society composed of young men connected with the public press, and as in early life I was connected with the papers, I have a keen recollection of the toils and trouble that bubbled then and ever will bubble for the toilers of the world in their pottage cauldron, and as I desire to thicken with a little

savory herb their thin broth in the shape of a legacy, I do hereby bequeath to the New York Press Club of the city of New York $1,000, payable on the death of Mrs. Caroline Haskett."- -The Nation says that the "conscience of mankind" and "eternal justice" are vague tribunals before which the sentimentalists practice. Young men are always advised by their elders to set their mark high. Mr. Saportis, who lately sued the city of New York, set his at $115,000. The jury gave him six cents.— Several military companies, composed exclusively of solicitors and articled clerks, are in the process of formation in London. It is even suggested to organize a regiment entirely of lawyers.

The final meeting of the Electoral Commission took place on the 2d inst., at 11 A. M. Commissioners Clifford, Miller, Strong, Field, Bradley, Morton, Frelinghuysen, Kernan, Payne and Abbott were present. After fixing the amount of compensation to be paid to the officers and other employees, and extending until March 31 the time heretofore allowed for filing opinions by members of the commission, the commission at half-past eleven o'clock adjourned sine die. The Supreme Court of the United States convened on the 5th inst. and adjourned until Monday the 12th. The Senate of Connecticut have passed a bill vesting the power of release from the State prison in the judges of the Supreme Court instead of in the legislature.

An annual election held in Alexandria, says the Egyptian correspondent of the London Times, always excites much interest. Under the new judicial system two merchants-one native, one foreign-must form part of the court in the trial of all commercial cases. Thus each tribunal is composed of five judges and two laymen, who act as assessors, with a right to vote in the decision of all disputes which are of a commercial character. Twenty-four European merchants are chosen by ballot every year in Alexandria for this purpose. Each consulate furnishes a list of notables, who form the electoral chamber, and the senior consulgeneral presides over the election. The result this time is curious as showing the effect of the adoption of the French system of commercial law and the French and the Italian languages by the great powers in the organization of the new judicial system. It shows, too, how, in this country of international rivalries, each nationality sides always with its own people. The English colony is not numerically large, and so her list of notables is limited. But they are all men of position in the town, and our interest in the commerce of Egypt, whether as regards exports or imports, includes about two-thirds of the whole trade. Yet only two Englishmen were chosen at the recent election. One of them, Mr. Carver, was very properly at the head of the poll as the representative of Alexandrian commerce, but the proportion very insufficiently represents English trade in Egypt. France, on the other hand, contributes six assessors; Italy, four; Greece, seven, including three who are registered at consulates not their own; Germany and Austria, two each; and Russia, one.

There are dishonest attorneys even in England according to the Law Times. This paper says: "The history of the prosecution of Mr. Alley Jones, a solicitor, by a client, an elderly lady, reflects some dis

credit on our legal procedure. The charge against Mr. Jones is that he stripped this lady of all she possessed by means of false pretenses, and exposed her to considerable liabilities which she is unable to meet. His trial was fixed to come off some time since, before Mr. Commissioner Kerr. A learned criminal counsel was instructed to defend, but failed to appear. Time was granted to instruct other counsel, who when instructed asked for time to get up the case. Time was granted which was utilized by making an application at Chambers for a certiorari to remove the case into Middlesex for trial by a special jury. The application was refused by Mr. Justice Lush. Mr. Jones appealed to the court retaining the Solicitor-General to support the appeal, which eventually proved successful, and the case goes to the bottom of the list of cases now standing for trial in Middlesex, and will probably not be reached before midsummer. If Mr. Jones is innocent it is hard to understand how he can endure having such a charge hanging over him, when it might have been expeditiously disposed of."

The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts has just rendered a decision under which one Foster, sentenced to State prison for ten years for forgery, was released after three years' confinement. Foster's method of conducting his operations was peculiar. He was in the habit of getting persons of no pecuniary means, but whose names were similar to, or identical with the names of business men of wealth and credit, to sign their names to notes, and then to pass them as the notes of the business men. It was contended by his counsel on the trial of the indictments against him, that this did not constitute forgery, but the court held in Commonwealth v. Foster, 114 Mass. 311; S. C., 19 Am. Rep. 353, that it was forgery. The notes mentioned in the indictment were made payable, two of them to the order of the drawers, and one of them to the order of Foster.

In Commonwealth v. Dallinger, 118 Mass. 439, the court held that an instrument purporting to be signed by I. S., which is made payable to the order of I. S., is not a promissory note until indorsed, and an indictment for forgery which charges, in separate counts, the making and uttering of such a promissory note, without setting out the indorsement by I. S., cannot be sustained, it appearing in evidence at the trial that there was but one I. S. The indictments against Foster did not mention the indorsements, and for that reason the court has now decided the conviction erroneous.

The German Federal Council has decided that the new Imperial Court of Justice, which is to be established under the judicature laws, shall sit in Leipsic. -The law library of the late Isaac F. Redfield is about to be sold at auction. Mr. W. C. Little, the law bookseller, has been sued-the ad damnum being $1,000,000-by one John Percy for publishing the opinion of the Court of Appeals, 36 N. Y. 651, In re John Percy, sustaining an order disbarring the said Percy. There ought to be some method of suppressing Percy. Judge Grover said of him in the opinion above: "His credibility was destroyed; his character had become bad. He was crowding the calendar with vast numbers of libel suits in his own favor, and in the habit of indicating additional libel suits upon the answers to those previously brought by him."

occasions. A counter movement was being made at last accounts, and the bar of Ireland as well as that of England seem to be taking sides upon the

matter.

The report of the commission, appointed by the legislature of this State, in May, 1875, to devise a plan for the government of cities, was presented to the Senate and Assembly last week. It is an elaborate

document and goes thoroughly over the subject of municipal government as it at present exists, the evils attending it, the causes of such evils, and the remedies therefor already tried and proposed. The commission also recommend a plan which they believe to be practicable as well as effectual if adopted, to accomplish the removal of the greater part of the evils now existing. The evils which are most glaring in the administration of city government, are extravagant expenditure, inadequate returns from such expenditure, and corruption among those who have charge of the public business. The causes of these evils are stated by the commission to be incompetent and unfaithful officials and the intermingling of State and national politics with local affairs. After speaking of the various modes suggested for preventing city misgovernment, such as vesting the power to control expenditures in a single head, or in a commission, the supervision of the legislature, etc., they reject them all, and suggest this one, which is embodied into a proposed amendment to the constitution. The mayor and aldermen of the various cities are to be chosen as now, and to have similar powers, but all matters relating to the expenditure of money are to receive the approval of another body called the board of finance. board is to be chosen by the votes of those otherwise qualified to vote who have individually for two years (1) either paid an annual tax upon $500, or (2) paid $250, annual rent. In cities of less than 100,000 the elector shall have paid some tax or not less than $100 annual rent. The municipal body is to be free from legislative interference, except under certain conditions, and stringent provisions against

This

the creation of debt are made. As there must be a

constitutional amendment, some time must elapse before the plan of the commission can be carried into effect, which will give an opportunity for a careful investigation and discussion of its details.

New Jersey means to put an end to railway employee strikes, its legislature having passed a bill making it a misdemeanor for any locomotive engineer in furtherance of a strike to leave his engine at any other point than the schedule destination of the train, and also making it a misdemeanor for any railway employee, for the purpose of lending assistance to a strike, to refuse to aid in moving trains, or for any person to obstruct the operation of trains, or do other acts for a like purpose. Similar legislation

is certain in Massachusetts. In case these laws should prove effective in the States mentioned, they will undoubtedly find their way into the statutory enactments of other States.

For years the law-makers of this State have been endeavoring to suppress gambling and lotteries, and have passed statutes of the most stringent character to that end. But no sooner has a statute been enacted to meet the evils as they then existed, than a new form of gambling was invented which satisfied the desire to speculate upon uncertain events, but was outside of the letter of the law. The law forbid lotteries and the sale of lottery tickets, but men sold tickets to exhibitions and then divided certain money or property among the ticket purchasers, the individuals who shared in the money or property being determined by lot. The law against gambling was also evaded. New statutes have from time to time been passed to meet evasions, the last being what is known as the law against pool selling, which has just left the legislature. How much this latter act will do to check the particular kind of gambling aimed at we cannot certainly say, but we imagine that the business will manifest itself in some other shape, and that the day of wagers upon elections and horse races is not yet

over.

The case of Tremblay v. Langevin, decided on the 28th ult., by the Supreme Court of the Dominion of Canada, involved a question of great importance to the people of the Dominion, and one not without interest to those residing elsewhere. The plaintiff and defendant were opposing candidates for election to a scat in the Canadian House of Commons. Plaintiff was defeated through the influence of the Roman Catholic clergy of the district where the contest took place in behalf of the defendant. This influence was exerted by means of denunciations from the pulpit and threatenings of spiritual punishment toward any one who should vote for plaintiff. The population was very largely Roman Catholic and there was evidence that many electors had been

induced, by the threats mentioned, to vote contrary to their wishes. The court unanimously held, that the election was invalid, thus settling this point that the clergy cannot, in Canada, make use of their official position to influence the result of a popular election.

Among the matters of general interest considered by the legislature, and not elsewhere referred to, during the past week, we notice these: The introduction of a bill relating to bribery in elections, which provides that an elector who sells his vote shall be disfranchised. The introduction of one relating to the management of savings banks, providing certain rules for the regulation of the action of trustees, and imposing upon trustees who per