with forgery has often succeeded when it should not, by reason of the fact that the prosecutor had been in the habit of permitting this practice, upon which has been based the suggestion that the prisoner either had, or supposed he had, an authority in the particular instance in question. Vulgar adages frequently contain a vast amount of wisdom in few words:" An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure." So much for the act of Forgery.

The subject of uttering forged instruments I shall dismiss with the remark that the essence of the offence is a full knowledge on the part of the utterer that the document is forged, and a passing it off with intent to defraud; and for the principle of the law in reference to guilty knowledge and fraudulent intent, I refer you back to the first chapter, and to that upon Fraud.

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CHAPTER VII.

OF FRAUDULENT BANKRUPTCY.

THE Bankrupt Laws are based upon principles of justice and mercy. For creditors is secured the equitable distribution of the bankrupt's estate, while the latter, if he conform to the reasonable requirements of the law, is protected from molestation, freed from liability, and placed in a position to commence the world afresh and untrammelled. Νο man, however unfortunate, has anything to dread in yielding to unavoidable pressure, and placing himself in the Court of Bankruptcy, provided his transactions in business will bear investigation. When, therefore, tossed in the sea of commercial troubles, he can no longer hope successfully to contend with difficulties which beset him; when shipwreck and total loss appear inevitable; duty to his creditors and his own interest alike require that, ere his estate be entirely dissipated, he shall declare himself vanquished, and seek that haven in which he will receive not only immediate shelter from the storm, but protection from future annoyance or persecution. But, as in honorable warfare, so here, all must be fairplay-no treachery. If you seek certain advantages in the shape of immunity from past liability, and a charter to trade anew in the commercial world, you must at least entitle yourself to such high privileges by submit

ting to the test, whether you have acted honorably by your creditors; if so, well and good. If, however, the result of the inquiry prove that you have acted in violation of those rules of common honesty which should be the landmarks and the beacons of every man in his dealings with his fellowman, then, indeed, the law will no longer protect but visit with punishment, more or less severe, him who has so transgressed. So heinous was the fraudulent conduct of a bankrupt merchant or trader regarded in the last century, that the punishment of death attached to offences which are now, in the ameliorated condition of the law, punishable by penal servitude or imprisonment.

Bankrupt" is said to be derived from two Latin words, bancus, a counter or bench, and ruptus, broken; signifying that the bench or counter at which the trader carried on his business, is broken -or, as we say now-a-days, the establishment is broken up. "Fraudulent bankruptcy" is a phrase generally used to denote fraudulent conduct coming within the purview of the criminal law, and to which penal consequences attach. In a more comprehensive, and I think more correct, sense, bearing in mind the true meaning of the word fraud, it applies to all such misconduct as renders the bankrupt, under section 256,* liable to the total re

*The commercial world cannot be too well acquainted with the section above referred to; hence I transcribe it without abridgment:"If at any sitting or adjourned sitting for the allowance of the certificate of any bankrupt, it shall appear that he has committed any of such offences [hereinafter enumerated], the court shall refuse to grant such certificate, or shall suspend the same for such time as it shall think fit, and shall in like manner refuse to grant the bankrupt any further protection.

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fusal of a Certificate, whether he be liable or not to a criminal prosecution in respect thereto. However that may be, I shall confine my observations strictly to those acts which bring a bankrupt within the operation of the penal sections, as they are called, of the statute which now regulates proceedings in bankruptcy-the 12 and 13 Vic. c. 106-the short title of which is, "The Bankrupt Law Consolidation Act, 1849," by which most, if not all, the previous statutes relating to bankruptcy were repealed, reembodied, and consolidated into this one, which contains no less than two hundred and seventy-eight

Offences referred to :

1. If the bankrupt shall at any time after the issuing of the fiat or filing of the petition for adjudication of bankruptcy, or within two months next preceding the issuing of such fiat or the filing of such petition, with intent to conceal the state of his affairs, or to defeat the objects of the law of bankruptcy, have destroyed any book, paper, deed, writing, or other document relating to his trade, dealings, or estate.

2. If the bankrupt shall with the like intent have kept or caused to be kept false books, or have made false entries in, or withheld entries from, or wilfully altered or falsified any book, paper, deed, writing, or other document relating to his trade, dealings, or estate.

3. If the bankrupt shall have contracted any of his debts by any manner of fraud or by means of false pretences, or shall by any manner of fraud or by means of false pretences have obtained the forbearance of any of his debts by any of his creditors.

4. If the bankrupt shall at any time within two months next preceding the issuing of the fiat, or the filing of the petition for adjudication of bankruptcy, fraudulently, in contemplation of bankruptcy, and not under pressure from any of his creditors, with intent to diminish the sum to be divided among his creditors, or to give an undue preference to any of his creditors, have paid or satisfied any such creditor, wholly or in part, or have made away with, mortgaged, or charged any part of his property, of what kind soever.

5. If the bankrupt shall, at any time after the issuing of the fiat, or the filing of the petition for adjudication of bankruptcy,

clauses, besides schedules, from Schedule A right through the whole alphabet, and on to Bb!

By three several sections, 251, 252, 253, the offences are defined, touching each of which it is my intention to give you some general information. But before proceeding to do so I wish you to understand that the groundwork of a prosecution under this Act of Parliament is, that the person accused has been legally and duly adjudicated a bankrupt. Proof of this fact is always a preliminary step in trials of fraudulent bankrupts.

These offences are made felonies, and the first in order consists in not surrendering (having no lawful

and with intent to diminish the sum to be divided among his creditors, or to give an undue preference to any of his creditors, have concealed from the Court or his assignees, any debt due to, or from him, or have concealed or made away with any part of his property of what kind soever.

6. If the bankrupt shall, under his bankruptcy, or at any meeting of his creditors, within three months next preceding the issuing of the fiat, or the filing of the petition for adjudication of bankruptcy, have attempted to account for any of his property by fictitious losses or expenses.

7. If the bankrupt shall, within six months next preceding the issuing of the fiat, or the filing of the petition for adjudication of bankruptcy, have put any of his creditors to any unnecessary expense by any vexatious and frivolous defence or delay to any suit, for the recovery of any debt or demand, provable under his bankruptcy, or shall be indebted in costs incurred in any action or suit so vexatiously brought or defended.

8. If the bankrupt shall, at any time after the issuing of the fiat, or the filing of the petition for adjudication of bankruptcy, have wilfully prevented or withheld the production of any book, paper, deed, writing, or other document relating to his trade, dealings, or estate.

9. If the bankrupt shall, during his trading, have wilfully, and with intent to conceal the true state of his affairs, omitted to keep proper books of account, or shall wilfully and with intent to conceal the true state of his affairs, have kept his books imperfectly, carelessly, and negligently."