lished practice. A special statute has now given it the official short title of “The Bankruptcy Act” 4 .

The index, comprehensively revised in 1951, has been further corrected and brought up to date.

4 Act of December 20, 1950, P.L. 879, 81st Cong., 64 Stat. 1113.

5 Spelling changed from McLaughlin by decree of Probate Court of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Jan. 21, 1948, correcting an error made in Scotland about 1835.

Chapter

Section

Page

I. Definitions

1 1-6

II. Courts of Bankruptcy

2 7-12

III. Bankrupts
.

3-17 13-29

IV. Courts and Procedure Therein

18-32 30-41

V. Officers, Their Duties and Compensa-

tion

33–53 42–65

VI. Creditors

55-60 66-82

VII. Estates

61-72 83-112

Taxes on Business (conducted un-

der court)

foll. 64

90

VIII. Provisions for the Relief of Debtors - 75–77 113–146

Agricultural Compositions and Ex-

tensions

75 113-124

Railroad Reorganization

77 125-146

11 U.S.C.A. $ 208

146-149

Transportation Act (49 U.S.C.A. S
20b)

150–158

Note on Chapter XV

158

IX. Readjustment of Debts of Agencies

or Instrumentalities (municipal cor-

porations)

81-83 159–170

X. Corporate Reorganizations

101-276 172-224

Table of Corresponding Sections

chapters X-XIII

225-228

XI. Arrangements

301-399 229-254

XII. Real Property Arrangements by Per-

sons Other Than Corporations 401-526 255-280

XIII. Wage Earners' Plans

601-686 281-296

XIV. Maritime Commission Liens

701-703 297-298

Sections of Chandler Act

298

Terminal Sections of Referees' Salary

Act

299

Amendment of July 7, 1952 (note)

300

Note: Sections 12, 13, 74, 76–80, of Bankruptcy Act, repealed.

Other omitted sections not enacted.

U. S. Criminal Code, Bankruptcy Provisions

301

Referees as United States Commissioners

303

General Orders in Bankruptcy

305

Bankruptcy Forms

Chapter I

DEFINITIONS

Sec. 1. (11 U.S.C. $ 1.) Meaning of Words and Phrases

The words and phrases used in this Act and in proceedings pursuant hereto shall, unless the same be inconsistent with the context, be construed as follows:

(1) “A person against whom a petition has been filed” shall include a person who has filed a voluntary petition;

(2) "Adjudication" shall mean a decree that a person is a bankrupt;

The original definition read: "'Adjudication shall mean the date of entry of a decree that the defendant in a bankruptcy proceeding is a bankrupt: or if such decree is appealed from, then the date when such decree is finally confirmed." This was unsatisfactory. It referred to a “defendant”, and thus would seem to have excluded voluntary hankruptcies. It defined not only the term “adjudication” but also indirectly the phrase "date of adjudication.” This was inept because “adjudication" was not a "date”. Moreover, no provision was made for cases involving dismissed appeals. The Chandler Act (1938) defined “date of adjudication” separately in section 1(12).

(3) “Appellate courts” shall include the United States courts of appeals and the Supreme Court of the United States;

The Chandler Act, June 22, 1938, had eliminated an obsolete reference to the supreme courts of the territories and inserted “The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia", which no longer requires special mention. There were corresponding changes to sections 24 and 2.7 of The Bankruptcy Act, and section 128 of the former Judicial Code relating to appeals. The above clause was reluced to its present simple form by the amendment of July 7, 1952, P.L. 4.56, 82d ('ong., 2d Sess., § 1(a), 66 Stat. 42, which took advantage of the amendments to the Judicial Code of June 25, 1948, 28 U.S.C. § 43.

(4) "Bankrupt" shall include a person against whom an involuntary petition or an application to revoke a discharge has been filed, or who has filed a voluntary petition, or who has been adjudged a bankrupt;

"To set a composition aside" was dropped in 1938, the subject matter being sufficiently covered in Chapters XI, XII, and XIII without resort to this definition.

(5) "Bona-fide purchaser" shall include a bona fide encumbrancer or pledgee and the transferee, immediate or mediate, of any of them;

This definition was inserted in 1938, the term being used in sections 21g, 60a, 67a(3), 670(5), 670(6) and elsewhere. It avoids the necessity of repeated mention of encumbrancers and pledgees and their transferees. Bankruptcy Act Anno. 5th Ed. 1

§ 1(1)-(5)