Scottish Court of Session Decisions

This was a petition for sequestration of the estates of George Millar, sometime of Collingwood, and afterwards of Castlemaine, in the colony of Victoria, Australia, presented by Henry Steel Shaw, of Melbourne, official assignee of Millar's estate, and by Andrew Hendry, solicitor in Dundee, factor, commissioner, and attorney of the said Henry Steel Shaw, conform to factory, commission, and power of attorney dated 25th April 1865.

It appeared from the petition that, on 10th June 1864, the Insolvency Court of the colony of Victoria “ordered, adjudged, and finally declared that the estate of the said George Millar be sequestrated for the benefit of his creditors, according to law,” conform to certified copy of the orders, adjudication, and deliverances produced. The petition then sets forth that by sect. 218 of the English Bankruptcy Act, 24 and 25 Victoria, cap. 134, entituled, The Bankruptcy Act 1661, it is enacted that, “if any person who shall have been adjudged or declared bankrupt or insolvent in India, or any of the foreign dominions, plantations, or colonies of her Majesty, shall be resident or shall be possessed of property in England, Ireland, or Scotland, or in any colony, plantation, or foreign possession of the Crown, it shall be lawful for the official assignee, trustee, or other representative of the creditors of such bankrupt or insolvent to apply for and obtain an adjudication of bankruptcy, sequestration, or insolvency against such person in the Court of Bankruptcy in England, and in the proper Court in Scotland, Ireland, and such colony, plantation, or foreign possession of the Crown respectively; and by virtue thereof the same order and disposition shall be had and taken with respect to the person and property of the bankrupt or iusolvent as would have been if he had been originally adjudged bankrupt or insolvent by the Court or tribunal so applied to;” and that “upon such application, it shall not be necessary for the assignee, trustee, or other representative of the creditors of the person so declare dbankrupt or insolvent as aforesaid, to give proof of any act of bankruptcy, or petitioning creditors' debt, or to produce any other evidence than a duly certified copy under the seal of the Court of the order or adjudication by which such person was found or adjudged bankrupt or insolvent.”

The petitioners then stated that Millar had lately succeeded to a sum of £300, which now belonged to his creditors, and craved the Court to award sequestration of Millar's estates, heritable and moveable, situated in Scotland, in conformity with the provisions of the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 1856, and the Bankruptcy and Real Securities (Scotland) Act 1857.