law of 1807 on bankruptcy and insolvency was abrogated, and an entirely new law was promulgated, which now forms Book III. of the Code de Commerce (Des Faillites et Banqueroutès). In France, the Tribunal of Commerce acts as a court of bankruptcy, and its judgment declares the insolvency (faillite). The same judgment names the "juge-commissaire," who is a member of the Tribunal, and discharges duties analogous to those formerly performed in England by the old commissioners of bankruptcy: he fixes the sum to be allowed to the trader for support, conducts the examination into the affairs of the estate, directs the sale of property, &c. In some cases an appeal lies from his decisions to the Tribunal of Commerce. The "syndics" act as assignees, but are not selected from the body of creditors, and they are remunerated for their services at the discretion of the Tribunal. As the expense of prosecuting fraudulent bankrupts, when successful, is defrayed by the state, minutes, &c. of each case are made whenever required, for the use of the public department which has cognizance of prosecutions in bankruptcy; and the report which the syndics make to the "jugecommissaire" on the state of the trader's affairs is always transmitted with observations to the "procureur du roi."

person can be heard against it. If the bankruptcy is decreed, the bankrupt's property is vested in an assignee. The bankrupt is allowed to retain his necessary household and kitchen furniture, and such other articles as the assignee shall think proper, with reference to the family, condition, and circumstances of the bankrupt, but the whole is not to exceed 300 dollars in value: the wearingapparel of the bankrupt, his wife, and children, may also be retained by him in addition. An appeal lies to the court from the decision of the assignee in this matter. The bankrupt next petitions for a full discharge from all his debts, and a certificate thereof, and after seventy days' public notice, and personal service or notice by letter to each creditor, the petition comes on for hearing. The grounds for refusing the bankrupt his discharge and certificate are the same generally as those which disentitle a bankrupt in this country to the favour able consideration of the court-concealment of property, fraudulent preference of creditors, falsification of books, &c. In cases of voluntary bankruptcy a preference given to one creditor over another disentitles the bankrupt to his discharge, unless the same be assented to by a majority of those who have not been preferred. If at the hearing a majority of the creditors in number and value file A trader may be declared insolvent at their written dissent to the allowance of the instance of one or more of his credithe bankrupt's certificate and discharge, tors; but if he ceases to fulfil his engagehe may demand a trial by jury, or may ments he is required to make a declaration appeal to the next circuit court; and of insolvency before the Tribunal of Comupon a full hearing of the parties, and merce, accompanied by a statement of his proof that the bankrupt has conformed affairs. The Tribunal next appoints a to the bankrupt laws, the court is bound "juge-commissaire" for this particular to decree him his discharge and grant case, and also provisional syndics. A him a certificate. The discharge and 'juge de paix" is then required to place certificate are equivalent to the certificate his seal on the effects, and the trader granted to bankrupts in England. In himself is taken to a debtors' prison, or case of a second bankruptcy the bank- placed in custody of an officer; though, rupt is not entitled to his discharge unless when a voluntary declaration of insol75 per cent. has been paid on the debt of vency has been made, he is not deprived each creditor which shall have been al- of his liberty. lowed. Persons who work for wages are only entitled to wages to the extent of twenty-five dollars each out of a bankrupt's estate for labour done within six months next before the bankruptcy.

France. In June, 1838, the French

The last meeting of creditors is held for the purpose of hearing a report by the syndics of their proceedings, and of deliberating on the concordat, which is in most respects equivalent to a certificate in the English bankrupt law, and must

insolvent has secreted his books, con cealed his property, made over or misrepresented the amount of his capital, or made himself debtor for sums which he did not owe. A fraudulent bankrupt who flees to England may be surrendered under the CONVENTION TREATY.

It has been decided by the French tri

be signed at this meeting, at which the trader must be present. The syndics oppose or favour the concordat as the case may be. The concordat requires the consent of a majority of the creditors who also represent three-fourths of the whole debts that are proved. There can be no concordat in the case of fraudulent bankruptcy. The concordat is incom-bunals that a certificate obtained in Engplete until it has received the sanction of the Tribunal of Commerce, acting upon the report of the juge-commissaire. This completion of the process is called the "homologation ;" and, after giving a statement to the trader, showing the result of their labours, in presence of the juge-commissaire, the functions of the syndics cease. The trader may be prosecuted for fraudulent bankruptcy after the homologation.

The term " Banqueroute" is applied in the French code to insolvency which is clearly traceable to imprudence or extravagance, and the bankrupt is liable to prosecution. The Code de Commerce declares that any trader against whom the following circumstances are proved is guilty of Simple bankruptcy: -If his personal or household expenses have been excessive; if large sums have been lost in gambling, stock-jobbing, or mercantile speculations; if, in order to avoid bankruptcy, goods have been purchased with a view of selling them below the market price; or if money has been borrowed at excessive interest; or if, after being insolvent, some of the creditors have been favoured at the expense of the rest. In the following cases also the trader is declared a Simple bankrupt :-1. If he has contracted, without value received, greater obligations on account of another person than his means or prospects rendered prudent. 2. A bankruptcy for a second time, without having satisfied the obligations of a preceding concordat. 3. If the trader has failed to make a voluntary declaration of insolvency within three days of the cessation of his payments, or if the declaration of insolvency contained fraudulent statements. 4. If he failed to appear at the meeting of the syndics. 5. If he has kept bad books, although without fraudulent intent.

It is fraudulent bankruptcy when an

land by an English trader who flees to France does not free him from the demands of a French creditor who has not been a party to it.

BANNERET, an English name of dignity, now nearly if not entirely extinct. It denoted a degree which was above that expressed by the word miles or knight, and below that expressed by the word baro or baron. Milles, speaking of English dignities, says that the banneret was the last among the greatest and the first of the second rank. Many writs of the early kings of England run to the earls, barons, bannerets, and knights. When the order of baronet was instituted, an order with which we must be careful not to confound the banneret, precedence was given to the baronet above all bannerets, except those who were made in the field, under the banner, the king being present.

This clause in the baronet's patent brings before us one mode in which the banneret was created. He was a knight so created in the field, and it is believed that this honour was conferred usually as a reward for some particular service. Thus, in the fifteenth of King Edward III., John de Copeland was made a banneret for his service in taking David Bruce, king of Scotland, at the battle of Durham. John Chandos, a name which continually occurs in the history of the wars of the Black Prince, and who performed many signal acts of valour, was created a ban. neret by the Black Prince and Don Pedro of Castile. It is in the reign of Edward III. that we hear most of the dignity of banneret. Reginald de Cobham and William de la Pole were by him created bannerets. In this last instance the creation was not in the field, nor for military services, for De la Pole was a merchant of Huh, and his services consisted in supplying the king with money

As King James I. established the order of English baronets for the encouragement of the planting and settling the province of Ulster, so he designed to establish an order of baronets in Scotland for the encouragement of the planting and settling of Nova Scotia. He died however before any proceedings had been taken. His successor adopted the scheme, and in 1625 granted certain tracts of land in Nova Scotia to various persons, and with them the rank, style, and title of baronets of that province, with precedency analogous to the precedency given to the baronets of England. Some additional privileges were given them; as that the eldest son of a baronet of Nova Scotia, during the lifetime of his father, might claim the honour of knighthood; and that the baronet might wear a ribbon and medal, with badge and insignia of the order. The addition to the coatarmour of the baronet was the arms of the province of Nova Scotia.

and about the beginning of the present | may be formed. But in England it is said century appeared Mr. Betham's account that the term barrister arose from the of the families of the then existing baro- arrangement of the halls of the different nets, in five volumes, 4to. Inns of Court, which, for several centuries, have composed in England a kind of university for the education of advocates. [INNS OF COURT.] The benchers and readers, being the superiors of each house, occupied on public occasions of assembly the upper end of the hall, which was raised on a dais, and separated from the rest of the building by a bar. The next in degree were the utter barristers, who, after they had attained a certain standing, were called from the body of the hall to the bar (1. e. to the first place outside the bar), for the purpose of taking a principal part in the mootings or exercises of the house; and hence they probably derived the name of utter or outer barristers. The other members of the Inn, consisting of students of the law under the degree of utter barristers, took their places nearer to the centre of the hall and farther from the bar, and from this manner of distribution appear to have been called inner barristers. The distinction between utter and inner barristers is at the present day wholly abolished, the former being called barristers generally, and the latter falling under the denomination of students.

It was proposed that the number should be limited to 150. The first was Sir Robert Gordon of Gordonstown. There were frequent creations of this dignity till the union with Scotland in 1707, when the creations ceased.

Baronets of Ireland were instituted by King James I. in 1620, for the same purpose with the baronets of England. The money was paid into the Irish Exchequer. The first person who received the dignity was either Sir Dominick Sarsfield, the Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in Ireland, or Sir Francis Blundell, the Secretary of State.

BARRISTER. The etymology of this word has been variously given by different authors, and it would be unprofitable to enumerate the fanciful derivations which have been assigned to it. In French the word barreau, which signifies a bar of wood or iron, is also used to signify "a place in the audience where the advocates plead, and which is closed to prevent the press of people." (Richelet, Diction.) From the word bar then it is obvious that such a term as barrister

The degree of utter barrister, though it gave rank and precedence in the Inn of Court, and placed the individual in a class from which advocates were always taken, did not originally communicate any authority to plead in courts of justice. In the old reports of the proceedings of courts, the term is wholly unknown; serjeants and apprentices at law, who are supposed by Dugdale to be the same persons,* being the only pleaders or advocates mentioned in the earlier year-books.

serjeants are comprehended under the term *It might be shown, by many instances, that apprentices. Thus in Plowden's Reports,' vol. i. p. 213, the great case of the Duchy of Lancaster is said to have been argued, among others, by "Carrel, apprentice, and Plowden, apprentice." This argument took place in the fourth year of the reign of Elizabeth; and it appears from the 'Chronica Juridicialia,' p. 165, that both Carrel and Plowden had been, before that time, created serjeants. The Latin designation of serjeant in legal documents is serviens ad legem.

defendant. The points of law arising in this fictitious case were then argued by two utter barristers, after which the reader and the benchers closed the proceedings by declaring their opinions separately. These exercises appear to have lost much of their utility in the time of Lord Coke, who, in the First Institute,' p. 280 a, praises the ancient readings, but says that the modern performances were of no authority. Roger North says that Lord Keeper Guilford was one of the last persons who read in the Temple according to the ancient spirit of the institution. It is, however, beyond all doubt, that, as far back as we have any distinct memorials, all advocates must have passed through the mode of preparation adopted in the Inns of Court.

In the time of Stow, however, who wrote | in the latter part of Elizabeth's reign, it is clear that utter barristers were entitled to act as advocates, as he expressly says that persons called to that degree are "so enabled to be common councellors, and to practice the law both in their chambers and at the barres." The exact course of legal education pursued at the Inns of Court before the Commonwealth is extremely uncertain, but it appears to have consisted almost entirely of the exercises called readings and mootings, which have been described by several old writers. The readings in the superior or larger Gouses were thus conducted:- The benchers annually chose from their own body two readers, whose duty it was to read openly to the society in their public hall, at least twice in the year. On these occasions, which were observed with great solemnity, the reader selected some statute which he made the subject of formal examination and discussion. He first recited the doubts and questions which had arisen, or which might by possibility arise, upon the several clauses of the statute, and then briefly declared his own judgment upon them. The questions thus stated were then debated by the utter barristers present with the reader, after which the judges and serjeants, several of whom were usually present, pronounced their opinions separately upon the points which had been raised. Readings of this kind were often pub-ings of all the Inns of Court in this relished, and it is to this practice of the Inns of Court that we are indebted for some of the most profound juridical arguments in our language, such as Callis's reading on the Statute of Sewers, and Lord Bacon's on the Statute of Uses.

The process of mooting in the Inns of Court differed considerably from reading, though the general object of both was the same. On these occasions, the reader of the Inn for the time being, with two or more benchers, presided in the open hall. On each side of the bench table were two inner barristers, who declared in law French some kind of action, previously devised by them, and which always contained some nice and doubtful points of law, the one stating the case for the plaintiff, and the other the case for the

The serjeants, who, before the allowance of utter barristers to plead in courts, appear to have been the only advocates, were called from the Inns of Court by the king's writ, which was only issued at the discretion of the crown, and generally as a matter of favour; and indeed this continues to be the case at the present day. In process of time it became convenient and necessary to enable utter barristers to practise; but some time after they began to act as advocates in the superior courts, the terms upon which they were called to the bar, and allowed to plead, were prescribed by the Privy Council. Thus an order of council, regulating the proceed

spect. dated Easter Term, 1574, and signed by Sir Nicholas Bacon as lord keeper, and several lords of ccuncil, directs that "none be called to the utter bar but by the ordinary council of the House (i.e. the Inn), in their general ordinary councils in term time; also, that none shall be utter barristers without having performed a certain number of mootings; also, that none shall be admitted to plead in any of the courts at Westminster, or to sign pleadings, unless he be a reader, bencher, or five years' utter barrister, and continuing that time in exercises of learning; also, that none shall plead before justices of assize unless allowed in the courts of Westminster, or allowed by the justices of assize." (See Dugdale's Origines Judiciales.) This appears to be