is not to be put in bankruptcy. The court of probate is the proper tribunal to administer an insolvent deceased estate.)

§ 822. (Bankruptcy, Sec. 32.) Aliens.

(Note: See § 802.)

C. In Respect to Amount of Indebtedness.

§ 823. Voluntary bankruptcy.

§ 824. Involuntary bankruptcy.

§§ 823, 824. (Bankruptcy, Secs. 33, 34.)

(Note: No amount of indebtedness is prescribed as requisite in case of voluntary bankrupts. The involuntary bankrupt must be one "owing debts to the amount of one thousand dollars or over.")

§ 827. Within what time act of bankruptcy must be committed.

§ 825. (Bankruptcy, Sec. 35.) In general.

(Note: In involuntary bankruptcy proceedings, it is necessary to allege in the petition, and to prove if that point is contested, that the debtor proceeded against is insolvent, and committed an act of bankruptcy within the four months just preceding the filing of the petition. The acts of bankruptcy are considered severally in the following sections.)

§ 826.

(Bankruptcy, Sec. 36.) Insolvency defined. Case 788. Bankruptcy Law, Sec. 1, par. 15.

"A person shall be deemed insolvent within the provisions of this act whenever the aggregate of his property exclusive of any property which he may have conveyed, transferred, concealed or removed, with intent to defraud, hinder or delay his creditors, shall not at a fair valution, be sufficient in amount to pay his debts."

(Note: Generally speaking insolvency in involuntary bankruptcy is an essential element either as an element in the act of bankruptcy or as a necessary condition at the time of filing the petition. The exact place that insolvency plays in bankruptcy proceedings will be indicated in the study of each act of bankruptcy. Clearly bankruptcy proceedings are for insolvent persons.)

Case 789. In re Crenshaw, 19 American Bankruptcy Reports, 503.

"As suggested by counsel, the vital question in this case is solvency or insolvency. In determining the issue as to solvency or insolvency of the respondent, all the property which he owns is to be reckoned in computing the amount of his assets, except such as he may have transferred or concealed in fraud of his creditors, but not excluding property which is exempt from execution by the laws of the state.

Question 789: (1) Debtor owes $1,350. He has assets at a fair valuation worth $1,400. Under the laws of his state he is entitled to a $400 exemption which he can claim under the bankruptcy law. Is he insolvent?

(2) A debtor owns assets of fair valuation of $25,000. He owes debts aggregating $15,000. He conveys to his sister property worth $15,000, as a voluntary conveyance, it being understood that she will re-convey "when the trouble blows over." Is the debtor insolvent?

Case 790. In re Sedalia Farmers Co. of Packing & Produce Co., 268 Federal Reports, 898 (D. C. Mo.).

VAN VALKENBURGH, DISTRICT JUDGE: the alleged bankrupt insolvent tion in bankruptcy was filed?

"Upon the showing disclosed by the record, I have no hesitation in finding that the corporation was insolvent [when the petition was filed]. The referee has so found and the evidence fully sustains him. The aggregate of its property was not, at a fair valuation, sufficient in amount to pay its debts.

"Fair valuation means a fair market value-that is at a value which the corporation might have realized on them for itself.' In re Marine Iron Works (D. C. N. Y.), 20 Am. B. R. 390, 159 Fed. 753.

"And as announced by Judge Amidon in Stern v.

Paper (D. C. N. D.), 25 Am. B. R. 451, 453, 183 Fed. 228, 230:

"Fair valuation' within the meaning of subdivision 15 of section 1 of the Bankruptcy Act

*

means

a value that can be made promptly effective by the owner of property 'to pay debts' 'Fair valuation' means such a price as a capable and diligent business man could presently obtain for the property after conferring with those accustomed to any such property."

Question 790: How is 'fair valuation' determined?

(Note: In J. W. Butler Paper Co., v. Goembel, 143 Fed. 295, the court said: "The valuation for the test of solvency or insolvency under the issue must relate to the conditions, as a going concern, and not to the mere dead matter of

the plant after bankruptcy intervened.")

§ 827. (Bankruptcy, Sec. 37.) Within what time act of bankruptcy must be committed.

Case 791. In re Triangle S. S. Co., Inc., 267 Federal Reports (D. C. N. Y.), 303.

MAYER, DISTRICT JUDGE: "Judge Learned Hand's opinion and order (267 Fed. 300) left the case in the position that the amended petition is to be considered on its merits. The question involved may be briefly stated:

"The original petition was held demurrable because the petition failed to set forth acts of bankruptcy. The present petition sets forth allegations as to acts of bankruptcy within the four-months period referred to in section 3b of the Bankruptcy Act (Comp. St. Sec. 9587). It will be assumed, although not decided, that the petition sufficiently alleges the acts complained of. The amended petition recites that 'within four months next preceding the date of this petition, and while insolvent,' the alleged bankrupt 'committed acts of bankruptcy as follows.' It thereupon sets out the exact language con

tained in the original petition as defining the acts of bankruptcy, numbering them 1 and 11. It then recites:

"That the particulars of the transfers set forth in paragraphs 1 and 11 are more particularly alleged and specified as follows.'

"The transactions then set forth are the only ones specifically stated to have occurred more than four months prior to the filing of the amended petition, but apparently within four months prior to the filing of the original petition. The question, then is whether, for the purpose of calculating the four months, the date is that of the original or of the amended petition.

"It is settled by authority. In the case of In re Condon, 209 Fed. 801, 126 C. C. A. 524, Judge Lacombe said: "The original petition, filed April 12, 1911, merely alleged, in the language of the statute, that Condon has made transfers to hinder, delay, or defraud creditors. There was no specification of any of these, nor were any facts in relation thereto set forth. This was insufficient under decisions of this court. In re Rosenblatt, 193 Fed. 638, 111 C. C. A. 506 (January 29, 1912); and In re Brocton Ideal Shoe Co., 202 Fed. 199, 120 C. C. A. 447 (January 13, 1913). Thereafter, on May 25, 1911, the petition was amended by setting forth the details of 12 separate transactions of the kind charged in the original petition. Since the petition became a sufficient one only when it was fortified with this amendment, the date of the amendment must be taken as the date from which the four-months period of section 3b is to be calculated. This eliminates all of said alleged transactions except the last 4. Since a single act of bankruptcy, if proved, will sustain an adjudication, it will be sufficient to consider only the twelfth of these alleged transfers.'

"Judge Hough covered the same point by his observations in In re Havens, 225 Fed. at page 481, 166 C. C. A. at page 557:

"It was assumed below that this was an act of bankruptcy not set forth in the original petition and only