| 1773.
CHAP.
XIII.
not giving in
a just account,
trustees to
bring suit,
&c. |
2 HENRY HARFORD, Esq;
having other effects of his or hers, in his, her or their hands, shall
conceal the
same, and not deliver a just account thereof to the said trustees by the
day appointed
by them as aforesaid, it shall and may be lawful, and the said trustees
are hereby
empowered and required, to bring suits in their own names, as trustees
aforesaid,
in any court of record in this province, for the recovery thereof, for
the use
of the creditors aforesaid; which said courts are hereby fully empowered
to compel
to come before them all such debtors, concealers, and others concerned,
and
them to examine on oath (if need be) touching the premises, and to commit
them
if they refuse to be so examined; and the said trustees, or any two of
them, are
hereby fully empowered to settle and adjust all matters and accounts, that
may be
subsisting between the said absconding person and his or her debtor or
debtors,
and also between the said absconding person and his or her creditor or
creditors,
which settlement and adjustment of accounts shall be in money, and to examine
any person or persons upon oath, concerning such accounts and settlements,
which
oath the said trustees, or any two of them, are hereby empowered and required
to administer. |
| Proviso. |
IX. Provided
always, and be it enacted, That in case any creditor or pretended
creditor shall think him or herself aggrieved by the trustees not allowing
his
claim, or any part thereof, or by their making any discount thereout for
any matter
claimed in right of the absconding person, and shall appeal to the court
from
whence such commission issued, such disputed claim or discount shall not
be finally
determined by the trustees, but referred to the court at the next meeting
thereof,
and under the direction of that court, an issue shall be framed and trial
thereof
by jury had thereon, the court shall give final judgment; and the same
mode of
proceeding shall likewise be had, where at least two thirds in value of
the creditors
of such absconding person object to the trustees settlement of any claim
or
account with any creditor or pretended creditor, or to the settlement made
by the said trustees of the quantum of any debt or debts due to such absconding
person. |
Persons discovering
concealed
effects
to be paid a
reward. |
X. And be it
further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That any person
or
persons (other than those who have the effects in their hands, and other
than creditors)
who shall discover any effects of the said absconding person so concealed,
contrary to the true intent and meaning of this act, so that they be recovered
by
the said trustees, shall be paid by the said trustees, as a reward for
such discovery,
such sum as the said trustees, or any two of them, shall think reasonable,
not exceeding
ten pounds per centum on the value of all effects so discovered
and recovered. |
Trustees, after
notice, to
make a dividend,
&c. |
XI. And be it
further enacted, That the said trustees, or some two of them,
shall, within sixty days at farthest from the time of their appointment
to the said
trust, give public notice in the Maryland gazette, where their commission
issued
out of the provincial court, or by advertisement set up at the court-house
door of
the county, where their commission issued out of the county court, that
the said
trustees are ready to make a dividend among the creditors of the absconding
person's
estate, and therein desire all the creditors to meet at a certain time
and place,
in such notice to be mentioned, which shall not be less than one or more
than
three months after such notice; at which meeting, or any subsequent meeting
necessary
for that purpose to be continued by adjournments, when all accounts are
fairly stated and adjusted, the said trustees, or any two of them, shall
proceed to
pay all the creditors what shall appear to them, or any two of them, to
be justly
due, if there be money sufficient to answer the whole, after all legal
charges are
deducted, in which payments no preference shall be allowed; and if there
be not
sufficient to discharge the whole, each creditor shall be abated in proportion
to the
debt due to him; and if there be any surplus, the same shall be paid unto
the said
absconding person, or to his or her attorney or attornies, executors, administrators
or assigns. And such trustees, or such of them as shall act, shall
render to the
court from whence their commission issued, a just and true account upon
oath, or
affirmation if a quaker or quakers, of all their proceedings in the premises,
to be
sided and kept in the said court, for the satisfaction of all parties concerned;
and in |
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