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<DATE>2014-09-10</DATE>
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<NAME>John Pas</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
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<ITEM>Proofed and reviewed as part of batch B140726.pdcc.</ITEM>
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<STC T="C">R182454</STC>
<BIBNO T="oclc">[ocm]69648862</BIBNO>
<VID>185033</VID>
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<DIV1 TYPE="text">
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<HEAD>REASONS Humbly Offered for Pa&s;&s;ing the Bill for the better Recovery of Bankrupts E&s;tates, and for the more equal Di&s;tri|bution thereof.</HEAD>
<P>WHEREAS many well meaning Per&s;ons, by Rea&s;on of Divers Lo&s;&s;es at Sea, or other Misfortunes, are become In&s;olvent, and tho' willing to Pay their Credi|tors as far as they are able, yet by the aver&s;ne&s;s of &s;ome few Creditors, or the Incapacity of Executors, Admini&s;trators, Guardians and Tru&s;tees, to Compound, do Con&s;ume what they have left of their E&s;tates, either in Pri&s;on, or in Priviledged Places, or beyond Seas, without giving any &s;atisfaction to their Creditors, who often times after a long Delay have lo&s;t 5, 10, 15 Shillings, or more in the Pound, which by a &s;peedy Complyance they might have had for their Debts.</P>
<P>For Remedy therefore of &s;uch Inconveniencies, not yet provided for by former Laws&punc; <HI>The Bill Enacts,</HI></P>
<P>THAT an Agreement, or Compo&s;ition offered by a Bankrupt, and accepted by Two Third Parts, or more, in value of his Creditors, being put in Writing, and Sub&s;cribed and Sealed by the &s;aid Creditors, or by any other Per&s;ons thereunto lawfully Authori&s;ed, &s;hall be Binding to all his other Creditors, as fully and effectually, as if all &s;uch other Creditors had Actually made, &s;ub&s;cribed and &s;ealed &s;uch Agreement, or Compo&s;ition, and that all Executors, Admini&s;trators, Guardians, and Tru&s;tees, who &s;hall comply with &s;uch Agreement, or Compo|&s;ition, &s;hall not be Charged, or Chargeable for any Wa&s;ting, or breach of Tru&s;t, or Accoun|table for more than what they &s;hall actually receive for the Debts &s;o Agreed, or Compounded for. There are al&s;o Clau&s;es in the Bill for preventing Frauds of all kinds; be&s;ides the Penal|ties which by other Laws already made, are to be Inflicted on any per&s;on that &s;hall Fraudulent|ly Claim any Debt which is not <HI>Bona Fide</HI> Due from the Bankrupt.</P>
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<HEAD>Upon this, It is mo&s;t humbly &s;ubmitted, Whether the pa&s;&s;ing this Act is not Rea&s;onable, for</HEAD>
<ITEM><HI>I.</HI> THE pre&s;ent War, and Circum&s;tances of &s;everal Trading parts of the World, where many per&s;ons are of late become Bankrupts, I have made the failure of Trading per&s;ons in <HI>Eng|land</HI> more frequent and unavoidable, and therefore more Rea&s;onably Recommends them to the Repre|&s;entatives of the Nation for Relief.</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>II.</HI> The Matter propo&s;ed by this Act, is according to the Maxims of all Men, in all times, upon all occa&s;ions, <HI>(viz.)</HI> That of Two Evils the Lea&s;t is to be Cho&s;en.</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>III.</HI> It is pur&s;uant and agreeable with the Laws and Cu&s;toms of other Trading Parts of <HI>Europe,</HI> and of what fatal con&s;equence the aver&s;ne&s;s of &s;ome few Creditors, and the Incapacity of others to com|pound, hath been in <HI>England,</HI> is too well known, where the refu&s;al of &s;ome few Creditors hath given way to a violent pre&s;ecution of Commi&s;&s;ions of Bankrupt, and Rifling of Bankrupts E&s;tates, untill the E&s;tate, and the Bankrupts, and their Families have been de&s;troy'd, and are bec<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">me unprofitable, and as it were, dead Members of the Common Wealth, the Statutes having no Regard, either to Hone&s;ty or Knavery, or to Lo&s;&s;es, Fire, War, or Shipwrack, the Common Calamities of the World, whereby Per&s;ons are di&s;abled from paying their whole Debts.</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>IV.</HI> It is the practice in all Societies of Men, that a Major part &s;hall bind the Le&s;&s;er, even in matters where every particular Member has an Intere&s;t. It is the Rule that all Colledges and Companies pro|ceeds by, in &s;etting Fines, making Lea&s;es, Elections of Members, and all other matters relating to their &s;everal Societies, and is grounded upon great Rea&s;on, for otherwi&s;e the variety of Men's &V;n|der&s;tandings, and oftner of their Intere&s;t and Wills, would make all Debates of Bu&s;ine&s;s perpetual and endle&s;s. And in the particular Ca&s;e of this Bill, 'tis to be pre&s;umed, that a Majority will not accept of a Compo&s;ition without apparent Rea&s;on that they cannot get more, (for if the Di&s;&s;enting Creditors know that the Bankrupt is able to give a greater Satisfaction, they will not fail to publi&s;h it to hinder the making of the Agreement) and then &s;urely the Major part will be wi&s;er in accepting &s;ome thing, than in hazarding all to be lo&s;t.</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>V.</HI> That often times the Aver&s;ne&s;s of &s;ome few Creditors to Compound, hath proceeded from no other Rea&s;on, than the hopes of forcing a Bankrupt to allow them a greater Compo&s;ition than he was able to pay to his other Creditors, in proportion to their Re&s;pective Debts, and thereupon the Bank|rupt de&s;pairing of &s;eeing an end of his Troubles, hath conveyed away his E&s;tate, and all his Creditors have lo&s;t what they might have had by a Rea&s;onable Compo&s;ition.</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>VI.</HI> This Act will Relieve the Trading Subjects of <HI>England</HI> from a Notorious Oppre&s;&s;ion they lie un|der, by Rea&s;on of the difference between our Laws, and tho&s;e of Foreign Nations, for if a Per&s;on fails in <HI>England,</HI> a di&s;&s;enting Creditor that lives beyond Seas &s;hall ob&s;truct the whole Agreement made in <HI>England</HI> by the re&s;t of the Creditors, whereas if a Per&s;on that fails in any Foreign parts, is Debtor to an Inhabitant in <HI>England,</HI> the latter is wholly concluded by an Agreement made by the Majority of the Creditors beyond Seas, without &s;o much as giving him Notice of the making of &s;uch Agreement, or Asking his Con&s;ent.</ITEM>
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