George West Co v. Lea

• Decision Date: 22 May 1899
• Docket Number: No. 755,755
• Citation: 43 L.Ed. 1098,174 U.S. 590,19 S.Ct. 836
• Parties: GEORGE M. WEST CO. v. LEA et al
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

174 U.S. 590

19 S.Ct. 836

43 L.Ed. 1098

GEORGE M. WEST CO.

v LEA et al.

No. 755.

May 22, 1899.

W. W. Henry, for appellant.

J. H. Ralston, for appellees.

Mr. Justice WHITE delivered the opinion of the court.

The facts stated in the certificate of the circuit court of appeals are substantially as follows:

Lea Bros. & Co. and two other firms filed on December 18, 1898, a petition in the district court of the United States for the Eastern district of Virginia, praying that an alleged debtor, the George M. West Company, a corporation located in Richmond, Va., be adjudiciated a bankrupt, because of the fact that it had, on the date of the filing of the petition, executed a deed of general assignment, conveying all its property and assets to Joseph V. Bidgood, trustee. The George M. West Company pleaded, denying that at the time of the filing of said petition against it the corporation was insolvent, within the meaning of the bankrupt act, and averring that its property, at a fair valuation, was more than sufficient in amount to pay its debts. The prayer was that the petition be dismissed. The court rejected this plea, and adjudicated the West Company to be a bankrupt. The cause was referred to a referee in bankruptcy, and certain creditors secured in the deed of assignment, who had instituted proceedings in the law and equity court of the city of Richmond, under which that court had taken charge of the administration of the estate and trust under the deed of assignment, were enjoined from further prosecuting their proceedings in the state court under said deed of assinment. 91 Fed. 237. From this decree an appeal was allowed to the circuit court of appeals for the Fourth circuit. On the hearing of said appeal the court, desiring instructions, certified the case to this court. The certificate recites the facts as above stated, and submits the following question:

'Whether or not a plea that the party against whom the petition was filed 'was not insolvent, as defined in the bankrupt act, at the time of the filing of the petition against him,' is a valid plea in bar to a petition in bankruptcy filed against a debtor who has made a general deed of assignment for the benefit of his creditors.'

The co tentions of the parties are as follows: On behalf of the debtor it is argued that under the bankrupt act of 1898 two things must concur, to authorize an adjudication of involuntary bankruptcy: First, insolvency in fact; and, second, the commission of an act of bankruptcy. From this proposition the conclusion is deduced that a debtor against whom a proceeding in involuntary bankruptcy is commenced is entitled, entirely irrespective of the particular act of bankruptcy alleged to have been committed, to tender, as a complete bar to the action, an issue of fact as to the existence of actual insolvency at the time when the petition for adjudication in involuntary bankruptcy was filed. On the other hand, for the creditors it is argued that while solvency is a bar to proceedings in bankruptcy predicated upon certain acts done by a debtor, as to other acts of bankruptcy, among which is included a general assignment for the benefit of creditors, solvency at the time of the filing of a petition for adjudication is not a bar, because the bankrupt act provides that such deed of general assignment shall, of itself alone, be adequate cause for an adjudication in involuntary bankruptcy, without reference to whether the debtor by whom the deed of general assignment was made was in fact solvent or insolvent.

A decision of these conflicting contentions involves a construction of section 3 of the act of 1898 (30 Stat. 546). The full text of the section in question is printed in the margin.¹

It will be observed that the section is divided into several paragraphs, denominated as a, b, c, d, and e. Paragraph a is as follows:

'Sec. 3. Acts of Bankruptcy. (a) Acts of bankruptcy by a person shall consist of his having (1) conveyed, transferred, concealed, or removed, or permitted to be concealed or removed, any part of his property with intent to hinder, delay, or defraud his creditors, or any of them; or (2) transferred, while insolvent, any portion of his property to one or more of his creditors with intent to prefer such creditors over his other creditors; or (3) suffered or permitted, while insolvent, any creditor to obtain a preference through legal proceedings, and not having at least five days before a sale or final disposition of any property affected by such preference vacated or discharged such preference; or (4) made a general assignment for the benefit of his creditors; or (5) admitted in writing his inability to pay his debts and his willingness to be adjudged a bankrupt on that ground.'

It is patent on the face of this paragraph that it is divided into five different headings, which are designated numerically from 1 to 5. Now, the acts of bankruptcy embraced in divisions numbered 2 and 3 clearly contemplate, not only the commission of the acts provided against, but also cause the insolvency of the debtor to be an essential concomitant. On the contrary, as to the acts embraced in enumerations 1, 4, and 5, there is no express requirement that the acts should have been committed while insolvent. Considering alone the text of paragraph a, it results that the nonexistence of insolvency at the time of the filing of a petition for adjudication in involuntary bankruptcy because of the acts enumerated in 1, 4, or 5, which embrace the making of a deed of general assignment, does not constitute a defense to the petition, unless provision to that effect be elsewhere found in the statute. This last consideration we shall hereafter notice.

The result arising from considering the paragraph in ques- tion would not be different if it be granted arguendo that the text is ambiguous, for then the cardinal rule requiring that we look beneath the text for the purpose of ascertaining and enforcing the intent of the lawmaker would govern. Applying this rule to the enumerations contained in paragraph a, it follows that the making of a deed of general assignment, referred to in enumeration 4, constitutes in itself an act of bankruptcy, which per se authorizes an adjudication of involuntary bankruptcy entirely irrespective of insolvency. This is clearly demonstrated from considering the present law in the light afforded by previous legislation on the subject.

Under the English bankruptcy statutes (as well that of 1869 of those upon which our earlier acts were modeled), and our own bankruptcy statutes down to and including the act of 1867, the making of a deed of general assignment was deemed to be repugnant to the policy of the bankruptcy laws, and, as a necessary consequence, constituted an act of bankruptcy, per se. This is shown by an examination of the decisions bearing upon the point, both English and American. In Globe Ins. Co. v. Cleveland Ins. Co., 14 N. B. R. 311, 10 Fed. Cas. 488, the subject was ably reviewed, and the authorities are there copiously collected. The decision in that case was expressly relied upon in Re Beisenthal, 14 Blatchf. 146, Fed. Cas. No. 1,236, where it was held that a voluntary assignment, without preferences, valid under the laws of the state of New York, was void as against an assignee in bankruptcy; and this latter case was approvingly referred to in Reed v. McIntyre, 98 U. S. 513. So, also, in Boese v. King, 108 U. S. 379, 385, 2 Sup. Ct. 765, it was held, citing (page 387, 108 U. S., and page 771, 2 Sup. Ct.) Reed v. McIntyre, that whatever might be the effect of a deed of general assignment for the benefit of creditors, when considered apart from the bankrupt act, such a deed was repugnant to the object of a bankruptcy statute, and therefore was, in and of itself alone, an act of bankruptcy. The foregoing decisions related to deeds of general assignment made during the operation of the bankrupt act of 1867 (14 Stat. 536), or the amendments thereto of 1874 and 1876 (18 Stat. 180; 19 Stat. 102). Neither, how- ever, the act of 1867, nor the amendments to it, contained an express provision that a deed of general assignment should be a...