Section 14Part 4 — Proceedings on a Bankruptcy Petition
Who may be petitioning creditors, and acts of bankruptcy
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A single creditor or two or more creditors, if the debt owing to such single creditor or the aggregate amount of debts owing to such several creditors from any debtor amounts to not less than forty dollars, may present a bankruptcy petition to the Court against a debtor, alleging as the grounds of the petition any one or more of the following acts or defaults, in this Act deemed to be and included under the expression “acts of bankruptcy” —
that the debtor has, in the Islands or elsewhere, made a conveyance or assignment of the debtor’s property to a trustee or trustees for the benefit of the debtor’s creditors generally, or has executed any other instrument whereby the debtor’s property is made available for general distribution amongst the debtor’s creditors;
that the debtor has, in the Islands or elsewhere, made a fraudulent conveyance, gift, delivery or transfer of the debtor’s property or any part thereof;
that the debtor has, with intent to defeat or delay the debtor’s creditors, departed out of the Islands, being out of the Islands remained out of the Islands, departed from the debtor’s dwelling-house, otherwise absented themself, begun to keep house or begun to sell the debtor’s stock-in-trade at an under-value;
that the debtor has, by any act, declared themself unable to meet the debtor’s engagements;
that the debtor has presented a bankruptcy petition against themself;
that execution issued in the Islands against the debtor on any legal process for the obtaining payment of any sum of money has been levied by seizure and sale of the debtor’s goods, or enforced by delivery of the debtor’s goods;
that the creditor presenting the petition has served on the debtor a summons in an action in the Grand Court wherein the creditor claims payment of a liquidated sum of not less than forty dollars, and has also served on the debtor in the Islands in the prescribed manner, at or at any time after the date of the service of the summons, a bankruptcy notice in writing, in the prescribed form, requiring the debtor to pay the amount endorsed upon such summons, and the debtor has not, within seven days after the service of such notice, paid the amount due to the creditor, or secured or compounded for the same to the satisfaction of the creditor — Provided that no bankruptcy petition shall be presented on this ground unless the creditor has obtained final judgment in the action for not less than forty dollars within three months from the service of the summons;
that the creditor presenting the petition has obtained final judgment against the debtor in an action in the Grand Court for not less than forty dollars, and has served on the debtor in the Islands a bankruptcy notice in writing, in the prescribed manner and form, requiring the debtor to pay the amount for which such judgment has been obtained, and the debtor has not, within seven days after the service of notice, paid such amount, or secured or compounded for the same to the satisfaction of the creditor;
that the creditor presenting the petition, having a demand against the debtor of not less than forty dollars upon a negotiable security for money upon which the debtor was primarily liable, and upon which payment was at least fourteen days overdue, served on the debtor in the Islands a bankruptcy notice in writing, in the prescribed manner and form, requiring the debtor to pay the amount of such debt and that the debtor has not, within seven days after the service of such notice, paid such amount or secured or compounded for the same to the satisfaction of the creditor;
that the debtor has, in the Islands or elsewhere, made any conveyance or transfer of that debtor’s property or any part thereof, or created any charge thereon, which would under any law relating to bankruptcy, be void as a fraudulent preference if that debtor were adjudged bankrupt;
that the debtor has, in the Gazette and in a newspaper circulated in the Islands, given notice of the debtor’s intention to convey, assign or transfer the debtor’s stock-in-trade, debts or things in action relating to the debtor’s business to any other person; and that the creditor presenting the petition, having a demand against the debtor of a liquidated sum of not less than forty dollars, has served on the debtor in the Islands a bankruptcy notice in writing, in the prescribed manner and form, requiring the debtor to pay the amount of such debt, and that the debtor has not, within seven days after the service of such notice, paid such amount or secured or compounded for the same to the satisfaction of the creditor; or
that the debtor has paid money to or given or delivered any satisfaction or security for the debt of a petitioning creditor, or any part thereof, after such creditor has presented a bankruptcy petition against that debtor —
Provided that —
the alleged act of bankruptcy must have occurred within six months before the presentation of the petition;
the debt of the petitioning creditor must be a liquidated sum due or growing due at law or in equity, and must not be a secured debt unless the petitioner states in the petitioner’s petition that the petitioner will be ready to give up such security for the benefit of the creditors in the event of a provisional order being made, or unless the petitioner gives an estimate of the value of the security, in which latter case the petitioner may be admitted as a petitioning creditor to the extent of the balance of the debt due to the petitioner after deducting the value so estimated, but the petitioner shall, on an application being made in the course of the proceedings within the prescribed time by any person interested, give up the petitioner’s security to be dealt with as part of the property of the debtor for the benefit of the creditors upon payment of such estimated value;
any person who is, for the time being, entitled to enforce a final judgment shall be deemed a creditor who has obtained a final judgment within the meaning of this section; and
where any debtor is absent from the Islands, any act done or suffered by any agent or manager of the debtor managing any property, or engaged in carrying on any business of the debtor in the Islands, which, if such agent or manager were the owner of the property or business, would have constituted an act of bankruptcy available against such person, shall, in all cases, be deemed to have been expressly authorised by the debtor and shall be available as an act of bankruptcy against the debtor unless the authority of the agent or manager shall be shown to have been exceeded.
Defined Terms
acts of bankruptcy