Bankrupts Act 1772
The Bankrupts Act 1772 was an act of the Parliament of Great Britain that continued various older acts.
Background
In the United Kingdom, acts of Parliament remain in force until expressly repealed. Many acts of parliament, however, contained time-limited sunset clauses, requiring legislation to revive enactments that had expired or to continue enactments that would otherwise expire.Provisions
Continued enactments
Section 1 of the act continued the Bankrupts Act 1731, as revived and continued by the Continuance, etc., of Acts, 1735 and as continued by the Continuance of Laws (No. 2) Act 1750, the Continuance of Laws, etc., (No. 2) Act 1757 and the Bankrupts, etc. Act 1763, from the expiration of the act until the end of the next session of parliament after 29 September 1771.Section 2 of the act provided that all persons against whom a commission of bankruptcy had been issued should be confined in prison until they delivered up their effects, but that those who were in custody before 25 March 25 for debts incurred prior to their bankruptcy commission should be discharged if they had conformed to the bankruptcy laws, and furthermore that such discharged bankrupts could not be re-arrested for pre-commission debts, with sheriffs and other officers being indemnified for refusing to make such arrests.
Section 3 of the act provided that bankrupts against whom a commission had been awarded before March 25, 1772, who had absconded or gone abroad from fear of long imprisonment, could be discharged from arrest for pre-commission debts if they had regularly submitted to the commissioners and conformed to bankruptcy statutes, by petitioning any judge after forty days of arrest, whereupon the judge could immediately discharge them upon proper summons, subject to all other bankruptcy law requirements.
Subsequent developments
The Bankrupts Act 1731 was further continued from the expiration of the act until the end of the next session of parliament after 1 September 1780 by section 1 Continuance of Laws Act 1776The Bankrupts Act 1731 was further continued from the expiration of the act until the end of the next session of parliament after 29 September 1785 by section 1 of the Continuance of Laws Act 1781.
The Bankrupts Act 1731 was further continued from the expiration of the act until the end of the next session of parliament after 29 September 1788 by section 2 of the Continuance of Laws (No. 2) Act 1786.
The Bankrupts Act 1731 was further continued from the expiration of the act until the end of the next session of parliament after 29 September 1793 by section 2 of the Continuance of Laws (No. 2) Act 1788.
The Select Committee on Temporary Laws, Expired or Expiring, appointed in 1796, inspected and considered all the temporary laws, observed irregularities in the construction of expiring laws continuance acts, making recommendations and emphasising the importance of the Committee for Expired and Expiring Laws.
The whole act was repealed by section 1 of, and the schedule to, the Statute Law Revision Act 1871.